Despite the fact that I got
lost and ended up arriving ten minutes late for an interview yesterday I'm
fairly confident that I may have landed some part time work. If I
didn't, don't be surprised to find this blog suddenly crammed with the most
ads ever. Maybe I'll do something similar to that kid who sold a
million permanent pixel spots on his website for a dollar.
Anyway, today I have a fancy little EP that's full of some rather diverse
hip hop artists. In fact, there's such a wide variety of sounds below
that I'm practically willing to guarantee that you'll find something to love
and hate by the time you hear all five tracks. Who knew Thursdays
could be so exciting? Enjoy.
:Blue
Scholars - The Distance:
I normally pay no attention to artists that Myspace recommends but I gave
this duo a shot and really liked what they had on their page. It's not
anything ground breaking, it's just really good. The main focus is
actually the lyrical content and not a crazy beat that was squeezed out of
Timbaland or some other big name producer. I think it's really nice to
hear things scaled back every now and again since it help keep our
perspectives in check.
:Lifesavas - Shine Language:
If you can manage to ignore the lame as hell name of this group then you
will find an inspired track here. It has some incredibly crisp
production that makes the relentless arrangement sound as big as it needs to
so that it can support the rapid-fire delivery of the opinion-heavy lines
from each member. As for those opinions, these guys don't sound like
they're just trying to say the right things, there really is a detectable
degree of sincerity in the messages they're conveying.
:Hadouken! - That Boy That Girl:
When I listen to this I can completely understand why these guys would name
themselves after the phrase grunted by Ryu when he launches a fireball
during a match in the Street Fighter video game series. The
pace is so insanely chaotic that you don't dance to it's electronic fury,
you just move spastically and hope you look cool. Give this a listen
if you've ever wondered what MIA would sound like if she flipped on some
sort of adrenaline switch and then performed on the Sun.
:Grand Buffet - Dark Autumn:
This sounds like what I'm use to from the amazing duo from Pittsburgh but
the vibe here is completely different. In particular, the delivery is
much more mellow and devoid of many of the crazy hilarious lyrics from their
last album, Five Years Of Fireworks. Though, I suppose it's
good that they didn't exactly meet my expectations since it means they're at
least trying to not recreate the same exact song over and over; versatility
is always a good thing.
:MIA - Boyz:
If you're thinking that it's totally lame that I included this in the EP
then you're probably right to do so, but I really don't care. The fact
of the matter is that I can't dedicate a whole post to the girl every time
she releases a song, so I have to do what I have to do to ramble about the
tracks since they're generally awesome. Plus, this polished gem is
actually what I imagined her sophomore effort sounding like and I wanted to
make sure you knew so. (end of excuses)
-
John Laird -
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