Posting lengthy content on Soundcloud is a risk for most artists, but Roswell, New Mexico producer william crooks is taking his chances with his i’ll see u when i get there beat tape. The instrumental tape is available for download as an 11-track project on his official site, but “it’s intended to be viewed and listened to in it’s entirety,” crooks told me via e-mail. crooks notes that the project has been “arranged and blended seamlessly” to reflect his intentions. He forgot to mention beautifully.
crooks’ production enthralls from the first track, the idyllic “backwoods”, as i’ll see u when i get there is a compelling fusion of boombap, ambient electronic and lo-fi elements. The project’s lifeblood is thick drums atop lush synths and warm soul samples, with sound effects and vocal samples whirring in and out of the melodious proceedings.
crooks commissioned his friend, videographer Mitch Muscles to augment the project with visuals. Muscles’ 18-minute video is a dissonant whirlwind of imagery that seems random, but cleverly parallels the sonics of each track.
When I was working on the music I always saw it with visual accompaniment—it just made sense in my mind,” crooks said. “The music itself is kind of a smokers club vibe, and motion and imagery are such a compliment [to] that. Think about the stuff they play on Adult Swim at 4AM—that kind of thing.”
You can stream i’ll see u when i get there in full below, and scroll on to watch Muscles’ visual accompaniment.
