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I forget how I first heard of Eddou XL’s work, but I think his music was recommended to me by a Micro-Chop reader or a producer I interviewed a few years back. Whatever the case, I’ve enjoyed checking out his beats over the years. I caught his release No Mistakes in Jazz around the time it came out in 2019, but I don’t think I fully digested the release at the time due to busyness and life events.
In recent months I’ve revisited many of my instrumental hip-hop-focused playlists and done many a Bandcamp deep dive. During this time I’ve come back to No Mistakes in Jazz and I’m so glad.
According to the liner notes Eddou embraced a “free-form” style on the record by performing live edits to programmed beats, evoking the improvisational approach of jazz. This leads to a blend of soft, melodic samples and sounds composed with a beatmaker esthetic a la “Samba on Saturn.”
As much as I enjoy other moments on the album, I can’t stop listening to “Candied Yams.” The track blends a multitude of sounds including an extended organ sample, some soft, jazz-style drums, and drum machine hits. The perfectly layered beat - which is further complimented by well-placed vocal samples - evokes multiple emotions. I can’t recommend this one enough.
Enjoy, and please let me know what you think in the comments. You can listen to “Candied Yams” on any platform here. You can also connect with Eddou XL on Bandcamp, Instagram, and SoundCloud.