- Veteran West Coast beatmaker Mr Dibiase brings sunny but sloppy (in a good way) hip-hop beats to Manchester's Fat City imprint on his Cakeology EP. Using a primer of soul-laden strings, guitars and vocals, Dibiase deftly crafts interesting but unstable grooves that threaten to break down every other bar or so.
The vibes go from laid back funky outings to more aggressive head-nodding vibes, "Brazilian Lady" and "Keep On Runnin'" are an example of the former and call for the inevitable but deserved Dilla comparisons, while "Atomic Slop" and "Be Fly" provide a neck bumping soundtrack with their big basslines and hard-hitting rhythms. Twists and turns in the arrangement add spice and the vocal sample snippets make for the icing on the cake, keeping the songs from falling into the stale monotony that often befalls instrumental hip-hop.
While the sample sources and approach are thoroughly hip-hop, there is a touch IDM in the way that Dibiase presents his basslines and synths. With this experimentation falling on the right side of funky, though, Cakeology sounds less like a flying DeLorean from 2015 and more like a convertible ride through sunny California.
Tracklist A1 Atomic Slop
A2 Keep On Runnin'
B1 Brazilian Lady
B2 Be Fly
B3 Cosmo Boppin'