Feeling hungry? Well dig into this feast of freshly cooked beats from Californian collective Apollo Bebop in their scrumptious new single ‘The Recipe’. While citing influences such as John Coltrane and Tribe Called Quest, we hear influences of the pensive Loyle Carner, beat master Tom Misch and multi-faceted musician Wilma Archer. The groups’ emcee Brian even shares vocal similarities to Easy Life’s Murray Matravers. No doubt, you’ll pick out your own points of comparison, which all adds up to further proof that this pudding is fresh as hell. Yet, where the strength lies in Apollo Bebop’s is their unique flavour concoction: from lofi jazzy wanderings, to chunky old school rap, to those quieter thoughts over sparse drums and keys. The flow is something truly to behold and as the group postures, ‘The Recipe’ also “a challenge” to others, it’s “An invitation to try and copy our style and do it as well as we do. We are confident that we stand out and are not threatened by copycats.” So, who’s going to accept the challenge? - Hannah Thacker