AraabMuzik
It should be fascinating to watch this beatmaker work live when AraabMuzik performs Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Clift Hotel. 9 p.m., free with RSVP; www.morganshotelgroup.com/rsvp/clift-sessions.html.
He got his start producing icily aggressive gangsta rap beats for Harlem's Dipset crew, but AraabMuzik — the stage moniker of Rhode Island native Abraham Orellana — is pioneering a new flavor of moody electronica. As numerous online videos prove, Orellana is a virtuoso of the MPC, a drum machine-like tool he uses to slice up song samples into their individual elements, then hammer them manually into new textures with face-melting speed and precision. On last year's solo debut, Electronic Dream, Orellana took cheesy house tunes, dismantled them, and spun the remnants into palaces of dread — funky but foreboding, not danceable yet totally engrossing on their own.
Tags: Hear This, Show Preview, Abraham Orellana, The Diplomats (Band), Rhode Island, Clift Hotel - Book Direct, Clift Hotel, Clift Hotel, Redwood Room