A Beat Tape for Your Friends

A Beat Tape for Your Friends

Keys N Krates came up with one of the decade’s heaviest trap-rave bangers in the form of 2013’s “Dum Dee Dum,” but with A Beat Tape for Your Friends, the Toronto trio aims for something a little more intimate. Modeled after classic beat tapes like J Dilla’s Donuts, the all-instrumental album flips disco breaks and chipmunk-soul vocals into breezy, easy-on-the-ear tunes geared to road trips with the top down. Nineties piano house fuels the bubbling groove of “Morning Joy,” while the title of “Hawt Disco Loop” is self-explanatory; the wistful “Summers End” is pitched somewhere between chillwave and The Avalanches. Few might have expected this from Keys N Krates, but listen closely to the vocal edits of “Sad Piano” and you can hear a resemblance to the way they chopped up the topline of their big hit. It may be presented as a side project, but A Beat Tape showcases the group in a whole new light.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada