Relaunching Summer 2018
The Downbeat Renaissance is a media label and website telling stories of the ties between classic and contemporary music. Through releases of original music, mixtapes, short films, visual art, and essays, The Downbeat Renaissance draws connections between the roots of our contemporary music culture and its branches, on which we all now hang.
The Downbeat Renaissance is led by forward-thinking artists that lean back, dusty crate-digging DJs, emerging songwriters, button-pushing and knob-twisting technicians, artful instrumentalists, historians, futurists, journalists… and you, the listeners, collectors, readers, viewers, and fanatics.
In concert with listeners and lovers of music and culture, we’ll untie the knots created by the collisions of jazz, soul, R&B, pop, dance, hip hop, funk, and legacy musical styles. We’ll slightly fray the threads of how this music is conceived and assembled, in order to understand where this cultural fabric originated, and how it is celebrated today.
Until we meet next, please listen to our debut release, Dreaming: The Music of Andy Happel Remixed, featuring mixes by Moshe, 32 French, j.hjort, soso, Stompmachine, and slowingroom. You can purchase on Amazon.
Thank you for your faithfulness to the culture of soul-inspired sounds.
Todd the Rocket & The Downbeat Renaissance