The West Coast has consistently been a gold mine for instrumental hip hop over the past couple decades and Inland Empire, California resident Ital Santos has now arrived to claim his own status as an instrumental auteur with his 28 track odyssey Reflections.

Santos’ attention to the value of a great loop warrants comparisons to many of the beat-crafters on Stones Throw Records, especially on tracks where more abstract filtering enters the picture like on Narquillos, a surreal track that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Quasimoto record, but also carries a cleaner production sound differentiating itself from the gloriously low-fidelity murk representatives of that label tend to wallow in.

Santos’ production on the other hand focuses on crafting a sleeker mood, with crisp drum breaks cutting through every other layer at all times, whether that is the loungey bell-and-brass arrangement driving Jynxx Break 3 or the soulful allure of 4 Moms (Love). This makes Reflections an extremely easy and addictive listen, and one that makes Ital Santos a producer to follow.