What is the difference between Instrumental Hip Hop and hip hop instrumentals (hip hop tracks with the MC removed)? Is there a difference? I say there is, and I think it's a critical one. Ignoring it lumps such visionaries as DJ Shadow, Pete Rock and RJD2 together with any asshole who ever made a beat for someone to rap over. Instrumental Hip Hop is something more though; it has a substance that most hip hop beats don't. It needs no MC because the music itself is self-sufficient in holding our interest.

Take DJ Shadow's pioneering debut album, Endtroducing…... It's hard to imagine it's haunting production would be anything but ruined by a vocal track. Why? Because it stands so well on it's own without one. This is what made it so groundbreaking, and this is why Instrumental Hip Hop, when done right, is so much more than just unused hip hop beats.

Now, I know what you might be thinking. "What does difference have to do with Naive Machine?" Or, perhaps more likely, you're still wondering, "Who the hell is Naive Machine?" Well, friends, Naive Machine is both an up-and-coming instrumental hip hop artist, and a great illustration of my point.

Naive Machine, aka Dave Pilcher, is an emerging instrumental hip hop artist out from across the pond, where he lives in London now. Signed to the newly formed Brighton-based label Hit and Hope Records, Naive's electro-tinged 8-bit beats skitter over pounding synth dubs that are just as informed by indie electronica acts like Ratatat and El Ten Eleven as they are by Blockhead and Sixtoo. Check below for a taste of what we mean.

With the recent release of frontrunner single, Cement Mix, and his debut EP set for 2010 year-end / beginning of 2011, Naive Machine is in for an uphill battle to differentiate himself from the myriad of other would-be FlyLos out there, but if what we've heard is any indication, this is one guy you're going to want to keep your eyes on. Or ears, as it were.

Cement Mix Single on iTunes.