Chants is a producer from Madison that has been releasing music for about the last ten years. Just last year, he gave us the wonderfully inventive album, Seven Spheres, on Astral Plane Recordings. Now he’s back with a collection of unreleased material, lo-fi chill beats to steal for your podcast.

Like many musicians during this quarantine, Chants has gone back into the vaults to shed some light on some older material that never got released. In his case, these beats were originally intended for a couple of collaborative rap projects that never came to fruition. While I’m sad that these projects never materialized, I’m happy that this music is seeing the light of day. Now, this isn’t a beat tape full of instrumental boom bap beats, so you might need to shift your expectations a little when listening to this release. Instead, what you’re getting is a lot of experimental lo-fi downtempo beats, stuff that definitely would have pushed an emcee or two out of their comfort zone a little, but is certainly enjoyable on its own. It’s definitely a headphones listen, because you’re going to want to appreciate all of the intricate musicianship that Chants puts into his beats, whether it be some tight and crisp jazz drumming, or some mellow and beautiful melodic work, or the ways he finds to subvert your expectations by switching up the rhythms or bringing in some unexpected instrumentation. It’s a release that is both soothing to listen to and exciting at that same time.

Few releases have as honest a title as lo-fi chill beats to steal for your podcast. It’s not Chants’ most fully realized release, but even a collection of unreleased beats from him is still better than most other instrumental releases you’re going to get this year.