The Twilite Tone - The Clearing (Stones Throw)

Enter The Twilite Tone’s instrumental hip-hop world with The Clearing, his wonderful debut long player on Stones Throw

The Clearing is a set of essential beathead jams straight out of Chicago from The Twilite Tone (aka producer/musician Anthony Khan) and aptly released on Stones Throw. We get that 1990s underground hip-hop quality of sound because the main means of production is the Akai MPC, but at the same time The Twilite Tone keeps things fresh and makes the MPC his own, carving out thrillingly distinct and compelling tracks in the process. The giddy creativity on display brings to mind Mo’ Waxers The Psychonauts and DJ Shadow, with a healthy dose of J Dilla’s Donuts in the mix. Tone’s tracks lie somewhere between Shadow’s long form cuts and Dilla’s sonic sketches, sharing the deep dive hip-hop world building of both.

“Introduction//Journey Into Sound” replaces Rod Serling with a disco-soul diva invitation into this trans-genre musical story and brings a less uptight HAL 9000 along for the ride. The crisp-as-anything beats and miniature David Axelrod epics of “The Lite” follow, recalling early DJ Shadow at his punchiest. “It’s You//Issues” drops pitched-up soul sample bombs and the results are devastatingly brilliant; a joyous backpacking head-nodder if ever there was one. Underpinned by a digger’s delight of a drum break, “Do It Properly” opens with a civil rights speech before launching into squelching synths and twisted p-funk grooves. Meanwhile, “The Sound” gets real heavy as a backroom Dr Dre gets it on with a bleep & bass workout.

The neo-soul meets hip-hop double-hitters “Baby Steps” and “I Still Need Love” are, respectively, glitched-up and block party ready. Whereas “All’s Fair”, with its 80s synth sounds and elastic bass, is off-kilter SF soul from a breakdancing future. Tone celebrates Chicago’s rich dance music past with a final trilogy of tunes. There’s the broken down almost-house of “Honorable Mention”, the sub-aquatic disco joint “Golden Silence” and the four-to-the-floor cut-up clubber “Taxi Cab Confessions”. Such genre slips are navigated beautifully and The Clearing maintains its instrumental hip-hop heart throughout while joining musical dots. The Twilite Tone’s wide-eyed MPC explorations are very much a palette-cleansing joy to experience, over and over again.

The Twilite Tone Bandcamp

Stones Throw