Sy ShacklefordYou know how you can tell when a musician is dedicated to their craft? When you learn that they have a vault of unreleased material. Though this fact usually comes to light after the musician has passed away (2Pac and Prince both come to mind), it also still holds true for the living. Atmosphere DJ/producer Ant is one such artist. Since the fall of last year, he’s been releasing a series of albums starting with “Collection of Sounds Vol. 1” which showcase his ability to blend a myriad of different sounds into hip-hop instrumentals. With this being the final installment, Ant invites listeners to experience both the synesthesia and chromesthesia of his productions on “Collection of Sounds Vol. 4”.
Appropriately, the latter condition kicks off the album with “Hearing in Dark Colors”. Beginning with a vocal sample, it then leads into a haunting looped string sample over lo-fi snares. The 808-drum driven “Darker Colors” isn’t anywhere near as dark as the title indicates. Even with the deep bass groove and piano sample, it doesn’t sound pitch black or menacing. However, this is remedied on “Prelude Revisited”, with the hand-clap snares, bass, and the ominous backdrop. “All Right Now, Listen” goes for nearly three minutes and contains record scratching, hard snares, and a guitar sample. So far, it’s one of the strongest beats on the album:
Throughout the album, thoughts were evoked about which rappers would have enough chemistry with the production to rap over it. With “Behind the Sound”, its melancholic piano and guitar sample arrangements would work for Slug, Brother Ali, or even mainstream emcees such as J. Cole. The “chipmunk soul” sound rears its head on “Day After 2010” with a high-pitched vocal sample making it more noticeable than the sonic canvass it was painted on. “Just Another Three A.M.” sounds like it was left on the cutting room floor of “When Life Gives You Lemons”, but nonetheless evokes the feeling of being buzzed while driving around in the middle of the night. “Aaand” has quite the vintage sound to it, sounding as though it was sampled from a very old and dusty 45 record along with a vocal sample about depression.
“Side Eight Synesthesia” is a two-parter in one. The first part begins with a cacophony of sounds, then a vocal interlude before switching to a synth-heavy hip-hop instrumental with the word “synesthesia” spoken throughout. “Created with a Heavy Brush” has ‘arena rock’ written all over it. Its loud use of drums combined with a crunching guitar riff would get an audience hyped at a sports game. “Hearing Situations” is mostly skeletal and the distorted vocals make up most of the music. On “All Sounds in Place”, Ant shows that while his samples vary from all over, his production craft is his own:
With his productions, Ant has always been particularly top-notch in flipping piano samples. He demonstrates this on the two tracks which start off the final quarter of the album: With “A Pinch Brighter”, the piano and vocal samples have a heavy helping of gospel while “Classical Piano Number Seven” makes its case over synthesized snares and bass. “4-Track Beyond Beat / Supreme Shoutout” is more of a filler interlude and “Coloring, Shading and Endings” closes the album out. Ant’s use of vocal and instrument samples come together nicely as a melodic blend on the final track. Although I think some of the previous volumes in this series are better, “Collection of Sounds Vol. 4” is a testament to Ant’s ability as a producer. Also, despite proclamations to the contrary, this won’t be the last instrumental album we’ll receive from Anthony “Ant” Davis.