Beat Tripping
By
Happy Headz
It’s always good to have something new and a little
different to wrap my ears around and the new album Beat Tripping by Happy Headz
certainly fits the bill there. Released on Nuke Fam Records, it is produced by
someone you might be familiar with, one Haynesy. Beat Tripping is the follow up to the debut One Summer and I'll drop a link to that below too.
My previous experience reviewing Haynesy’s work such as DopeBeat Biz Vol. 1 (2019) and his work alongside JD, Freedom of Speech (2020) and
Truth Be Told (2021), has taught me that whatever he puts his mind to becomes a
musical experience of the highest quality, with beats that are infectious and
down-right dope. So, my thoughts are that this will be no exception, even if
I’m not sure what’s coming, I know it’s gonna be pure fire.
Haynesy describes the album as a mix of retro dance, piano
house, Hip Hop, electro, and chilled beats all in one package. Now I always
enjoy a good challenge and so the idea of such a mixed bag of sounds really
piqued my interest and that interest was piqued even more when I noted
appearances from Jabbathakut, JD Guerrilla, Ryan Sanders, Scorzayzee, DJ Blend,
Micky Swags, Wordsmiff Flip and Eskar (Nuke Fam Records). With a line-up like
this alongside Haynesy I was eager to get my headphones on…
So, I’m not gonna keep you hanging around here, so join me on
a trip through Beat Tripping…
Proceedings are started right with Dead Weight (Piano
Mix) a booming house tune which put me in mind of the Chicago house sound
which was big back in the eighties. The infectious beats, bass and that piano
sound really gets you moving while the guest vocalist hits you with this story
that seems to say that no matter how much you want someone, sometimes their
behaviour just makes them a dead weight in your life. After that pulse raising
start to the album a more chilled piano vibe takes us into Grow up and
when the beat drops on this one you realise that the idea there would be some
retro dance vibes here was not understated. Kicking up the BPM a bit it keeps
the pulse racing and makes you wanna just keep moving. There are more vocals
that help to grow that seed in your mind that parts of you just don’t want to
grow up. Guitar vibes and strings guide you into the next track before the beat
drops in and keeps you from wanting to kick back. Although this is a bit more
chilled it still has your head nodding with it’s infectious sound and the
vocals which speak directly at you, inviting you to look at yourself and enjoy
yourself because You Are Enough. So, let the music into your soul and
the ride that is your life.
That dance sound keeps going with bass, drums, and synth
vibes but, Keep Shining has this electronic edge that seems to penetrate
the very core of your being. As you listen to the vocals and feel that beat,
you become aware that your body has unconsciously started moving and there is
no stopping now and you can’t understand how you’re not boogying the night away
in the club but, then maybe you are as another big bass sound hits with Nails
Done Long. This has a more modern vibe or seems to but, before you know it
there are some scratch elements thrown in and you’re suddenly pulled in
different directions to different eras, or maybe that was just me? But, while
I’m wondering what era I’ve been transported to another huge bass sound kicks
in with a female emcee dropping some vocals all about one thing, Cash Money.
The electronic sounds on this on push the limits of your mind while that big
bass sound seems to impact and modify the beat of your own heart, making it
beat in time with the bass sound of the track and pushing energy to new levels.
As the album is thirteen tracks long, we have just reached
the pivot point of the album with The Place (Cuttin’ & Scratchin’ Mix)
which features none other than one of the UK’s leading Hip Hop turntable
maestros, Jabbathakut. The intro suggests this might be another house sound
but, when the beat drops on this one you realise this is an instrumental Hip
Hop banger that has you smiling ear to ear. The pounding drums, keys and heavy
bass sound begin to push your adrenaline levels to the max but, the addition of
Jabba on the cuts and a plethora of classic samples really push those
adrenaline levels beyond their max levels. My advice, bounce, jump around and
nod you head to this one and enjoy these five and half minutes of dopeness. Not
sure what’s to come after that one, the bass hits and the BPM takes over with
another huge club banger in Incy Rides Again (Riga Mix). This one has a
sound that is almost techno but, has elements of the industrial sound and even
Hip Hop cuts But, there is little doubt that by the end of this one whatever
comes next is just gonna carry you on a euphoric energy you won’t wanna come
down from. That sound that carries you on, is the massive DnB sound of Search
Inside, which features JD and Ryan Sanders. Now, honestly DnB has never
been my sound but, this one hits hard with some intelligent and
anti-establishment vibes that encourage you to look inside yourself for the
truth about what is really going on around you and the world at large.
From the pounding sound of DnB we are next transported in
the electronic vibes of the Hip Hop Electro sound with A Random Sofa At 8am
(Retro Electro Mix). This one perfectly captures that electro sound and
brings in some classic samples, cut and scratched to create a sound that many
of us older heads will be vibing with as the electro sound was part of what
introduced us to the Hip Hop sound, in fact I remember sitting on random bas
seats, random train seats, and car seats listening to this kind of music forty
years ago. The Hip Hop sound continues with Love ‘em All, which features
Scorzayzee on the mic. Pounding Hip Hop beats and heavy on the horns and not
forgetting the cut n scratch, this one is a head nod banger that see’s
Scorzayzee celebrate Hip Hop music and the art of making it. With some crafty
wordplay, slick delivery, and some great tongue-in-cheek moments, this has the
energy to keep that smile stretching broadly across your face. Chilled organ
notes guide us into Say Something before the pounding bass beat is
brutal and drops with the force of a 1000lb bomb. This one features Micky
Swags, Wordsmiff Flip and Eskar (Nuke Fam Records) on the vocals with
additional features from DJ Blend and Jabbathakut on the cuts, and is really
all about he art of rapping and using words, similes and metaphors to bring
your thoughts to reality and say something, no matter what it is. This track is a remix of the original Say Something single from DJ Blend and Micky Swags feat. Wordsmiff Flip and Eskar.
The album ends, or rather winds down, with the epic twenty
plus minute Yoga Beatz (Blunts & Blaze Mix), which helps you float
back to earth after spending all of what went before this moment, up in the
stratosphere. There are elements of enigma, eastern flavours and sitar vibes
that mix with a wealth of musical sounds to create this chillout, trip hop
masterpiece that has the capability to take you wherever it is you want to go
as you take a chill pill and drift off into a place of serenity courtesy of
this musical meditative experience…
What a cracking album! I mean, there truly is something here
for anyone and everyone to enjoy, and I don’t say that lightly.
What Happy Headz have done with Beat Tripping
is to encapsulate the feel of a festival, club night or rave vibe, where there
are multiple stages with a variety of musical genres all together in one place,
for one night only. Then the album is finished off, as any good night is, with
an extended chillout session that brings your energy back down to earth, before
letting it drift off once more in a rather different fashion.
The production is truly a masterclass of multi-genre musical
vibes that creates this energy that keeps you rooted in the present, while taking
you back to days gone by but, that’s just from my standpoint as fifty something
dude who has encountered more musical genres that you can shake a stick at. But
the production on every track here perfectly captures the vibe of the musical
genre it denotes. There is little more you say than that really. But, beyond
that the flow of the album is like walking between stages or rooms and
listening to a wealth of different music, while all the time keeping your
energy levels raised up into the atmosphere. It also displays the wealth of influences
that impact on us and how me might not vibe with a certain genre of music but,
under the right conditions, the energy that music creates just draws us in and
we can’t help but let it take control of us.
What you also see here is how, by picking the right guest
artists to feature, it gives another depth, another element to something that
is already, by all appearances, perfect as it is. These guests maybe unknown
vocalists or more well-known artists, even those who have previously worked
together but, all add their stamp, as a part of the Happy Headz Collective, in making this
something truly special.
I must be honest here and say that there is little more I
can say. The words kinda flowed so well as I wrote this and now, I just want to
share it with all of you so, please give this one a listen and enjoy it as much
as I have.
My humble thanks to Haynesy and Eskar of Nuke Fam Records
for asking me to review this truly superb release.
Beat Tripping by Happy Headz is released through Nuke Fam
Records.
On that note,
I’ll see you in the Stratosphere…
Steve
LINKS
You can find all the streaming links for Beat Tripping Here:
https://ditto.fm/beat-tripping
Check Out Nuke Fam Records Website Here:
https://www.nukefamrecords.com/
Check out the Debut album from Happy Headz - One Summer Here:
https://ditto.fm/one-summer-happy-headz
VIDEOS
Beat Tripping Album Sampler
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