featured releases
CD & LP (BlakRoc)
The Black Keys collab with a whole slew of proper MCs… from a distance, this definitely didn’t have “obviously awesome” written all over it. But after having Dangermouse produce Attack & Release, the Black Keys seem to have a tasteful sense of what works within the dangerous confines of the “ROCK vs. RAP” cagematch. BlakRoc is pleasantly thumping, with a great balance of classic 90’s-era cats spitting flows over some well-crafted arrangements from the amazing blues-rock duo. Rza, Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Jim Jones & others are framed with tracks that tap 60’s soul & 70’s rock (the type of shit that was sampled to death during the era that most of these MCs were dominant), with the occasional croon from Dan Auerbach adding that spice. And so yeh, this works.
BlakRoc on MySpace
9 January 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| Hip-Hop, Pop / Rock
Here’s our annual breakdown of what turned our cranks in 2009. An interesting year, with arguably the biggest album of the year (Merriweather Post Pavilion) released within the the first 30 days of the year’s start! Many were swooned by the Dirty Projectors’ r&b alt-pop; few could deny Grizzly Bear’s charms; and who didn’t sing along to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll”. Thanks for all the fun 2009…
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7 December 2009 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic, Hip-Hop, Pop / Rock, Reissued / Remastered
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30 October 2009 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic, Hip-Hop
(Hyperdub) 2CD & 5X12”
No label has pushed the envelope as much as Hyperdub over the last 12 months. Kode9’s ear for the “next level” – be it dubstep, purple, wonky or funky – is seeming unparalleled at this point. 5 Years Of Hyperdub is a 2-disc affair that celebrates the past, present & future of the label & in fine form. Disc 1 is wrought with new exclusive heavy hitters; Flying Lotus drops “Disco Balls”, his most club friendly affair yet; Burial sneaks in with “Fostercare”, another great addition to his canon of sleek, sensually melancholic sound; but the trophy goes to the closing “Stash” from Joker & Ginz, the next definitive statement in the mandate of the Purple City sound. Disc 2 features the “hits”; Burial’s “South London Boroughs”, Kode9’s “Ghost Town”, Joker’s “Digidesign” & Rustie’s sick remix of Zomby’s “Spliff Dub” are all here. Wow, electronic music is fun AND interesting in 2009.
30 October 2009 by Chris Long
| Electronic, Hip-Hop
(Big Dada) CD, 2LP coming soon
Well, you’re getting nothing but bias here; possibly the most overlooked hip-hop group of the 00’s? Anti-Pop Consortium are nothing if not challenging. Their main two releases, Tragic Epilogue & Arrhythmia, are lynch-pins in the world of avant/experimental hip-hop & Fluorescent Black adheres to that spirit. Favouring self-styled bleep-soaked synthetic beatscapes over sample-based loops & breaks, Priest, Beans, M. Sayyid & Earl Blaize are rare envelope pushers in a genre so filled with lazy bluebox recycling bins. Fluorescent Black is a welcome return (the group split in 2006) chock full of flaming battle rhymes, philosophical poems, bizarre structures & the ever-present vocal-trifecta dynamic that is the strongest element of this amazing group. Peep “C Thru U” – there’s no “beat” per se, they just kill it over loping synths & stabs. Or check “Superunfrontable”; alien doom-hop, made for space battles, BAM! Amazingly, APC are playing Victoria, Nov. 17 @ Lucky Bar! Don’t sleep; an important group in the lineage of brave hip-hoppers that aren’t afraid to shrug the weight of tired tradition for new fresh approaches… like these guys.
3 October 2009 by Chris Long
| Electronic, Hip-Hop
(Lex) CD, LP coming
Daniel Dumille is a strange creature to say the least. Seemingly inactive since the grandeur of DangerDoom (his collab with Dangermouse), Born Like This is the album Doom fans have been waiting for, although a conventional album it is not. Playing more like a mixtape, Born Like This segues in & out & around the villain’s tongue-in-cheek verses. “Gazillion Ear” opens the album & is a surefire hilight, melding 2 different beats at its center, the latter of which is Dilla jewelry. Raekwon pops up on the ol’ school ESG-sampling “Yessir!” & despite the age of “Angelz” (it popped up 4 years ago on a Nature Sounds comp), Doom’s run with Ghostface is still thrilling (SORT OUT THAT GHOSTDOOM ALBUM NOW). To quote:
“Give an MC a rectal hysterectomy!”
Indeed.
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26 March 2009 by Jeremy Robinson
| Hip-Hop
(Fatbeats) CD
It’s true that J Dilla is being ceaselessly mined in the post-humous, but his organic-wonk-jazz-funk has been nothing short of a revelry for those seeking new avenues out of hip-hop’s filthy mirrored back alleys. Detroit native Black Milk (along with Madlib, Dabrye & Shape Of Broad Minds among others…) has managed to echo Dilla & continue his legacy of rhythmic experiments. The extra bonus with Black Milk is: he’s not a shitty rhymer. He’s got mad swagger & the right amount of flow to even out the bumps on the quirky, un-quantized road of breaks that Dilla paved. “Bounce” pits analog synth arpeggios against the familiar off-center kicks & snares that have come to typify the Detroit sound so well. The Motor City’s sound is now equal parts hip-hop & techno, as robotic lines, arpeggiation & synths litter the soul & jazz funk. A nice retreat from the idiocy of southern-fried lethargy.
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3 November 2008 by Chris Long
| Hip-Hop
(mail order) CDR
Flying Lotus’ mysterious pal (some have ventured to suspect that they are one & the same) Samiyam has been hotly tipped for much of 2008. With only a 4 track 12” available on London’s Hyperdub imprint (home to Burial & Kode9), we saught out what we could & found this – a CDR direct from Los Angeles via snail mail. Simply titled Rap Beats Vol. 1, the disc is chock full of brief bursts of L.A. now-funk hip-hop instrumentals, none of which last longer than 2 minutes. Much like Dilla’s amazing Donuts, this format is a brilliant way to venture into Samiyam’s vault of ideas; the quirk, lope & bounce of Madlib, Dilla & Flying Lotus are here, in focused shots of robotic funk. We only have a few of these for sale; simple CDR with no track titles, but each comes with specific custom individual artwork, forged by Samiyam himself.
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8 October 2008 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic, Hip-Hop
(Warp) CD & 2LP
Warp’s newest signing is Flying Lotus aka Steven Ellison. An L.A. based post-hop producer, Ellison crafts dense instrumental hip-hop soundscapes, melding the styles & moods of J Dilla, Madlib & Prefuse 73. But it’s Amon Tobin that seems Ellison’s closest touchstone, especially Tobin’s recent micro-sampled, atmosphere-heavy releases. The nephew of legendary jazz harpist Alice Coltrane, Ellison encrusts lurching drones, insect atmospherics & jilted, off-kilter head-nod breaks with a layer of soul; guest vocalists appear, sometime up front, sometimes splintered & echoed around the track. Again, Los Angeles is more music for the headphones, but hey, I see you all out there on the street with your lil’ earbuds – gobble this up. For fans of Amon Tobin, J Dilla, Madlib.
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25 June 2008 by Tara Campbell
| Electronic, Hip-Hop
(Chocolate Industries) CD
The Cool Kids, aka Mikey Rocks & Chuck Inglish, are the Chicago hip hop duo that are “bringin 88 back” — the beats, flows & style here all hearken back to hip hop’s classic eras, yet manage to elude the doldrummery of “old school” crews like Jurassic 5. Topical flows don’t vary much; these cats love shoes, clothes, bikes, haircuts & girls, but the nonchalance & sneakily crafty lyrics keep it witty & well, cool. Compositionally, the beats recall the stylings of classic LL Cool J & Run DMC, but sonically this is modern hip hop; the panned, fucked up breaks & post-Dilla off-kilter shuffling basslines keep The Bake Sale from being shrouded in its own referential history. This “EP” is classic; it’s got ten songs, but most clock in under 3 min, so you don’t get bored… think of this as a Sesame Street version of The Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury.
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11 June 2008 by Chris Long
| Hip-Hop
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