DJ Toner Q4rtet-Out Side.
Label: Tangential Music.
Format: Digital.
Release Date: '3rd' May 2024.
Over the last two decades, Spanish musician and producer DJ Toner, has been determined to break the barriers between hip hop, jazz and electronica. This he's successfully done when collaborating with other artists, when working as a solo artist or with his DJ Toner Q4rtet. Their new solo album Out Side, will be released by Tangential Music on the '3rd' May 2024. This is just the latest chapter in DJ Toner's long career.
Antonio Herrera, aka DjToner, is based in Granada, in southern Spain's Andalusia region. However, he's been familiar face in the Spanish music scene for three decades. His career began in the nineties when Domestic was formed. They were also known as the Domestic Jazz Collective, and had a sound that was unique and innovative.
DJ Toner led the collective of musicians and DJs as the fused live club sounds, jazz, hip hop and flamenco. It was an innovative sound that featured some well known Spanish musician. This included drummer Marc Ayza, bassist Francis Posé, flautist and saxophonist Jorge Pardo and flamenco singer Enrique Morente, They were often joined by various international musicians, including French trumpeter Erik Truffaz. However, the collective only released two albums.
Their debut was Domestic, which was released in 2001 and showcased their inventive genre-melting sound. This was just the start for the collective led by DJ Toner.
Three years later, in 2004, the collective returned with their sophomore album Microscopical. It was a very different album to the collective's debut. The album was a mixture of hip hop, jazz and electronica, the three genres which DJ Toner believed offered him the creative freedom he wanted to make innovative music.
DJ Toner didn't want to sacrifice the urban origins of his music. This was one of the building blocks of the music he was making. That was the case in his career after Domestic.
This included when he collaborated with other artists, then when he embarked upon a solo career and later, when he formed the DJ Toner Q4rtet. Always, the three building blocks for the music he made were hip hop, jazz and electronica.
When DJ Toner released his debut album Grandmaster Jazz Vol.1 in April 2016, it featured some top Spanish musicians that were part of Domestic, and French trumpeter Erik Truffaz. This all-star band was led by DJ Toner who seamlessly and successfully combined jazz and hip hop on eight tracks. Critics eagerly awaited the followup.
They would have to be patient. DJ Toner was busy on other projects. In 2017, Martha High and DJ Toner released the funky, soulful single We Are One.
Five years after the release of Grandmaster Jazz Vol.1, DJ Toner was back. This time, it wasn't a solo album. Instead, the album Blessed Are The Weird People was credited to the DJ Toner Q4rtet. Joining DJ Toner were trumpeter Erik Truffaz, vocalist Lain Faz plus trumpeter and saxophonist Jorge Pardo. The album was a fusion of hip hip, jazz, funk and soul that was released to plaudits and praise captured the imagination of DJ Toner's fans.
The following year, 2022, DJ Toner returned with a new limited edition single Mimesis. However, his next project was with his Q4rtet.
In the studio, the DJ Toner Q4rtet recorded ten new tracks that became their sophomore album, Out Side.
Opening the album is La Rimosa, a slow and dreamy slice of jazz-tinged and smokey, cinematic hip hop. The languid arrangement has a cinematic sound that's also mesmeric. It's going to be difficult for the DJ Toner Q4rtet to surpass a track this good.
O´Beat and combines elements of jazz and hip hop with trip hop. Scratches, snippets of vocal and crisps combine on this cinematic soundscape.
Flama is a reminder of the music DJ Toner made with Domestic. It's a captivating fusion of flamenco, hip hop, electronica and cinematic sounds.
Straight away, Camina has a dramatic and moody sound. That's the case throughout the track as the Q4rtet combine everything from hip hop, jazz, electronica and library music. In doing so, they create an element of drama, mystery and suspense that sounds as if it belongs on the soundtrack to a movie.
Sweetband opens with a combination of samples, suspense, scratches and crispy beats combining with a dark piano and moody horns. The result is an atmospheric and dramatic fusion of hip hop, jazz and electronica.
The introduction the The Day has a dreamy, wistful jazzy sound. Soon, though, DJ Toner is combining hip hop and electronica with jazz. In doing so, he create a truly memorable genre-meting track that's one of the album's highlights.
Beeps and squeaks open Out Side creating a futuristic, sci-fi sound. They're joined by a myriad of samples which combine with beats and the Q4rtet. Together they play their part in a dramatic, moody fusion of jazz-tinged hip hop, electronica and trip hop.
Esperanza has a wistful and melancholy sound as jazz, smokey hip hop and electronica is combined by DJ Toner. However, it's trumpeter Erik Truffaz that plays a starring role in what's another of the highlights of Out Side.
DJ Toner's love of hip hop is to the fore on Under Beat, a dark, dramatic and moody track. Scratches, samples and strings are combine with crunchy beats as the track builds and reveals it cinematic secrets.
Closing Out Side is Surprise. Just like other tracks on the album, this is a carefully crafted fusion of hip hop, jazz and electronica. The result is a dramatic and cinematic sound that closes the album on a high.
Three years after the release of the DJ Toner Q4rtet's debut album Blessed Are The Weird People, they return with the followup Out Side. It features ten new tracks where the Q4rtet combine jazz, hip hop and electronica. To this, they add elements of flamenco, trip hop, dub and even library music. The result is a genre-melting album, a carefully crafted sonic stew with samples, scratches and crispy beats galore. However, there's also some truly talented musicians who play a hugely important part in the album's sound.
Jazz-tinged hip hop is one way of describing parts of the album. It's also cinematic and sometimes atmospheric and dreamy. Other times the music is wistful and melancholy. Sometimes, though, it's dark and dramatic or moody and broody. It's an album that's never boring, as the DJ Toner Q4rtet constantly spring surprises throughout the ten tracks on Out Side. It's their finest outing, Out Side is an album which anyone with even a passing interest in hip hop has to hear.
DJ Toner Q4rtet-Out Side.
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