Advantz’d - above all

Like so many great beatmakers, Advantz’d’s music took me a while to come across but I definitely know the name now. Every time I hear the “its advantsh’d” tag at the start of a beat on any recent comp (see 4RAFAH and cakefromhellworldtour) I know I’m going to be in for something direct and tough. Even though he just dropped a great rap project last month, I wanted to speak on I think one of his most cohesive and intentional instrumental tapes with ‘above all’. It’s a short collection of seven different flavours and grooves which feels longer than it actually is (in a good way), drawing you in to an equally hard-hitting and mystical world from the first metallic hihats and snares. The really nocturnal drums always seem to match the murky melodies of the samples, all warped and twisting like the almost-breaking branches on the cover, always feeling like they’re about to snap but always snapping into place with every snare. I love how these beats move throughout the runtime, always catching you off guard with an off-kilter hihat pattern or a double snare hit here and there, with every idea complimenting the next. The beats on this tape not only coincide with the cover but the name itself, with almost every song from Advantz’d like a masterclass in modern beatmaking. I look forward to seeing the dude’s name pop up many times again.

KEY BEAT: otherworldly - he really saved the best till last for this one, with delayed hihats and kicks hitting twice giving space to some really moody gas-face-inducing chords and vocals. It sounds like walking through that same grim forest with the maze of branches falling slowly overhead.