Stream: Karriem Riggins, ‘4Es’J & Oddness’

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Karriem Riggins (photo by Darren Clark)
Karriem Riggins (photo by Darren Clark)

Artist Karriem Riggins wears many hats, but the most notable are as a jazz drummer since early childhood, and hip-hop producer since his teens, with recent production credits including the entirety of Common’s “Black America Again,” Earl Sweatshirt’s “I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside,” Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo,” and Kaytranada’s “99%.” After his 2012 debut “Alone Together,” Riggins crafted a slew of new music for himself as well, and his second solo album, “Headnod Suite,” is out Feb. 24 via Stones Throw. The 29-track effort is, as Karriem explains, “a concept of several rhythmic ideas fused together. I wanted to explore the power of interludes and marrying different styles and harmony together.” The first single fits that bill nicely in the 2-for-1 combo “4Es’J & Oddness,” kicking off with a running cymbal backbone as the distorted percolation of sound gives way to a spinning mix of churning synth tones, flipped soul samples and sporadic bursts of string tones, before launching into a 40-second coda that sounds like Sega Genesis turnt up in tha club, with bold bursting beats, an ever-shifting melody, and the only lyrics of the track, asking to “listen up, listen up, and work it out.”

||| Stream: “4Es’J & Oddness”