“We Meet Again” by Mike Wagz (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
I see you Mike. Actually I saw your album’s lips first, doing headstands next to my laptop. Lips look funny upside down. Anyway, this is an instrumental hip-hop album written, produced, mixed, and co-mastered by Mike himself. Not many samples here, other than the spoken word intros and interludes. Synth pads and jazzy keyboards side-chained to Boom-bap drums touched with post-Dilla sensibilities form the backbone for….pop melodies. They don’t all have a melody, if that’s not your thing, but they allow the beats to stand on their on, not yearning for a rapper or vocalist to supersede or supplement them. Pick up the album for a name-your-own-price (no minimum). If you’re still looking at the lips, try it upside down. It looks weird, I’m telling you. @L0pat0
