Listen to the first beat compilation by local collective smth savant

Dusty Bonez Jones at Backyard Bxss | photo by Austin Eterno | courtesy of the artist

Backyard Bxss Season 1, a 10-track compilation featuring experimental electronic artists from around the city, is the first tape to be released in a quarterly series by local collective smth savant (pro. sum’thing/ suhˈvant). The collective is most known for throwing their monthly Backyard Bxss live sessions held around the city. Founded in 2017 by Kilamanzego and Madam Data, the collective has grown to 5 members and have held monthly gatherings since May of that year to create and share beats and songs during the Backyard Bxss sessions.

The compilation highlights the wide array of experimental electronic music that producers around the city are creating. From the opening nu-funk/jazz track by DCee Musik to the closing guitar-looping track by Orion Sun, and everything in between, it’s clear based on these 10 tracks the overwhelming amount of talent in the city’s electronic music scene.

“R.I.P. La Tazza” by producer (and Key contributing writer) John Morrison unfolds like a traditional boom bap style hip-hop beat, aided by twinkling keys and atmospheric samples. The blissful track reels you in only to collapse and build itself back up with a beat switch. The beauty of a compilation is the ability to curate a variety of styles and sounds and package it into one release. Listen to Morrison’s track followed by the next Kilamanzego track and you’ll see what I mean.

Backyard Bxss Season 1‘s second track, the wonky, experimental tune “Everyone You Talk To Will Say I Hate This Song,” is possibly the most left-field take on here. Kila contrasts grumbling sub-bass with angelic vocal samples to cast this expansive plane of sound, only to be interrupted by stop-start jabs and pauses in the track. There’s so much to take in on the track that in just one listen it can be hard to absorb everything going on.

Listen to the tape in full below via smth savant’s Bandcamp page, and check out pictures from past Backyard Bxss events as well.