Joe Beats
Diverse Recourse
Bully 2007

01. Don't Front...
02. Live My Life
03. Me Talk Pretty
04. Slivers
05. Doing the Nothing
06. Sleep or Burst
07. Caught Up
08. Friday Afternoon
09. Hellfire [Remix]
10. Pour Me One
11. Big Eyed Son
12. The Buzz Off
13. Merc Ret
14. Spikes for the Punch Bowl
15. Indian Summer
16. Cutie Pie
17. ETA
18. Fade

The long-awaited sequel to 2003's killer Reverse Discourse, Diverse Recourse sees producer extraordinaire Joe Beats again coming up with a devastatingly creative selection of instrumental hip-hop joints this time for Canadian label Bully. You might know Beats a bit better as one half of Lex-signed hip-hop crew Non-Prophets (along with Sage Francis) but those of us in the know are only too aware that his best work is the instrumentals. Last year saw him tangling with the wacky world of indie (previously a hip-hop no go area) on his Indie Rock Blues album, which showed he wasn't afraid to take risks, yet this record sees him going back to his comfort zone and is simply good quality classic hiphop instrumentals. [...] Taking meaty drum loops and jangling funk and soul samples we have a mindblowing mix of instrumentals that do much to counter the opinion that an instrumental is merely hip-hop minus the raps. These are written like this for a reason, and the absence of an emcee merely serves to accentuate Beats' production skills. The album opens with 'Don't Front...' one of the strongest tracks on offer here and you're instantly made aware of what the producer can do - thick, crumbling drum breaks offset by wah-wah guitar and distant strings. This is music that re-assures you that the world of instrumental hip-hop can rise once more, and where better to do that than with Bully Records? -Boomkat

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>> love it, buy it (Bully)

Perhaps a bit more upfront than my usual stuff - it's all about the grooves, rhythms and, umm, beats! on here. I don't find them especially 'devastating' or 'mindblowing', but you have to love the care that went into these instrumentals, and the whole album's sequencing - the way they're being mixed together. Joe's idea of "diversity" may not be too shockingly obvious; still, there's plenty variation between tracks, which in their turn are short enough not to bore. Proper release from proper independent label, after somewhat of a hiatus. Next up: DJ Signify and Controller 7.