I mentioned Chicago’s Galapagos4 Crew on Deejay Om’s lovely effort a few posts ago. This leftfield instrumental hiphop/beat crew has been on my playlist with their 2005 stuff for some time with artists like Mestizo, Denizen Kane, Royce, Meaty Ogre and Mike Gao. It’s a shame I have only recently heard of this crew, but I’m planning to update myself by buying some of their recent stuff, because they rock so much.

Here’s 3 tracks from the Chinese American beatmaster Mike Gao, the first is a reggae tinged track from an 2007 release on 13X Recordings. (I haven’t seen his name on the label roster, wonder if he’s left GP4?.) and the other two are from his 2005 tour cd “Foliage“. The remaining 2 tracks are by Denizen Kane and Mestizo & Machelle Hombre, a jazzy beat with rhymes in french in the second part by Machelle.

galapagos4 talents live, and whooa is that the biggest living beatbox i’ve ever seen?

mestizo performing live