Album of the Week: Treasure Fingers - OG Treasure

Our Album of the Week by Treasure Fingers was directly inspired from our Guest Mix by Birdee which features some fantastic disco, funk and house selections. The second track in, 'I Do Need You', is from TF's latest album OG Treasure and really got me hooked and set the overall tone and vibe of the mix. I didn't take long for me to discover it was a fresh drop that came alongside two other amazing tunes, 'Music Life' and 'Brony Funk' to round out the EP which features on TF's own imprint Psycho Disco.

Treasure Fingers - OG Treasure

This 3 track EP comes primed with a host of electrifying piano riffs, diva vocals, dynamic breaks, and signature blips, beeps, and other quirky FXs. With a superb free download Vocal Edit to kick of the collection it's only natural that you go and support the rest of the EP and buy the accompanying tunes.

Music Life (Vocal Edit)

As I mentioned in the lead in, Treasure Fingers unleashes some energetic piano chords, and uses them to dramatic effect in the opening bars of this tune. There's a host of layered percs in the intro made up of a collection of hand drums and digital FX'd pads that set forth a dynamic rhythm supplemented by a super clean kick and snare combo. An emotionally charged vocal sample echoes into the foreground captivating your emotions as the track builds with anticipation helped along by a super cool acid-style arpeggiator. The crescendo is unbelievable and the quick looping "ohhh" has a resounding effect as the song kicks into another gear. There's a really interesting shift in the drum pattern with swinging percussion layers that provide a clever transition into the next chorus line demonstrating TF's constant attention to detail in his productions. The listing as a Vocal Edit sparked my curiosity into finding the original tune and the source of that phenomenal vocal sample. After a bit of digging I found that the sample is from a C + C Music Factory track that features the voice of Deborah Cooper recorded and mixed on the Clivilles & Cole House Anthem version.

I Do Need You

Top tune of January for me; plain and simple. Talk about a track with a hook, this really grabbed me when I was listening to Birdee's mix this week. As far as producers who use and create FXs pads, Treasure Fingers is one of the best in the industry at the moment and without knowing him personally I would say he has some deep knowledge of drumming as his combinations are complex but try to emulate realistic patterns. A cacophony of vocal chops pan either side of your ears as a simple four to the floor beat bounces us forward to set the track off. When creating and crafting your vocal samples it's really important to experiment with midi triggered instrument/sample racks that you've carefully dissected from the original piece. Controllers that have velocity sensors built into their pads are key as you can truly get some exciting results from messing around with all types of hits and patterns. The reason I took this tangent was to highlight that this process was possibly used in creating the early drafts of the song, and how interesting and engaging vocal pads can be as part of a rhythm or groove versus being solely utilized in choruses and breakdowns. Two highlights in the track for me are the water drop FX and that fantastic screech that just pierces through high end around 1:08 mark, wow!!!! Put this bad boy on repeat and just pick a few different layers to listen to each time around, it's well worth it for any aspiring producer.

Brony Funk

There's a Tom that starts off this track filtered with a bit of reverb on the tail and a super nasty phased FX built into the hit that adds diverse character to the drum group. A high pitched delayed synth pairs nicely with a sharp electro-piano chord progression as the track continues to build. In the background of all of these lead layers are a series of really subtle wet stabs that sort of remind me of sped up samples of vinyl scratches pitched high which have been heavily FX'd. You can really hear them prominently around the 2:30 mark (where the main breadkdown kicks in) and as 'percussive' type of element they blend nicely with the more traditional style drum layers. This is one of those tracks that you could really have a lot of fun setting up cue points for and mashing them together with a host of jackin' house tracks or a bass laden booty tunes. As the cap to this release it rounds out the collection nicely illustrating where Treasure Finger's sounds are headed and what we've already come to know from him over the years. A master of production in his own right his own imprint, Psycho Disco!, demonstrates knowledge beyond his years in A&R and cultivating some solid releases already. A new favorite (if I hadn't already picked this to write about) would be Funk Manchu's EP Kinda Sweaty.I first came across Psycho Disco! when my friend MANIK and option4 hit me up about a new project they were working on called 909 Till Infinity and I got to hear some promos. Not long after, the duo dropped their first EP on the label and the rest is a short but already fruitful history. Psycho Disco! has already released some other choice collections including their inaugural release from young super producer Landis LaPace. We've referenced him multiple times before but it's no secret that this kid is on an absolute tear and is currently supporting a few show of Treasure Finger's tour Nite Trips.Enjoy,MR PUZL