Sev Seveer is a producer from Chicago and part of the Push Beats Collective. The last time we heard from him was back in 2016, when he released his EP Smithereens. Now he comes back with a collection of beats, Shelfie Baps II.

As you might infer from the title of this collection, this release is the second installment in a series of previously unreleased boom bap material that had been sitting on the shelf, or “shelfie baps.” Sev Seveer is a talented producer, and he’s learned how to push his beats outside of the usual box most instrumental artists get stuck in, so while these beats might be generally classified as boom bap, you can be assured that Sev Seveer will be experimenting with time signatures, dissonant melodic elements, distortion, and pretty much anything else you can think of. The only real drawback to a collection like this is that it does play as a compilation, meaning that the music can jump around a little bit and not flow perfectly from track to track. In the grander scheme of things, this isn’t a big deal, but if you’ve spent time with projects like Smithereens or Constant Elevation, and you know how well Sev Seveer’s work can come together, this can be just the slightest bit disappointing. It’s all relative, though. If I’m judging this against other producers’ collections of unreleased material, this is upper tier. Sev Seveer has put in the time and the work, playing countless live shows, honing his craft, and he’s developed a unique voice as an instrumental artist, and it shows on Shelfie Baps II.

Shelfie Baps II serves as a reminder that Sev Seveer and the Push Beats collective have made some truly interesting and unique instrumental hip hop and electronic music over the years. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long before we get his next fully formed project.