A C U M E N / P R O D U C T I O N S

ARTS & CULTURE / MUSIC PRODUCTION / EDUCATION

N E W S

10.23.17 - Our latest instrumental is called "The Low Notes" and is out today on all our sites

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/acumenproductions/the-low-notes

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acumenp/

Beatstars: http://acumenproductions.beatstars.com/

9.1.17 - We're dropping another instrumental on this smokey hot day in The Bay today titled "Food Fight". You can listen to it using the usual links below.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdZt_wmrU7M&feature=youtu.be

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/acumenproductions/food-fight

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/acumenp/videos/?ref=page_internal

Beatstars: http://acumenproductions.beatstars.com/beat/food-fight-816803/

8.4.17 - Today we are releasing our latest instrumental "Sway"

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/acumenproductions/sway

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/acumenp/videos/?ref=page_internal

Beatstars: http://acumenproductions.beatstars.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U77Jvj9wCk&feature=youtu.be

4.21.17 - Our latest instrumental "Overtoned" is now available for licensing and listening.

Beatstars: http://acumenproductions.beatstars.com/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/acumenproductions/overtoned

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acumenp/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0dIH-QRYl0

2.23.17 - The Acumen Productions remix of WOLF SAGA's song "Keep Dancing". You can listen, vote, and comment on the song in the window below. Voting is open until April 14th at noon.

2.23.17 - From it’s inception Acumen Productions was not to be any sort of platform for political opinion or soapboxing, a portion of my life reserved for my own personal facebook account. But February’s album of the month unavoidably smushed both together in a way similar to how politics enters our lives anyway. Although I had listened to American Eats It's Young years ago, this second encounter with happened to lie between election day and the inauguration, this time leaving a much deeper impression on me for obvious reasons. Listening through this time I found the lyrics and their themes sprang to the forefront of my attention more than the instrumental side of music that had captured my attention years ago. Paired with the album art, and the inclusion of a sermon taken from The Process Church of The Final Judgement, a religious group that equally worships both Jesus Christ and Satan, the album created a potent landscape of a country in turmoil dealing with problems that are all too familiar, especially for an album made almost 40 years ago. Narratives in the lyrics and the sermon will eerily resonate with people the same way that has books like 1984 have recently becoming best sellers once again. However this resonance isn’t the reason why I chose this for album of the month - what really stuck with me was one answer to these long standing problems in a song titled "If You Don't Like The Effects, Don't Produce The Cause". It’s less of an invitation to seek change and more like hardened practical advice telling us that if you want to see change, be the change. See what we can change from within, instead of placing blame on “the other”. There is a tinge of an attitude that could be interpreted as victim blaming in that message, but as an album that is about America it comes as more of a call to participate or step up personal involvement in democracy. At times the song and the album straight up calls out the listener, and George Clinton’s frustration America, particularly during the making of the album is palpable:

You say you don't like what your country's about

Ain't you deep

In your semi-first class seat

You picket this and protest that

And eat yourself fat

The political foundation that the album rests on is what drove the point home for me. If we want to change something - something as big as American society, it starts at the individual level. But in today’s America, one that is so heavily tied up with the rest of the world for good and for bad, it’s our democracy more than ever, and if we aren’t moving up we are sinking down.

"Wake Up"

From time to time we come alive

But not for very long

See what shape the world is in

And wonder what went wrong

Never dreaming, not for a second

That sleeping is the cause

We make solutions in our sleep

It's dangerous for us all

2.2.17 - Today is the full release of our newest instrumental "Dail In". Check it out on Soundcloud, Youtube, and Beatstars

1.10.17 - To start off the new year we're introducing a new monthly blog post about our a favorite album for the current month. This album could be released in that same week or released thirty years ago, but will always be something that grabbed my attention and found inspiring to my own work. This months album, and my first pick, is something that I've had downloaded to my phone for months now: You Caint Use My Phone (Mixtape) by Erykah Badu. In 2017 the Trap sound is found in more than half the songs in the top 40 right now, so it's safe to say it's a style that just about every producer has attempted once or twice. That means there is a lot of trap out there, and I mean tons, and when the scene is saturated with a particular style it can lose its' appeal or sound boring. The partnership between Ms. Badu and Dallas based producer Zach Witness is seamless and to me doesn't ever indicate in the slightest the the album was cut in a mere 15 days. Further testament to her talent is the fact that Badu did most of her vocals in one take. Personally I picked this record because the compositions sound so... composed. Trap as a style has its roots in simplicity, but to me this record really shows how addictive and mind blowing it can be when the credo of "less is more" is applied in a perfect union with a vocalist such as Ms. Badu.

10.17.2016 - This months release returns back to Acumen Productions with a new instrumental titled Rearview Haze. Be sure to like our Facebook page to get the latest updates, blog posts, and new releases from Acumen Productions: Acumen Facebook

9.15.2016 - Today's major announcement is the release of our sister project IN-SIDES new EP titled Echo Chamber. IN-SIDES is the psych-rock project conceived by Acumen Production producer and owner Stephen Fong. Completed in between releases for Acumen Productions over the last year, Echo Chamber spans across three songs and shows the opposite side of Stephen's ability as a composer of hip-hop. You can stay up to date on the latest from IN-SIDES by going on Facebook and liking the page: IN-SIDES

8.29.2016 - This weeks new track is a collaboration with Bay Area and Atlanta rapper $EAN FRIZZ, with a feature by Antione Simmons of Oakland band PUFF PUFF BEER.

8/9/2016 - Check out the latest addition to our instr umentals "Ice Cold Beads" below. Well be aiming to release a new instrumental every 2 - 3 weeks. Make sure to like us on facebook or soundcloud