The beat rolls and rolls, the percussion thumps, the bass hums softly over the strings, and the synth keyboard is geared toward jam character: Lab Progression is on the smooth side and kicks the Lo-Fi routine with ease and skill. The duo is made up of Jammin Berris and Midan. The former writes pianist and guitarist on his business card, the latter plays bass and obviously knows his way around an instrument. Their first album together, recently released on Sichtexot’s Casual Low Grind imprint, is a solid 13-track exclamation point on the local beatmaker scene. They know what grooves are, keep the jazz on a loose leash and classically level the boom and bap at 90 beats per minute, give or take a few. To keep this going for the length of the album, their funk deliberately lacks elevation. Instead of retort strumming, there are melodies and arrangements with swing, and the carefully interspersed samples add subtle accents. The result is laid-back, yet tense—and definitely too much of a good thing for the random soundtrack on ubiquitous I’m-focusing-on-the-here-and-now playlists.
Amine Laje
Datsha
Rotary Phono Lab