new music: deantoni parks changes the game with a drum kit and a sampler on ‘technoself’ #soundcheck

Even without the knowledge that everything on Deantoni Parks’ Technoself was performed live with no overdubs, it’s still one of the most impressive instrumental hip-hop records this side of Kaytranada’s laptop or Dilla’s MPC. As a collaborator with no less luminaries than Sade, FlyLo, and The Mars Volta, Parks prowess behind the kit has never been in question. What he creates on Technoself, however is impressive as much for it’s playfulness and soul as it is for its raw technical achievement.

By Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK Contributor

The best tracks, particularly “Black Axioms” and “Pebble” have exude a “how the fuck is he doing that?” tightrope quality. Jawdropping both for their innate dopeness and for the fact that a single human did that in one take with nothing but a stripped down kit and some sample pads. “Fosse in the Grass” has some of the best chopped microsample work outside of Justice, and the sound collage on “Bombay” sees Parks treating a chopped up sample of ambient chatter into elements of a drum solo. For maximum mindfuckery, check out the video of him playing it live.

The record’s out now on Leaving Records/Stones Throw.