Experimental art rap that harkens back to golden era hip hop while dismantling traditional masculinity and stale production trends.
Rappers Lt Headtrip and Nigel Noire join forces with producer Fines Double for their inaugural collaboration, Nigel & Trip. Through a modern Bohemian lens, the duo explore topics such as queer love, self hate, and the euphoric shackles of inebriation. Nigel smooths the edges of Headtrip's visceral, calculated wordplay with a devil-may-care aura and his own witty lyricism. Fines Double’s rich, avant-garde production lays a dream-like landscape with just enough familiar, comfortable pockets amongst the chaos for the duo’s concept-driven songs. Guest verses from one half of Shrapknel, Premrock (Backwoodz Studioz, Fused Arrow), as well as fellow Karma Kids affiliates Teddy Faley, OLD SELF and miles cooke round out the album and add to the collaborative flavor.
This album came together in a really organic way. Nigel and I were living in Portland, OR briefly, and our stays overlapped for about six weeks. We lived a quick 15 minutes apart. In that time, we explored the city, ventured into the lush nature of the PNW, nurtured our friendship and created this album. Fines Double also lived the neighborhood, and sent us a beat pack that we worked through in my car while I delivered food or drove us to the beach, at my apartment when Nigel would ride his bike over for the evening, at the bars in South East after Nigel was done with a rugby tournament, and walking through PDX’s many art filled neighborhoods. Fines Double and I collaborated on post production once Nigel left town after writing and recording his contributions, and we now have a time capsule, a snapshot, of that time. Nigel helped me embrace my queerness, shed my perfectionism, and explore the city with curious eyes. - Headtrip
Lt Headtrip is a nationally touring hip-hop artist whose powerful performances and off-kilter yet thoughtful lyricism carry him to stages nationwide.
As a recording artist, Headtrip’s evocative mic presence, attention to detail, and unique beat selection contribute to his stand out albums that leave listeners with plenty to chew on, allowing for repeat listens and welcoming analysis. A master of many styles, each producer Trip enlists evokes a different flavor of from his extensive rolodex of recipes, leaving listeners a diverse discography. He’s also collaborated with members of Backwoodz Studioz, such as billy woods, Elucid, Premrock and Duncecap, as well as many other musicians nationwide and internationally. His most recent album, Hostile Engineering (Fused Arrow Records), produced by steel tipped dove has received praise in its first few weeks.
Fused Arrow Records brings together the politicized art-rap of Lt Headtrip with label founder steel tipped dove’s stripped-down psychedelic production.”
The Best Hip Hop on Bandcamp Sept 2025
“The gristle, outpoured thoughts, observations, protestations and glue between the oppressive urban structures of our dysfunctional, unworkable society both poetically and rhythmically twist and flow over a counterculture haunted psychedelic-prog, Krautrock and jazz-soul production on this debut project collaboration.”
- Monolith Cocktail
“Hostile Engineering unearths lost gems from the brutalist rubble of resistance. Given recent American current events, the security state sacrilege of "Eatin' Every Breadcrumb" feels unsettlingly of-the-moment, as does the surgically cutting out-of-network missive "0 Days Since Last Accident." Solid cuts like "Coulda Had It All" and "Fun Don't Stop" skewer sociopolitical buyer's remorse and bro-bait hustle culture, respectively”
Cabbages Hip Hop
Fines Double is a Portland-based producer with a distinct, experimental sound. Espejismo (2025), his second producer album, lays textured terrains for art rap heavy hitters such as billy woods, Defcee, Premrock, Curly Castro, AJ Suede and more.
"Portland producer Fines Double has a defined style, delivering deft beats that hit sideways, building anxious tension from below, circling around, often looking for that knockout punch.
His 2021 debut opus, 'Flotar', is a serious demonstration of talent. It features a host of stellar emcees, including Defcee, Mimz the Magnificent, Brainorchestra, Big Flowers, Tracy N. Microokie, Bloodmoney Perez, and AJ Suede." —Crane City Music
Fines Double, Espejismo
(Cabbages Hip Hop)
Hip-hop producer showcases aren't guaranteed to be good, even if the featured rappers happen to be. Yet when the stars align, and a consistently solid beatmaker gets with some of the underground's deffest and baddest emcees, you end up something special. Assembled over the past few years, Espejismo (that's Spanish for Mirage, friendo) finds an assortment of supreme spitters like Old Grape God, Semiratruth, and Sleep Sinatra engaging with Portland Oregon's Fines Double unobtrusive yet original instrumentals. It begins with fellow Pacific Northwesterner AJ Suede ministering over the loping strings and bass of "Misantrophic Optics." The rest of the tracks travel cross country like a mileage run, with Brooklyn's billy woods rubbing his third eye on "Levant," Detroiter Mic Write schooling listeners on "Second Line," and Defcee out of Chicago finding his frequency on "Slow Crawl." Both members of ShrapKnel get their licks in too, with Curly Castro readying for war on "Sundown Science" and PremRock conjuring local color on "Good Credit." All the while, Fines Double matches their energy accordingly, a quality that can feel rather rare nowadays.