Blue Sky Black Death, at one time, were one of the best at creating atmospheric, lush, down-tempo hip-hop production, producing for a wide berth of artists in the genre, such as Deniro Farrar, CunninLynguists, Nacho Picasso, and Sadistik. I only mention BSBD because Kaskets, and Waves Of Ashes is largely the brainchild of 88 Ultra, otherwise known as Kingston, otherwise known as Ryan Maguire, who made up half of BSBD. The album sounds largely like a BSBD project, but instead of Young God, Maguire teams with Qreepz, a producer signed to Maguire's label, Ultra Glacial. It's dense, layered, expansive trip-hop/downtempo, and while it does rely on synth and piano lines a lot like other records Maguire has produced, the use of hip-hop samples, horns, lovely-voiced guest vocalists, and an atmosphere full of gentle wonder and beautiful force helps it not to be monotonous or boring in any way. Needless to say, no fan of Blue Sky Black Death or trip-hop/downtempo in general should miss this one.
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