DJ Jazzy Geoff Barrow and his amazing QUAKERS hip hop collective

[The Mollusk]

Quakers - the hip hop production supergroup consisting of Geoff Barrow, Portishead's engineer 7-Stu-7 and Australian DJ and producer Katalyst - released their astonishingly good self-titled debut album way back in 2012. The record combined highly eclectic beats - ranging from classic boom bap to hauntological bleep bloop to a bombastic brass section covering the bass hook from Radiohead's "The National Anthem" - with a dazzling array of guest MCs both well-known and underground to sculpt a formidable 41-track hydra with a meticulous flow which grabs you by the short and curlies and doesn't let the grin drop from your face for the full duration. If you're not familiar with this album, go and get familiar.

8 years later, I certainly wasn't expecting a sequel (much as I wanted one), so you could say I was rather pleasantly surprised to hear the news that not only was there a new one on the way, but they were also putting out an instrumental beat tape of tracks independent of the forthcoming second album. Fuck YES, we're not worthy!

This stuff is brilliant. All of it. The beat tape Supa K: Heavy Tremors is a gobsmacking 50 tracks long, and the sequel Quakers II: The Next Wave is 33, featuring the same ceaseless flurry of face-scrunching beats and dazzling guest MCs. For any hip hop fan, this is essential listening.

One of a Kind (feat. Guilty Simpson)

Approach With Caution (feat. Sampa The Great)

Supa K: Heavy Tremors (Full instrumental beat tape with visuals)

2020's been a rough year and amidst all of the "damn, this is prescient as hell" and "a bleak anthem for the strange times we're living in" music we've been soaking up, these two releases are scintillating red-hot motherfuckers to keep the head held high and bopping steady through the mire. Get on it.

[Shaky]

I haven't been in a hop hop headspace for a little while but this is fucking great! Thanks for the heads up.

[phantom_power]

What with this, Beak> and Portishead, Geoff Barrow is developing a pretty great back catalogue of albums

[The Mollusk]

Yes, a whole barrowfull of wheely great music

[buzby]

Did he ever manage to sell his campervan?

[Non Stop Dancer]

Did he ever manage to sell his campervan?

Ha! I don't follow him on twitter any more because he's a merchant of Doom and gloom, but always enjoyed his attempts to offload that.

[Petey Pate]

This is fire. Thanks for sharing this!