Washington DC's Antonio Mendez, known to most as Lindsay Lowend, has put his musical talent and songwriting skill on full display with yesterday's free release of "Scrimshaw."
While the vast majority of Lowend productions are exceedingly light and beautiful soundscapes, "Scrimshaw" may be the pinnacle of that vein of production. Upon first listen, you may easily discount the track entirely, as it has no distinct drop or specific points of interest, but that is exactly what makes the track such a triumph. It flows so effervescently, soaring with it's bright and brilliant plucked strings accompanied by beautiful bells and slyly swirling synths. However it's the cleverly placed clicks that really propel "Scrimshaw" from mere elevator music to something more deserving of a thoughtful second listen.While very much so a jazz inspired production, at times it becomes inexplicably electronic, with its reversing course, spinback effects (1:15ish). However, Lowend reorganizes the sounds, regaining its original stride and purpose, easing us back into his flirtatious fluttering. The crowning moment comes around 2:45 with the resolving chord progression, that for some reason, reminds me of the 8-bit soundtrack of RBI Baseball (listen here). Funnily enough, this isn't the first time Lindsay Lowend and baseball have gone together, as a matter of fact the first time I came across LL was through his collaborations with Jonah Baseball.
If you've enjoyed "Scrimshaw," I'm confident that you'll also appreciate their collaborative remixes of Bobby Tank and GoldLink "Semiprecious" and "Ay Ay," respectively. My favourite JB/LL collab however is an original, "Brian Williams." Of course Lindsay Lowend has more of his own productions, worthy of checking out as well, originals: "Tower," "Glen Eden Station," "Zoning Ordinance: Venus," and remixes; Rhythm District "Unspoken," Mr. Carmack "Roller" and Beyonce "Irreplaceable." Go ahead and get yourself some free Lindsay Lowend.
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