RADIOHOP are a four-piece jazz/hip-hop band from Amsterdam, exploring the boundaries between groove, texture, and improvisation. HARD TO HANDLE is their second album and the first drop on Melting Pot Music. As the title suggests, RADIOHOP are going hard on this one.

When HARD TO HANDLE hit our inbox, the band called the 12-track project a “beat tape”. Fair enough. The music is raw, loud, and unapologetic. No polish, no garnish — straight from the source. But describing HARD TO HANDLE a beat tape would not do justice to the quality of the music — that’s why we release it as an a-l-b-u-m: digital, but first and foremost on vinyl.

RADIOHOP are:
Johnny Biner – guitar
Joshua Lutz – keys
Joel Svedberg – bass
Euan Jenkins – drums

All four of them moved to Amsterdam around 2020 to study jazz and quickly plugged into the city’s bubbling scene. RADIOHOP are tight with collectives and promoters like Steppin’ Into Tomorrow, and Super-Sonic Jazz. They released their first album on the local imprint Wicked Wax Music, where they also recorded a collaboration album with Dutch beat icon Kid Sublime (Kill Your Darlings).

Each band member plays an equal role in shaping the music as a single organism, empha-sising feeling and atmosphere rather than ego or individual spotlight.

The compositions arise from experimentation, intuitive collaboration, and deep listening, an approach that has as much to do with their backgrounds as improvisers and beat-makers, as it does with their roots in jazz.

RADIOHOP have performed as the rhythm section for artists like Soul Supreme and Juju Rogers. Beatheads might be familiar with Joshua’s solo project Halfpastseven, who has collaborated with FloFilz and Jake Milliner.