ElekTro4

ElekTro4 discovered his love for hip-hop in the early ’80s and began collecting vinyl, DJing and producing in the early ’90s. He has had one seven-inch release, "Tell Her,” which dropped in 2004 and received critical acclaim all over the world from beat fanatics like Gilles Peterson, Zero DB and the like. Keystroke One is the debut album out on Bully, home to Sixtoo, P-Love, Contoller 7 and more. This album has a definite theme and is broken down into two parts: "Portrait of the City” and "The Suicide Suite.” The first segment is reminiscent of the Kenny Dope, "booming in your jeep” sound with that heavy bass and those ’90s sounding Casio drum machine beats. Part two gets deeper and more experimental — very DJ Shadow-esqe — keeping on a mainly instrumental tip with audio snippets strewed throughout. ElekTro4 is a mad talented drummer and his skill really speaks on this album. Cuts and scratches are courtesy of DJ Signify and hip-hop legend Steinski. Keystroke One is a solid album that guides the eardrums on a journey starting slow with head nodding joints and moving further into tracks like "Three Views Of A Secret” and "The Explain Nation,” and one of those albums that should be left on repeat as each listen is a discovery of all the different sounds and layers.