LET IT GO INSTRUMENTALS | VINYL RECORD (LP)

November 20, 2012 will mark the TRES Records release date for the double vinyl & digital release of the instrumentals from Let It Go - the debut LP from Detroit native House Shoes. It feels wrong, though, to call Let It Go a 'debut' record because it doesn't sound like a first-try. Official debut, or not, House Shoes is not new. He released the now treasure-hunted Jay Dee Unreleased EP (1996), and Phat Kat's classic Dedication to the Suckers (1999) on his own imprint. He's produced for the late Big Proof (D12), J Dilla, Elzhi, and Danny Brown. He's DJ'ed for Black Milk, Guilty Simpson, Mayer Hawthorne, Slum Village, and too many more to list. Technically, however, this is his debut LP. One that hip-hop 'know-somethings' have been asking for (for years). One he's probably been holding on to for a while. One he's finally letting go. This edition of the release from TRES Records contains the instrumental versions of the tracks heard on House Shoes' debut record. House Shoes is the type of producer whose work you can't fully appreciate until you've heard the details that go into each track. This instrumental release allows listeners to immerse themselves in the claps, snares, kicks, and soul-filled samples that House Shoes plates for Let It Go (all the nuances that might be overlooked next to the features). Shoes delivers an album that sound like an album (and not a mixtape) - no small feat in today's music world. He blends the songs, and interludes into a sequence that sounds like they all belong to something bigger than their time stamp and signature. Individually, the songs are strong; soaked in that necksnapping, gritty-drummed, trouble-water-soul-sampled thing that makes hip hop magnetic. To dissect the album into it's parts would miss the point, though. The triumph of Let It Go is the full hour of music, not any fraction of the 60-some-minute run time.