Homeboy Sandman’s First of a Living Breed is probably one of the most diverse but most successful albums I’ve heard in a long time. Every track has unique interesting production, lyrical concepts & even vocal flow. A great case in point, “Not Really” features mellow production with a more laid back style that really suits Sandman’s casual attitude towards becoming famous.
Archive for September, 2012
Do not adjust your internet. I ended up spending a lot of the summer listening to Open Mike Eagle’s latest, as I end up doing every year. 4NML HSPTL was easily his most concise and overall better album so far. The visuals for “Self Medication Chant” are too appropriate, as director Brood Baby Jed has fun with digital distortion.
In what is hopefully the first of many, presumably monthly, HHabitat BeatTapes here’s your fix of Italian jazzy beats for September. I can’t say I’m familiar with anyone on this tape but I’ve already seen it do the rounds, so I’m sure it won’t stay that way for long. Download it from the label’s Bandcamp page.
Some more UK Boom Bap by way of Heavy Links’ recent release The Essence, which is available for free or on vinyl. I was surprised to see my former home town in his list of upcoming gigs, I must have missed any hip-hop following in Basingstoke when I was there – especially good hip-hop anyway.
Phonte drops another video from his outstanding album Charity Starts At Home. This one features a really simple concept, but its done very well, in a minimal style.
Great free download here by way of Modern Shark. Bi-Polar Bear & Junk Science combine on one of the better tracks off the Kickstarter funded When Ledge Is Home.
This is incredible. An entire hour of visuals from DJ Format’s recent live sets. This serves as the definitive DJ Format collection with tracks and beats from his three albums so far set to music videos, live footage and album cover montages.
Flying Lotus is dropping his next album in October, but the folks over at NPR are offering a full stream. You can listen to the album here, and enjoy some new FlyLo. After just a few listens I think this is easily one of FlyLo’s best pieces of work to date.
Dark Time Sunshine’s excellent ANX is rapidly becoming my favourite pleasant surprise of 2012. It wasn’t on my radar at all until a series of great videos to successfully experimental hip-hop came my way. “Valiant” now becoming another to add to that list.
September 24th 2012 Lesson Six Original
Review: More or Les’ “Mastication”
Take away the cliches like we do, and seemingly rappers run out of fallbacks to revisit when short of ideas. This tends to result in underground hip-hop filled with tracks about ‘laxing or what sports they like and a special kind of artist will get preachy on a greater than thou tip. And now Canadian nerdcore-ish rapper More or Less is determined to get food, if it hasn’t been already, added to that list of staples.
