Arts the Beatdoctor Progressions EP
“Every artist now and then knows the feeling / Of not reaching that point of where they used to be/ They read their rhymes but don’t see the music/ They hear people talk but only listen to that bullshit.’
Arts The Beatdoctor ft. Skiggy Rapz & Wudstik – Be Alright
If there’s one thing you can’t accuse Arts The Beatdoctor of, it’s standing still. This isn’t just a lazy play on the title of his debut LP “Transitions” (well, maybe it is) but an attempt to highlight his clear desire to keep his sound evolving.
You could see it in the way he called his live formation ‘The Arts The Beatdoctor Experiment’ as he searches for the best way to perform his music, you can see it indirectly in Skiggy Rapz’s opening lines on Be Alright and you can now see it here in his latest release “Progressions”. It’s a limited edition EP that basically charts Arts’ progress over the last year.
As you’d expect, it’s a step forward from “Transitions”. Less tuned-in writers had suggested that Arts makes the kind of music more suited to Amsterdam's red light distict than the Paradiso or Melkweg and Progressions seems to be a response to that. It shares the same intensity and late night atmosphere of its predecessor, but the sound is deeper, the drums are heavier and thankfully the quality is just as high.
Apparently Arts had more fun making this EP than "Transitions", but this isn’t reflected in the music unless he’s got a particularly sadistic side to his character. Be Alright is pretty much the only track here that will put a spring in your step as Skiggy Rapz spits impassioned lines over cascading piano lines and a breathy female vocal before Wudstik's uplifting chorus kicks in. It’s very, very good and vies with The Anthem as the best vocal track Arts has done.
Of the other two original tracks, Progressions is a swirling monster that drops tantalising bursts of samples from sax, strings and vocal stabs leaving (what I’m guessing is) a sitar to carry the tune. I won’t attempt to describe how Arts plays with and chops the drums over this and every other track, but suffice to say it’s fat. Meditations is the song that’s closest to Transitions in tone, but it's taken to another level by the crunching gear change that comes with the squelchy, juddering synth line that drops in halfway through.
"Progressions" closes with a remix (and instrumental) of Pax and Pry’s Sleep and to quote Jay-Z, if you haven’t got the memo, apart from being pretty fucking awesome, it shows how far Arts has come in this release. He transforms Pax and Pry's original lullaby into something far more unsettling. You can almost see the metaphorical roses that you imagine Pax is offering in the original transform into rohypnol before your very eyes. The following instrumental almost comes as a relief as you slowly extricate yourself from the hypnotic state that Arts has led you into, before sadly it's all over.
If there’s one problem with "Progressions", it’s the one that every good EP shares, and that’s its length. Arts is great at building a mood and atmosphere that once you’re in, it’s very hard to leave. We want more. Especially if his next release shows as much development, and is as satisfying to listen to, as Progressions.
You can pick Progressions up here at Beats Broke