As a track titled “Driftwood” probably should, this production from Danish beatmaker Shatter Hands begins with a swath of swirling, ambient tones. However, after letting listeners freely—ahem—drift for a good minute or so, “Driftwood” quickly turns into a head-nodding affair as heavily compressed, percussion-lined hip-hop rhythms and an ever-moving, low-bit rate bassline are introduced, riding just underneath the track’s fluid mass of hazy chords. Appropriately enough, Shatter Hands’ production has been selected to close out the forthcoming Beat Garden Vol. 4 compilation, a 17-track collection that is set to offer an array of efforts from across the boom-bap spectrum when it lands on January 25 via Slovakian label Gergaz.

Driftwood