Harris Cole is a 19-year-old producer and engineer from Chicago. He co-owns Ann Arbor’s Blvnt Records, which pushes jazzy downtempo and hip-hop influenced beats from producers around the globe. For his own productions, he cites influences from Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Flying Lotus, and Mr. Carmack, the latter of which helped with his tune “waves“. Like most noteworthy producers, his music provides a window into the emotions of Cole himself; “When We Die” off his latest alexithymia EP allowed him to “communicate a very distinct message in a way that I don’t think I’ve tapped into as successfully before.”

His most recent release, “Toy Thumbs” featuring beatmaker lain, is essentially the first of its kind in his catalogue: sonically dichotomic between turn-up and mellow. The tune slowly builds from the start before dropping into a Carmack-style percussive bass line with saturated 808s and enough negative space to fit the Biggie vocals that make an appearance halfway through. The breakdown is classic Cole with its wilderness-inspired sound design and drawling largo chords. “Toy Thumbs” is both expected and forward-thinking in the best way.

Grab the free download of “Toy Thumbs” here and find more of Harris Cole on SoundCloud and Twitter.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Harris!