Most of the time, John Beckham makes music as half of D.C.’s lowercaseletters, a poppy, polymathic neosoul group whose bio lists off a wide-ranging string of influences. One of those, perhaps curiously, is “the DIY mentality.” Or maybe not curiously at all. Beckham recently dropped a cache of instrumentals on his Bandcamp page, one of which is this cool nugget: a remix of Fugazi‘s “Promises,” from 13 Songs, in which he exploits the band’s underappreciated, occasionally danceable grooves. He’s also given it the Go! Team treatment, nimbly punctuating it with bursts of childish gang vocals. It’s like one of those Dilla beats that lasts for 90 seconds but ought to stretch to 10 minutes.
DOWNLOAD: John Beckham: “Promises (Fugazi Remix)”
[audio:http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2010/03/Promises-Remix.mp3]lowercaseletters performs May 8 at the Velvet Lounge. Photo by Portia Richaé.