Needle to the Groove is happy to welcome mint.beats to the family! We met mint.beats years ago when he would frequent our San Jose shop to find sample gems on vinyl. As a part of a few local bands, Swells and The Lunatics, it wasn’t until recently that we realized they have had a secret weapon for years. Mbint.beats is a multi-instrumentalist who shifted his focus to hip hop inspired production in recent years and his new project, LVLZ, sees him exploring lo-fi boom bap production in the realm of Black Milk, Ras G, Knxwledge, or dare we even say, Dilla.
Through guitar and synths, paired with vivid samples, this crafty project is an ethereal, homespun package with striking moments throughout it course — 13 tracks of layers and soundscapes that slowly unravel, revealing all the interestingly personal facets of mint.beats’ self-taught approach to music making.
Speaking about his project mint.beats says “LVLZ is a collection of beats created between 2020 – 2022 while I was living in Downtown San Jose. Each track was originally entitled as the date they were created to help me document my headspace in each moment. My vision for the project was to create a soundscape that resembled one’s subconscious, a place where things don’t always make sense as they unravel. The tracklist was meticulously arranged to transport the listener from one immersive environment into another.”
Needle to the groove is proud to present LVLZ on limited mint green cassette cartridge with full color original artwork made by Isaac Asuncion. Only 100 copies were pressed!