The up-and-coming producer and beat maker Lee Bannon has signed with Ninja Tunes, and he will release his Alternate/Endings LP via the label on December 9th. To celebrate, the artist and label have made available his new Place/Crusher EP as a free download. Bannon has come up the ranks running with Joey Bada$$’ Pro Era crew, and the Bay Area musician told FACT earlier this year that he spent his formative years studying and working with the likes of Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Dan The Automator. On ‘Place/Crusher’, though, we hear Bannon’s continued interest in UK musicians like Squarepusher, Goldie, and in particular Burial, as the artist uses elements of jungle and dub-step to expand the sonic palette of our more local contribution to the sub-genres of hip hop and electronica, trap music. There’s plenty of haunted atmospherics here, and Bannon has an excellent compositional sense that uses negative space and sparse beats to accentuate his moments of intensity, as the street-smart music warily drifts down alleyways and around urban streets searching for that sonic fix.
