Splitface

DARK STAR BY BEN WESTHOFF:::::Though rapper Tucker Booth is rarely right about anything, he’s right about this: Splitface’s beats are almost too good to be rapped over. “They’re hot in and of themselves as instrumentals,” Booth relates, adding that he nonetheless loves to put his imprint on tracks made by the emerging St. Louis producer.Besides laying the groundwork for tracks featuring St. Louis rap luminaries like the Frozen Food Section, Perfect Strangers, and Royal Illite, Splitface also has beats slotted for an upcoming release from esteemed Chicago emcee Serengeti. The 26-year-old producer has become a force on the local scene ever since a skateboarding injury pushed his focus onto music.Using only drums sampled from vinyl, influences like El-P, LTJ Bukem, and Jimi Hendrix can be heard throughout his work. Those and blues and jazz as in, “the rough sounding dirty depressing stuff” he says.“There is something that really grabs me about the blues and smokey-style jazz up until the 1970's,” Splitface goes on. “When I hear that old jazz and blues it hits me in a way that few things can."During the day, Splitface works for an entertainment broker, booking psychics, fire-eaters, and mimes. During his evenings his dark psyche takes over, helping him mimic those crafts’ chaotic imagery on wax. Songs like “Goldsboro” - named for the North Carolina town of his birth - recall the savagery, ecstasy and meandering energy of a circus or a town fair. Tracks like “The Pro’s” with Family Affair, don’t so much evoke movie soundtracks as make you want to go out and film a suspense-ridden black and white thriller yourself. And there’s something raw, almost primal in songs like “Do The Whiteboy,” from an upcoming album featuring Jonathan Toth From Hoth.Virtually unknown just a few years ago, nowadays Splitface has veteran collaborators like AlleyesManifest calling him “the best producer in the city.” Beat-maker Helias, no slouch himself, seconds this superlative. They respect Splitface’s mission, which could be roughly described as bringing a previous generation’s dark pathos back into the light. “I try to stay away from the samples that everyone has already ran a train on,” he says. “I want to give the records that nobody cares about a chance to be heard in new ways.”Ben Westhoff is a featured music critic for Village Voice and Houston Press