Even Mike Perry and Austin Keultjes, the Chicago-based producers who make up Supreme Cuts, aren’t quite sure how to label the music they make. “I wish there was a way we could put ‘R&B’ with a winky face,” says Perry to one source, while the duo calls it “Rhythm and Melody” elsewhere. No matter which words the pair uses to describe their particular blend of chopped up beats, elastic ambient swells, and down-the-rabbit-hole mid-song digressions, one thing is clear: the attention that Supreme Cuts gained with instrumental 2012 debut Whispers in the Dark has given them the opportunity to work with a whole slew of guest vocalists, including R&B collective JODY.
When Perry and Keultjes initially began collaborating, they set their sights on hip hop production. This influence comes across powerfully in “Down” featuring JODY, even without the spaced-out blend of rapping and R&B-oriented vocals that the collective brings to the mix. Opening with static crackling over soft background notes, “Down” weaves an aura of atmospheric hip hop through the use of fast-paced, distant drum loops and synth-y sax notes, while JODY’s casual vocals certainly add a smoky relaxation to the song. And although the listener never quite gets the impression that the song is going anywhere, necessarily, “Down” tells what might be considered an even more interesting story; that of any given moment on the journey, and the mood of it, which still seems to saturate the air.