Tom Freeman, a Bay Area rap and hip-hop producer and artist known as Freematik, decided to make some music on the road – using only his iPhone. What started out as a fun side project turned into an entire album full of psychedelic hip-hop and electronic music. This concept album is the first of its kind.
According to Freematik, “iMatik is a fresh DJ mixtape full of phat beats, DJ scratching, live synths and all types of crazy sounds, made using only an iPhone. Everything was made using apps available from the iTunes app store, such as Beatmaker, iDrum, Flare, Jasuto, etc. The parts were programmed over the course of a few months, in places including hotels, motels, the beach, bars, and anywhere else you would bring a phone.
Freematik works with underground rap artists primarily and his influence can be heard on a number of their mixtapes as well as in local bars and clubs. He produces his own albums as well. Like his style? Like him on Facebook. And follow him on Twitter.
In their review of iMatik, Big Beef and Beer says the album “is filled with ethereal and ambient tones over strong synthetic beats with lots of vocal samples… [which] are interesting, cool, and sometimes funny.” Samples include lines like “fuck you, donuts are awesome!” They go on to point out that iMatik is more of a proof of concept album than anything. Though Freematik is the first to have gone down this path, surely others will follow.
