Check out FortuneWest’s new single, “We Eat, We Feed”
Philly instrumental electro hip-hop producer Cory Wilson is better known by his production handle, FortuneWest, and this past Friday he released his newest single, “We Eat, We Feed.” The track combines old-school sound with new-school structure, borrowing from the sampling and sequencing practice of 80s hip-hop and applying it to the synthesis and groove of newer electro-hop. It’s a song with a melancholy ambiance. but a lively one that keeps moving by a fluid drum pattern under almost trance-like pad sounds.
Beyond just “We Eat, We Feed,” FortuneWest has managed to convey an ethereal and pleasantly ambient sound which he self-describes as “experimental hip-hop delving into the realms of old school sampling, funky synths, and catchy leads.” When asked about what his process was for creating such a unique sound, Wilson said “My process is a little hard to pin down exactly: it continues to evolve as I work. It started from just messing around in Logic with the sampler and synths and just trying to make cool hip hop beats. Somewhere along the way, I realized that making static beats didn’t really do enough for me; I always want my tracks to be able to hold their own as a musical piece without the need for vocals, while at the same time being open enough for an artist’s voice to lay on top of it. So I started adding addition compositional elements to the tracks to help expand their scope.” This ground-up approach to production allows Cory to build very complex and layered tracks without making a track sound aggressively busy, perhaps one of the first steps to his atmospheric sound.
When asked about his influences, Wilson cited “Marco Polo, RJD2, and El-P, but also producers like Pretty Lights, Bonobo, and Emancipator,” saying that the last three especially had a great deal of influence over his music, in that “they blend and expand upon arrangement and other styles while still having a hip-hop base.” Wilson has released three EP’s as FortuneWest, including Diary of a Traveller in October 2012, Winding Down in August 2013, and Old Friends this past July.
Wilson also works on another project he calls BmbuWEST, a hip-hop duo with John “Bmbu” Alsace, another Philadelphia producer with similar sampling style. The duo has released a number of beat tapes together, and are currently working on a compilation album they are calling BmbuWEST Presents: The Diversity Tape, which features several artists who have written vocals to instrumentals by either member of the duo or both.
Stream and download “We Eat, We Feed” below.