Humbly repping Portland, the Dropping Gems family has been consistently dropping quality experimental hip hop for good minute. Equally important is their propensity for bombing the Pacific Northwest with quality live entertainment, catering to those inhabiting the more subterranean spheres of electronic beat music (can’t wait to visit Portland). With an exceptional roster of producers creating some highly progressive tunes in several niches of the genre, Dropping Gems doesn’t need to go outside their own HQ to put together a great compilation. But they did, and the results are nothing short of fantastic. Very few collections provide such effortless quality and each producer has brought their best to the table for a good cause: every cent raised by Two will go straight to the American Cancer Society. There’s even a limited edition cassette!
Highlights:
S. Maharba – For Someone (Abandonment) - Setting the tone on the second track, S. Maharba serves up a beautiful 2 minute thought-provoker. Though not usually known for haunting ambience as much rickety, side-chained thumpers, he’s created some very evocative textures here.
Timeboy – Twiddle Dee - Screeching, distorted synths and cryptic melodies provide the backdrop for this spacey number. Timeboy explores strange territory that, at it’s peak, is as confounding as it is wonderful.
Nocow – Sever Ties - Fly Russia represents in a big way with this little gem of 2-stepper from Nocow. This jam is dark in all the right ways and would fit in nicely at the after hours of your choice.
