AshTreJinkins & ¢hit$ - The$tomp [REVIEW]

Oh yes, ladies and gents. The time has come. AshTreJinkins, a freaking fantastic 17-year-old beat music producer (previous posts), has released a split beattape, The$tomp, with like-minded producer ¢hit$, who I'm fairly unfamiliar with. But he's also great, the two fit really well with each other, vibe-wise. These guys are NOT amatuers; they're fantastic producers, the both of them, so let me tell you, it is a freakin DEAL that you can go grab this for FREE at their bandcamp. Although you are allowed to pay for the album if you'd like, and I highly suggest you do. These beats are for sure worth some cash. You can listen here if you'd like, however:



REVIEW PORTION:
The tape opens with ¢hit$ on a beat called "Sawdoff," which has some neat, crisp claps and clicks riding over what seems to be a bitcrushed kick drum, all bathed in a gorgeous synth/string sample. Then AshTreJinkins takes the reins on "Gremlins," which makes brilliant use of fat, ominous synths and what sounds like, well, a bunch of gremlins snarling and growling. Really cool beat. Then ¢hit$ is back, holding down the softer, more contemplative end of the tape with "Travaja," before AshTreJinkins comes back in (you can see the pattern here) with the brutally skull-crushing "CaveDwellers," which gains extra points for sampling Monty Python. But I absolutely love the super dark and atmospheric vibe he's got going on his half of the tape. Really top-notch production, you've heard me rant about this kid plenty before. The rest of the tape sees ¢hit$ getting down with some really cool synths on "19," AshTreJinkins moving from a percussion-oriented vibe to yet another incredible beat (all saturated in GORGEOUS ambient synths) on "Symbolic Rainforest," and the two remixing one of each others' tracks. They essentially take the same approach on both ("aSymbolicRecreate" and "Travaja (Jinkins'SourDownfallRmx)," each taking the ambient aspects of the other's original and adding a heavier beat. And both work exceedingly well.

Point is, this is an awesome tape. You should go get it, as a reward to yourself for sitting through my ramblings and ravings.

Lobster out.

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BUT WAIT! Another reason why you need to dig this AshTreJinkins kid: he's coming out with ANOTHER tape as well!! How's that for productivity?! So expect a post on that soon...possibly accompanied by Crustacean Cognition's first interview?! Keep your eyes on this page............