K-Murdock is a D.C.-based producer that has been plugging away from years, mostly as part of the group Panacea, but also with such artists as Mega Ran. His name might not be as well known as other producers, but I get the feeling that this will be changing in the near future. This EP gives us a brief glimpse as to why.

The EP came from a bunch of random songs that K-Murdock recorded over the last couple years that didn’t have a home. Finally he got the idea to group them together, using the Ronin theme to tie everything together. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, a Ronin refers to a samurai soldier who is masterless. Despite having no original intention of grouping them together, everything fits on the EP remarkably well.

K-Murdock was definitely influenced by the Native Tongues sound, and he builds some nice mid-tempo grooves off of some jazz samples. His chemistry with Portland emcee Braille on the opening track of “Carnival” is fantastic in this regard. He also veers into some nice hip-hop/soul area, with “Brown Eyes” featuring Commoners & Kings, that is reminiscent of a Common and Erykah Badu joint such as “Love of my Life.” “The Wu-Tang Joint” with Mr. Miranda has big drums and horns that I’m sure will get people on the dance floor. “Slaves” with Real Reid contains a quiet rumination on how hard it can be to makes end meet. “Pieces” features a great down tempo beat with a nice electric piano riff that creates a futuristic dreamscape. Junclassic helps keep everything grounded on “The Future” with a hook that asks questions about how we’re going to make things better moving forward.

It might not have been planned this way, but The Ronin is a happy accident that worked out rather well. K-Murdock is a talented producer who can collaborate well with numerous artists. I know we’ll be hearing much more from him in the future.