Produced from 1988 onwards, the Akai MPC (Music Production Center) is a series of music workstations combining sampling and sequencing functions. Its affordability and accessibility had a democratising effect on music. Artists could create tracks on a single machine without the need of a studio or music theory knowledge, making it inviting to artists who did not play traditional instruments or had no music education.
We like to think that sample libraries have continued this legacy, making music production tools more accessible than ever before. But it was instruments like the MPC that made what we do possible and we wanted to pay homage to that. So here it is, a glimpse of the past through the lens of the present.
Brooklyn-based producer, Xan Young has produced and worked with acts such as Theophilus London, Vacationer, Body Language, and Passion Pit. He draws from a deep well of influences but subsists on a steady diet of organic hip hop beats from the likes of D Dilla, Mndsgn, DJ Premier, and classic soul such as The Chi-Lites, Curtis Mayfield, Delfonics.
