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| Beans | |
|---|---|
 Beans performing at Coachella 2005
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| Background information | |
| Origin | White Plains, New York, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | MC, record producer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Moog synthesizer |
| Label(s) | Warp, Thirsty Ear |
| Associated acts |
Antipop Consortium, Matthew Shipp |
| Website | adoredandexploited.com |
Beans (aka Mr Ballbeam), hailing from White Plains, a suburb of New York City, was one of the founding members of New York's legendary Antipop Consortium, which disbanded in 2002. With his distinctive fast-flowing poetic style, Beans manages to amalgamate witty, thoughtful lyrics with his own productions of "Chunky psychedelic electro-hop". Signed to former Antipop label Warp Records, Beans has had two LP and two EP releases since starting his solo career in 2003: Tomorrow Right Now (2003), Now Soon Someday (2003 EP), Down By Law (2004 EP), and his latest release, Shock City Maverick (2004). Beans has performed on the same stage as such acts as Radiohead, Prefuse 73, Missy Elliott and collaborated with, among others, Funkstörung and DJ Shadow. He can often be found performing in the many small underground clubs in New York's East Village, on stage with just a microphone and a portable CD player for his backing track, further reflecting the minimalist nature of his style. "The Ornette Coleman of this rap shit, The link between Suicide, Sun Ra and Bambaata is Ballbeam" — Beans from "I'll Melt You" from the album Shock City Maverick Beans is featured on the Ratatat Remixes Vol 2..
Discography
- Mutescreamer 7" single (2003)
- Tomorrow Right Now (2003)
- Down By Law 12" single (2004)
- Now Soon Someday (2004)
- Shock City Maverick (2004)
- Only - with William Parker and Hamid Drake (2006, Thirsty Ear)
- Thorns (2007)
