After making his debut on Asta Hiroki's Folded Music imprint - with 'Wander' - a surreal EP inspired by ‘Alice In Wonderland’ last year, Manchester-based producer and visual artist - catch92 provides another intriguing collection of hip hop beats, jazzy bumps, and downtempo electronica on his first full-length for the label - ‘Patchwork’.

Compiled using any and every production method at his disposal, with the overarching ethos of being entirely open to exploring any musical avenue and not worrying about maintaining a specific sound, instrument, or narrative throughout the collection. ‘Patchwork’ is a winding and meandering lesson in musical freedom within beat music that harks back to the likes of J Dilla’s classic record - ‘Donuts’, and the widespan creations of Madlib, Knxwledge, and the great hip hip and beat-tapes of days gone by.

Having steadily gained a reputation as one of the most interesting names working with leftfield hip hop styles catch92 has received praise and regular spins on BBC 6 Music, FIP, Couleur 3, RadioEins, and across the Radio Campus network, in addition to some big placements on key Spotify hip hop editorial playlists.

The producer himself explains the spark behind the project:

“Patchwork” is a melting pot of sounds, styles, genres and vibes that are, when alone, free-standing and hold their own with a unique identity, but when put in a collection, they somehow still make sense in a beautiful chaos. In the patchwork, everything neither fits nor stands out. I also see the patchwork as the process of actually making this album - parts from different projects were taken and resampled or adjusted to fit other drums etc; there was never a moment where I held back from creating something new from something old.”

-catch92

It’s as versatile as you might expect from this approach and truly a magnetic record. Opening with the exotica and library music sounding beat of opener ‘The Fray’ we quickly traverse the modern and atmospheric pitched vocal track ‘Thoughts’, a 127bpm instrumental jazz swinger in the shape of third track - ‘Shuffle’, classic soul-flipping nostalgia on ‘Anor’, and a fistful of chilled beats of all shapes and sizes for good measure.

Consistently adventurous and intriguing throughout, ‘Patchwork’ is the perfect tonic for the discerning listener who values experimentation and variety in their music choices.