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Writer's pictureTamara Jenna

ALBUM REVIEW - AKILBEATSDENVER - Intrinsic


 


FEATURED ARTIST

AKILBEATSDENVER - Intrinsic

Commerce City, United States


After years of collaborative projects, United States-based #akilbestsdenver has been busy alongside Stevie Buggz at bright future media creating his debut solo album. Together, these two musical magicians have produced something of a daydream in #akilbeatsdenve's latest project #Intrinsic. This project stands out amongst similar creations for its authenticity and conceptual puzzle piece. Consisting of 20 tracks, this (just over) one-hour-long story takes listeners through the world of science beyond space and into the atomic structure of chemistry. How so? you may ask. Each piece has been carefully named after a vitamin to highlight the philosophy behind #akilbeatsdever's conceptual understanding of what music is. Holding the slogan #musicismedicine, #akilbeatsdenver wants to aid healing and provide a space for inspiration, calm, motivation and focus and to...


" create a dialogue around physical health, mental health, spiritual health and overall well-being."

#Intrinsic was released this year on July 7th and holds the most greatest depth within its intentions. Through these 20 tracks, listeners are welcomed into a safe place where it is impossible not to drift away into. Offering a mix of relaxation elements from multiple genres within some of the most soulful and heartfelt musical styles of all time, this lo-fi album has its roots in Neo-Soul, Alternative R&B and Hip-Hop.


Opening the album is a track called #VitaminA. This track has the markers of everything soulful yet everything experimental. Trapsoul vocal samples, bell synths and futuristic key sample chops merge together with hip-hop drum loops to invite listeners into something almost unheard of... #Thiamin mixes old school with new in this Neo-Soul dream before whisking listeners into the realm of #Riboflavin. Here we're invited into a Jazz-infused Neo-Soul piece with some saucy basslines and synth sprinkles. Nice! #Niacin has a certain hauntedness about it in its beginnings but this is slowly mixed down into the background behind the swirl of Hip-Hop Dopamine enhancing drums and bass. #PanothenicAcid continues to impress with its mixture of Jazz and futurism. #Biotin is a production that showcases the true arrangement skills of #akilbeatsdenver. Here we hear a clean and flawless performance before introducing the brass opening of #B6. If you need to take a minute out of life, this piece will help you enter the land of dreams for sure! #B12 is slick, so so so slick. This is a piece that deep souls will resonate with. #Folate brings back the trap soul samples but this time we hear a heavy bassline that stands amongst the crowd - in this piece listeners will really hear the versatility of this artist's productions. Marking the halfway point is a piece entitled #VitaminC. The simplicity of this piece offers something rhymic and easy to follow - just in time for the second half! #VitaminD is a ray of Sunshine - the track sparks your happiness chemicals with its happy progression. #VitaminE has a beautiful soulful choir opening which gives the piece an immediate Gospel feel. This is a great piece! Another brilliant piece follows in #VitaminK before revising brass instrumentation and Jazz influence in #Calcium. #Chroride flows just like water - one of the most soulful pieces on the album for sure! #Magnesium takes listeners back into a dreamlike state with its angelic vocal samples and strings before things get #Phosphorus. Here we hear something completely new in the form of South East Asian melodic samples alongside old-school hip-hop percussion and sprinkles of Keys. There's also a darker side to this piece which takes influence from the dark side of techno. #Potassium is a stringy piece - full of depth this production takes influence from Afrobeat percussion and mixes it with old-school synths and modern 808s. This piece will impress for sure! #Sodium takes a step into alternative R&B and steps into the darker side of the genre - something that I have always loved. I can envision artists such as #Kehlani and #DojaCat on this track - potentially together! This is the perfect penultimate piece. Concluding the album is #Sulphur and in this piece #akilbeatssdenver goes all in to showcase the versatility and strength of his project.


"akilbeatsdenver has created a smashing album that takes all the classic sounds of old school Hip-Hop and merges them into his own sound when combined with Alternative R&B, Neo-Soul. In terms of production ability, this artist has firmly taken to his thrown."
TAMARA JENNA - TJPL NEWS

 

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