I took a week off of new listening to do some much needed organizing of files and other mundane tasks, but now i'm back in effect with a new crop of reviews.
The Cyclist - "Bones In Motion" 2013
I found out about this artist based on a track that was on a Leaving Records compilation. This album has a weird sound quality to it, that reminds me of high quality cassette tapes from back in the days. A lot of the songs start out simply and build into some fairly intricate soundscapes, and tend to do so in abstract ways that I wouldn't normally expect songs to. Stylistically this album falls somewhere in between house and downtempo, and it's all through this lo-fi filter that makes it all sound like you're listening to older recordings that have been unearthed by someone. Check out "Mangel", "Bones In Motion", "Dusty", and "Reels".
Mistabishi - "Calm" 2013
Mistabishi seems like a pretty prolific artist. He seems to drop at least 2 full lengths and a couple other scattered releases every year for the past couple years. This is a 7 song EP that seems to be a collaboration between him and some unlisted female vocalists, similar to the dynamic that Tricky has with his collaborators. The music I had heard from him previously was a lot more upbeat than these songs are, so I was at first taken aback by the downtempo nature of the majority of this. I actually dig this more than the other stuff I heard by him though. Splashes of beat scene and trip hop, but not really falling into either category. It looks there's a video for each song too. Extremely well done videos, I might add. Check out the videos for "Genes", "Blackeyes", "Paranorms", "Fallout", "Why On Earth", and "Hymn 23".
Feed Me - "Death By Robot" 2013
A little 3 song EP from an artist i'm relatively neutral on. I've heard decent and terrible songs from him before, so I gave this a whirl. The title track is a horrible Daft Punk ripoff, and the other 2 songs don't really do much for me either. Ahh well, better luck next time. Check out this awesome video for "Death By Robot". Also check out "Gravel" and "Dialup Days".
The Poets Of Rhythm - "Anthology 1992-2003" 2013
The title is self-explanatory. Daptone Records released this very nice compilation that nicely covers a good portion of the songs they released under their various monikers. Anyone that enjoys a lot of the current soul revival music being released that has not heard of these guys, needs to check this out, as they predated the whole trend, and were making this type of music back when hardly anyone else was, outside of The Brand New Heavies. Check out "Choking On A Piece Of Meat", "Serengeti Stroke", "The Donkey", "Summerdays", and "More Mess On My Thing".
Suff Daddy & Ta-ku - "Bricks & Mortar" 2013
First off, i'd like to say that damn, Ta-ku has been on a roll this year. From remixes to free downloads to regular albums, he's killin it from all angles, and pretty much everything he's been doing, i'm into. He's the reason I downloaded this, but the bonus was that I found out about Suff Daddy from this. He's another one of those beatmakers that I just fell in love with immediately upon hearing. These beats are right up my alley. This album is all instrumental hip hop, and reminds me of a slightly less refined and crazy sounding version of what Samiyam has been doing. Awesome indeed. Check out "Smile", "Suffdigi", "Spinnerlude", and this video for "Clap For Me".
Blue Sky Black Death & Deniro Farrar - "Cliff Of Death" 2012
This was an album I checked out on my ipod a few months back and forgot to write the review for. I revisited it a few times last week, and this EP just keeps sounding better and better. Blue Sky Black Death provide a downtempo, yet engaging, detailed, moody backdrop to Deniro's emotional thoughts. It's interesting to me how eloquent and distinguished he comes off as a lyricist. Most people who tell the types of tales he tells end up sounding at least semi-ignorant, but he comes off like some non-judgemental elder in the ghetto, telling tales of his past in order to both relate to the youth, but also warn them about the dangers of their lifestyles. Most rappers who claim to do this, seem fake to me, or even worse, seem stupid to me, but Deniro is the real deal. I urge anyone, but especially people who are always talking that "there's no good new hip hop" line, to check out any and all of his releases. A legend in the making. Check out the videos for "This Is It", "Just In Case The World Ends", and "Danger". Also check out "Can't Take It With Me When I Die", and "Pain".
"Cosmic Compositions Avant-Garde Series Vol. 2 [Alice Coltrane]" 2013
This is a compilation of a bunch of beat scene skewed takes on Alice Coltrane material. There is many different tracks to choose from, and this compilation flows nicely as an LP. Nice and laid back. Check out "Paramahansa" by FloFilz and "Galaxy" by Christoph El Truento, the only 2 songs I could find links for, for some reason.
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