If You Know

As featured by Rolling Stone, "If You Know" is the debut EP of "For Heads Only", a side project from notable jazz artist Mike Casey (GRAMMYs 'Next', Bandcamp 'New & Notable').

Focusing on his intricate beatmaking skills and more specifically around self-sampling special fragments of his own acclaimed jazz oeuvre into wonky, off-kilter, cinematic, and earworm-y instrumental beats that tell stories without words, For Heads Only represents a shadowy, introverted studio mastermind at work, with Mike treating his own diverse jazz catalog like a late-night digging-in-the-crates-for-samples excavation mission, inviting jazz and hip hop fans alike to rediscover his catalog in a new creative light..

Think the adventurous, cinematic intersection of labels like Brainfeeder, Stones Throw, and Warp, with inspiration from Flying Lotus, Samiyam, J Dilla, Madlib, and The Alchemist...mixed with a lifetime of jazz training.

“One of the most beautiful things about jazz composition and jazz improvisation is that there are infinite options to connect and re-connect phrases and assign or re-assign meaning to them. So while this is definitely an instrumental hip hop (and maybe even a bit of electronic!) project... I also view it as not that disconnected from how I naturally think when composing or improvising in jazz...but in slow motion and of course loop based. I have been making beats off and on for fun since I was 14, nearly 20 later it's an amazing feeling to finally present something that represents this longtime musical fascination of mine.”
-Mike Casey aka For Heads Only.

SAMPLE BREAKDOWN:
- Only This & Cactus Fade samples ‘Space Chill’ from Mike Casey album "The Complete Public Access: WPAA TV Session" mikecasey.bandcamp.com/album/the-complete-public-access-wpaa-tv-session
- Art & Science samples ‘Valencia’ from Mike Casey album "Valencia" mikecasey.bandcamp.com/album/valencia
- Grain & Ember samples ‘Dusty Wheel’ from Mike Casey album "The Complete Public Access: WPAA TV Session" mikecasey.bandcamp.com/album/the-complete-public-access-wpaa-tv-session
credits