Chief

In editing together five years' worth of one-off collaborations for his debut full-length, Swiss producer Chief is hoping to show the world the many sides of his beat-making prowess, and he certainly gets off to a decent start. His succinctly-titled Collabo Collection kicks off with the moody, Moka Only-assisted "Felt Before," followed by the cleverly diced-up, jazz-inflected source material of slow burner "Jazz Unconditional," with both tracks demonstrating the beatsmith's penchant for laid out late night grooves. Unfortunately, it becomes quickly apparent that our humble producer is a one-trick pony, and that trick is dated and not particularly interesting. With a severely limited BPM range, and an equally restricted sound library, there isn't a whole lot to separate one track from the next, leaving that task to a guest list boasting names like Blu, Les Nubians, J. Sands and Abstract Rude. But with seemingly little invested in their producer friend's success, none of the guests (save for the proficient Co$$) offer up anything worth writing home about.