Uncut Gems (Colored LP)

PRESSED ON BLUE AND WHITE SPLATTER VINYL Swedish producer Max I Million is back on his hip-hop steez with Uncut Gems, an instrumental album that blends left-field creativity with boom-bap vibes. It’s equal parts futuristic and nostalgic, a distinctive combination of sounds that never gets too comfortable, nor too experimental. Pulling that off is no easy feat, and neither is making it sound this damn good. But that’s just what Max does with this project. Uncut Gems is pure audio dope that’s loaded with musical layers. And it turns out that Max actually produced these tracks with that concept in mind, so that listeners would play it again and again to unearth new sounds and production techniques with each spin. “I want to elevate minds and make them feel inclined to, in the words of Dilla, ‘Turn me up another notch in your system!’,” he says. It’s for those reasons that it’s easy to get lost in standout tracks like “The Cat,” which is as unpredictable as the animal it’s named for, and “Jazzitorium,” a piano-laced tribute to The Pharcyde that’s brimming with ideas. That’s not to mention the Quasimoto-esque “Let Em Know” and emotional “Cold Blooded.” These four tracks alone are enough to make Uncut Gems a must-listen, but when you combine them the rest of the tape? You’re looking at pure brilliance from a truly gifted producer. The 12 track instrumental project has arrived for both digitally and on vinyl in a limited blue and white splatter configuration, with album artwork designed by Joe Buck. Tracklist: A1 Uncut Gems (Intro) A2 Ait's All Gravy A3 The Cat A4 Let 'Em Know A5 Dopest Ghost In Town A6 Deep B1 Big Time B2 Wavy B3 Cold Blooded B4 Jazzitorium B5 How Smilla Got Her Groove Back B6 Bless Up