London-based beatmaker Gan Gemi, who impressed highly with his cleverly crafted ‘Runner’ EP, recently returned with the equally impressive ‘Typebeats vol.1’ mixtape.
His debut EP ‘Runner’ (released earlier this year) represented his journey of discovery and growth, giving a taster of his incredible music, which transports the listener to otherworldly dimensions, creating his own forever-expanding universe. ‘Typebeats Vol. 1’ – an 18-track-strong beat tape of Gemi’s original productions.
He explains: These are a collection of beats I’ve made over the past few years. They were each made in one sitting and I tried to make them as spontaneously as I could without thinking too much about more technical elements I’d usually consider in my other music. This includes sound choice, proper mixing and rhythmic timing. This “rough and ready” approach was a new refreshing way for me to create, and helped me to find creativity in not overthinking and just following feelings instead of thoughts. Lots of my sampling techniques were inspired by producers like J Dilla, Knxwledge, Madlib and others.
Tapping into a rich well of authentic expression, ‘Typebeats Vol.1’ is a tapestry of sonics, melding flavours from across the globe, complete with tranquil moments of peace, beautifully underlined by expertly curated samples and rugged and raw drum programming.
Gan Gemi has curated a playlist of tunes that influence and shape his artistic vision. This one is for the heads, from Common to J Dilla, Quasimoto to Knxwledge and beyond. Without further ado, over to Gan Gemi..
Influences and inspirations:
“There’s a YouTube video of 9th Wonder breaking down how J Dilla manipulated the sample for his song “Don’t Cry” off of Donuts. This technique he used, chopping the original’s kick and snare under the music and playing them back as if they were just drum samples really made me realise there are no rules when sampling. I applied this mindset to my beats and really tried to open myself to letting the samples tell their own story. A recent example of a producer that has inspired me is Inflo, whose production is all over Little Simz’s “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” album. The perfect showcase of this is the third song, “Two Worlds Apart”. The Smokey Robinson sample has been chopped up so intricately that the melody is almost unrecognisable, and Simz and Inflo manipulate the original lyrics to create their own hook – “Our two worlds apart”. This specific technique I emulated on my song “Walks”, where I piece together the sample’s lyrics from two separate verses to make my own chorus – “I’ve got to find myself through these changes.”
