Two decades of weird beats from Blockhead, plus more lofi hiphop
March 28, 2020 9:30 PM Subscribe
In the vein of the very popular lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to, UK's Channel 4 offers lofi hip hop radio - beats to self isolate to over a loop of Richard Ayoade from The IT Crowd. Want to spend this self-isolation time getting to know one specific hip hop artist and his music? Check out Blockhead, Tony Simon from NYC, who's been making beats since '94, and started collabing with Aesop Rock circa 1998 (YouTube interviews x2). Signed to Ninja Tune (who have an [unrelated] ambient livestream) for four of his first five albums (Discogs), since then he's released his music on a couple different labels, plus via Bandcamp, spanning the eras of crate digging to digital discoveries (interview with This Savage Beauty). A selected discography follows ...
One of the earliest Blockhead beat for Aesop Rock: Plastic Soldier, off of Aesop's 1997 Music For Earthworms. And about four years later: Aesop Rock's "Daylight" from Labor Days (Discogs). He also provided beats for Murs (Happy Pillz ft. Aesop Rock), Illogic (Killing Time ft. Aesop Rock), and Party Fun Action Committee (Back N Da Daiz).
Blockhead's first solo release was Blockhead's Broke Beats (Bandcamp), a collection of short beats made specifically for DJ and Mc's, originally on Mush Records in 2001 (Discogs).
Three years later, he released Music by Cavelight (Youtube official audio playlist) on Ninja Tune (Discogs), with videos for Insomniac Olympics and Sunday Séance. John Bush's AMG review likened the sound to Boards of Canada and early instrumental trip-hop. He quickly followed the album with Downtown Science (YT, official audio playlist) the following year (Discogs). Jason Crock's Pitchfork review likens it to DJ Shadow and Daedelus, two other notable instrumental beatmakers.
Uncle Tony's Coloring Book (Bandcamp) was self-released in 2007, distributed by Ninja Tune (if I recall correctly), and is an uplifting detour from his prior two albums (Noel Dix, Exclaim.ca review). But that detour was short-lived.
Two years later, back on Ninja Tune, The Music Scene (YT playlist) "isn’t something you put on to unwind, this is something you put on to blow minds and strike fear into people’s hearts. The Music Scene sounds like the hip-hop soundtrack to the apocalypse." (Ted Maider, Consequence of Sound) The title track has a trippy video that is still Blockhead's most viewed video/ track, thanks to Anthony F. Schepperd's hand-drawn animation. The public access television-inspired Interludes After Midnight (YT playlist) is more of his instrumental hip hop with a melancholy vibe (Patrick Taylor, Rap Reviews), sampling psych, jazz, and rap tracks to make something new and wonderful. That album was the end of his Ninja Tunes.
In 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017, he released albums with rappers: Dour Candy (Bandcamp) with Billy Woods, Capture the Sun (Bandcamp) with Illogic, Justplaywitit (Discogs; "SumOfItsParts" on Soundcloud and its music video on YT) and Keep Playin' (Bandcamp) with Marq Spekt, then back with Billy Woods on Known Unknows (vocal and instrumental on Bandcamp).
Blockhead also self-released a second album, his 8th album over-all, in 2014. Bells And Whistles (Bandcamp) is another fine slab of funky, jazzy, eclectic boom-bap (Ali Van Houten, The Untz). In 2017, he let loose Funeral Balloons, "eclectic instrumentation, chunky vintage drums, funky percussion, and moody synth passages. At times a somber, emotional exploration, but somehow retains a light heartedness through out." (David Peck, Bringing Down the Band).
In 2018, Blockhead was let loose on the London-based De Wolfe Music library music archive and produced The Art of the Sample (Bandcamp). In his own words “These are not typical Blockhead songs. They’re more stripped down and focused for the purpose of being used in TV and film.”
Not one to stay still for long, Blockhead collaborated with a range of rappers on Free Sweatpants (Bandcamp), "laid back, chilled out beats and soundscapes he serves up to his wordy companions" (Christopher Michael Ovens Sneddon, The Headscratcher). (If it's too wordy for you, Tony also has the instrumental album on Bandcamp.) The album was a few years in the making, and something he had wanted to do since before he released his first instrumental solo album (Passion of the Weiss interview. He released his 9th solo album at the end of 2019, Bubble Bath (Bandcamp). In the era of "chilled beats" playlists on YouTube, Blockhead continues to stand out (Eric Mellor, Spectrum Culture).
Bonus YouTube playlist, from Blockhead himself: 35 remixes. Bonus remix: Hangar 18: Baking Soda (Remix)
And because everyone's doing work from home, Tony has uploaded about an hour every other day for the past week, under the title Blockhead's Quarantine beats: Brute Camp Clique, 7th Heaven, Doug Flutie, and latest from earlier tonight: Moustache ride -- a beat made live on Instagram, copied then to YouTube.
One of the earliest Blockhead beat for Aesop Rock: Plastic Soldier, off of Aesop's 1997 Music For Earthworms. And about four years later: Aesop Rock's "Daylight" from Labor Days (Discogs). He also provided beats for Murs (Happy Pillz ft. Aesop Rock), Illogic (Killing Time ft. Aesop Rock), and Party Fun Action Committee (Back N Da Daiz).
Blockhead's first solo release was Blockhead's Broke Beats (Bandcamp), a collection of short beats made specifically for DJ and Mc's, originally on Mush Records in 2001 (Discogs).
Three years later, he released Music by Cavelight (Youtube official audio playlist) on Ninja Tune (Discogs), with videos for Insomniac Olympics and Sunday Séance. John Bush's AMG review likened the sound to Boards of Canada and early instrumental trip-hop. He quickly followed the album with Downtown Science (YT, official audio playlist) the following year (Discogs). Jason Crock's Pitchfork review likens it to DJ Shadow and Daedelus, two other notable instrumental beatmakers.
Uncle Tony's Coloring Book (Bandcamp) was self-released in 2007, distributed by Ninja Tune (if I recall correctly), and is an uplifting detour from his prior two albums (Noel Dix, Exclaim.ca review). But that detour was short-lived.
Two years later, back on Ninja Tune, The Music Scene (YT playlist) "isn’t something you put on to unwind, this is something you put on to blow minds and strike fear into people’s hearts. The Music Scene sounds like the hip-hop soundtrack to the apocalypse." (Ted Maider, Consequence of Sound) The title track has a trippy video that is still Blockhead's most viewed video/ track, thanks to Anthony F. Schepperd's hand-drawn animation. The public access television-inspired Interludes After Midnight (YT playlist) is more of his instrumental hip hop with a melancholy vibe (Patrick Taylor, Rap Reviews), sampling psych, jazz, and rap tracks to make something new and wonderful. That album was the end of his Ninja Tunes.
In 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017, he released albums with rappers: Dour Candy (Bandcamp) with Billy Woods, Capture the Sun (Bandcamp) with Illogic, Justplaywitit (Discogs; "SumOfItsParts" on Soundcloud and its music video on YT) and Keep Playin' (Bandcamp) with Marq Spekt, then back with Billy Woods on Known Unknows (vocal and instrumental on Bandcamp).
Blockhead also self-released a second album, his 8th album over-all, in 2014. Bells And Whistles (Bandcamp) is another fine slab of funky, jazzy, eclectic boom-bap (Ali Van Houten, The Untz). In 2017, he let loose Funeral Balloons, "eclectic instrumentation, chunky vintage drums, funky percussion, and moody synth passages. At times a somber, emotional exploration, but somehow retains a light heartedness through out." (David Peck, Bringing Down the Band).
In 2018, Blockhead was let loose on the London-based De Wolfe Music library music archive and produced The Art of the Sample (Bandcamp). In his own words “These are not typical Blockhead songs. They’re more stripped down and focused for the purpose of being used in TV and film.”
Not one to stay still for long, Blockhead collaborated with a range of rappers on Free Sweatpants (Bandcamp), "laid back, chilled out beats and soundscapes he serves up to his wordy companions" (Christopher Michael Ovens Sneddon, The Headscratcher). (If it's too wordy for you, Tony also has the instrumental album on Bandcamp.) The album was a few years in the making, and something he had wanted to do since before he released his first instrumental solo album (Passion of the Weiss interview. He released his 9th solo album at the end of 2019, Bubble Bath (Bandcamp). In the era of "chilled beats" playlists on YouTube, Blockhead continues to stand out (Eric Mellor, Spectrum Culture).
Bonus YouTube playlist, from Blockhead himself: 35 remixes. Bonus remix: Hangar 18: Baking Soda (Remix)
And because everyone's doing work from home, Tony has uploaded about an hour every other day for the past week, under the title Blockhead's Quarantine beats: Brute Camp Clique, 7th Heaven, Doug Flutie, and latest from earlier tonight: Moustache ride -- a beat made live on Instagram, copied then to YouTube.
I first saw him open with Diplo for Amon Tobin, back in 2001 (I think), and I've been hooked ever since. I've seen him live a few times, and last year I saw him touring with Yppah and Arms And Sleepers, where I picked up their lovely three-way remix EP, Hermit Kingdom: Remixes record (Bandcamp).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:46 PM on March 28, 2020
posted by filthy light thief at 9:46 PM on March 28, 2020
The trippy video for "The Music Scene" previously, wherein the careful observer might notice FLT gave us all a teaser of this post.
posted by namewithoutwords at 9:54 PM on March 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by namewithoutwords at 9:54 PM on March 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
Haven't listened to Blockhead in a while, but I still remember Triptych leaving a trace.
posted by sapagan at 6:30 AM on March 29, 2020
posted by sapagan at 6:30 AM on March 29, 2020
Not sure what this "etc. rowd" is (sounds fake) but Richard Ayoade was really good in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, and should get more recognition for his work on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL9ELY1xpTA
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 8:09 AM on March 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 8:09 AM on March 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
I didn't see it at first glance (though I might have missed it since there's a LOT to dig through here - thanks flt, this is great!) but I wanted to mention the extremely good Cat Food, a 2014 Aesop Rock track produced by Blockhead.
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 9:12 AM on March 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 9:12 AM on March 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
I loved Blockhead but had completely forgotten about him. So much to dig into here!
posted by not_the_water at 9:47 AM on March 29, 2020
posted by not_the_water at 9:47 AM on March 29, 2020
I love his stuff. Saw him the night before Valentine's day and it was great.
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 11:04 AM on March 29, 2020
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 11:04 AM on March 29, 2020
Good stuff. I had his album Music by Cavelight on all the time back in 2005/6 (around the time I joined MeFi). Back then we called it Trip Hop. Then we grew up, grew out, grew apart. So many of the artists I loved back then have been so busy in the intervening years. I stopped listening to as much music and I'm poorer for it, I think.
Anyway, if you like this stuff some other names to check out might include: Amon Tobin, Bonobo, Boozoo Bajou, DJ Shadow, Four Tet, Gold Panda, Massive Attack, Morcheeba, Mount Kimbie, Mythematica, Nightmares on Wax, Portishead, Quantic, RJD2, St. Germain, Thievery Corporation, U.N.K.L.E, US3, Wax Tailor, Zero 7.
posted by Acey at 3:10 PM on March 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
Anyway, if you like this stuff some other names to check out might include: Amon Tobin, Bonobo, Boozoo Bajou, DJ Shadow, Four Tet, Gold Panda, Massive Attack, Morcheeba, Mount Kimbie, Mythematica, Nightmares on Wax, Portishead, Quantic, RJD2, St. Germain, Thievery Corporation, U.N.K.L.E, US3, Wax Tailor, Zero 7.
posted by Acey at 3:10 PM on March 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
If you like low-fi hiphop, I have really fallen in love with chillhop records on Bandcamp. My favourite atm is by Tesk.
posted by smoke at 4:48 PM on March 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by smoke at 4:48 PM on March 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
I get the seasonal collections from Chillhop on Bandcamp. Excellent stuff.
posted by lhauser at 12:25 PM on March 30, 2020
posted by lhauser at 12:25 PM on March 30, 2020
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posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 9:40 PM on March 28, 2020