It’s time for a new year and two new releases from beat visionary Ras G, headlining the first Low End of 2015. His Down to Earth Vol. 2 (Leaving Records) perfectly balances his crushing bass-is-the-place production (as heard on 2011’s Space Base Is the Place) with his innate sense of cosmic and artistic freedom, for a sound that’s like the Impulse! label reincarnated as Wild Pitch. Billed as “Standard Bap Edition,” DTE2 is the producer’s tribute to instrumentalists and experimentalists from the golden age of hip-hop ’til now. He also has teamed up with rapper-producer The Koreatown Oddity for the 5 Chuckles album, which matches TKO’s street-surreal lyrics to Ras G’s hazy beats. Call it another successful mission to send a man into space.

Wed., Jan. 7, 9 p.m., 2015
(Expired: 01/07/15)

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