Photo by Tara Gracer

Today, Colorado-based quartet Magic Beans have announced their latest project, a 10-track fully instrumental album titled Unzipped, due to release July 7. The project is designed to showcase the compounding skillsets the group have amassed through their steady creative output, performances and collaboration over the past decade.

Through the self-produced project, Magic Beans explore polyphonic harmony, crisp refined processing and showcase a sound that unabashedly draws heavily on outside influences from Tom Misch to J-Dilla.

“This record is pretty much a Magic Beans alter ego, one of our split personalities. We took an experimental approach diving into the lo-fi instrumental realm, using analog synths, tape machines, and vintage gear,” reflected guitarist Scott Hachey in a press release. “There’s a lot of influence from producers and collectives like Timbaland, Souliquarians, and Vulfpeck – musicians who developed a signature vibe solely through the instruments and recording equipment they had access to. We want the instrumentals to exist as they are and carry wherever you wanna go, without lyrical direction. All around its a just a little sexy side piece of an album for our fans to enjoy. 

In celebration of the album’s announcement, the group released a toe-tapping single titled “Stank Eye.” The grooving track infuses many contemporary genres with the inviting old-school style production and comes with a video of the band with their friends at a late-night party, furthering the piece’s warm feel.

Reflecting on the making of the “Stank Eye,” Hachey added, “’Stank Eye’ is a sassy and sexy track with a little swagger to the melody. We used a 1950’s ribbon microphone to capture a lot of the drum sound and sent that through my Japanese reel-to-reel for even more flavor. It’s an ode to retro recording techniques with some new school energy. Just play it.”

Magic Beans are set to take off on tour in support of the album this summer with stops at festivals across the U.S. including Paradise Music and Beer Festival, Trout Stock 2022, and Jam Packed Craft Beer & Music Festival. They’ll also be putting on the tenth edition of their own festival Beanstalk Music & Mountains Festival, running June 23-25, 2022. Get tickets to Beanstalk here.

Watch the House Party Video for “Stank Eye” below.