Urthboy is a machine! Not only does he run the awesomely successful Elefant Traks but he's also part of Australian Hip Hop super group, The Herd. On top of the six albums released by The Herd - one of which was just last year - Urthboy has four brilliant albums of his own! Talk about a man on a mission! I don't think any of us really expected him to release another album this year but here we go, how lucky are we?
And that's not all! On top of all the albums and managing and goodness knows what else, he's been touring for half the year with The Herd on the Future Shades tour, then there was the quick Naive Bravado tour in celebration of the first single from this album.... and I'm pretty sure he'll be back to travelling around Australia again very soon to tour the entire album. I have to say, this guy is amazing live! I've seen him countless times now and with Jane Tyrrell and El Gusto backing him up on stage, his flow is as tight as you would expect from a veteran like Urthy and the atmosphere on stage and in the crowd is jumping. Every. Single. Time. Oh, and he always has great supports such as The Last Kinection, Horrorshow, Hermitude, Mantra and many more!
At number twelve on the Australian Urban charts - Triple J's feature album this week - Smokey's Haunt features the ever present and always fabulous Jane Tyrrell, Aussie R&B singer Daniel Merriweather, folk singer Bobby Flynn, Alex Burnett of Sparkadia, plus hip hoppers such as Delta, Solo of Horrorshow and Jimblah. There are also a couple of people I haven't heard of before; Texture Like Sun and Ev Jones. What an eclectic mix of blues, folk and hip hop! I love it!
Highlights for me have to be On Your Shoulders ft. Solo and Jimblah and Calling Cards ft. Texture Like Sun & Ev Jones. This album has the usual comfortable Urthboy bounce feeling and even though I haven't had the chance to listen to the lyrics properly, I just know there is going to be some word gems in there. Urthy's style of smart hip hop is one of the reasons I love this genre so much.
If you know anything about this guy, then you know how long we've all waited for this album to come out. The short 5 track Waiter Minute EP released in 2008 is one of the best EPs I have in my collection. It still gets solid play in my house. So what took him so long, I hear you asking. Well, besides Seth being extremely Lazy (as you can see here) and an addictive gamer, he's pretty much a damn perfectionist!
Since getting the EP, I've had the extreme pleasure of seeing Seth live four or five times. You can see some of my crappy home videoing here: Waitress Song, Our Song w. Horrorshow. Having seen him so many times, I've had the pleasure of hearing some of these songs already; such as Campfire, My Scene and Room for Rent which has some amazing lines and a punchy sound. Material for the next single? I think so!
Float Away (above) gets stuck in my head really badly, almost as badly as Waitress Song and Train Catcher off the EP... on this album I can hear myself singing Room For Rent over and over and the hook to Ten Paces will be another one of those tunes that will never leave my brain again. The sweet croony tunes of Ali Barter (who I had to go and look up after hearing, found this!). Ali is the only real feature on this album, besides some back up vocals from Grey Ghost and Leon Thomas, but in saying that, the behind the scenes guys are some names you've probably heard before; Trials (Funkoars), Matik and Mantra.
I love Seth's laid back style of rapping, he makes it sound so effortless, but then I have to actually listen to his tracks to pick up some golden one liners such as "I see the Devil in a short skirt, hot as hell." - Ink Blot Test. Also, the album art by Jagi is amazing!
This review pretty much wrote itself. So excited to have this album, glad it's doing so well! Try not to take as long for the next one, eh Seth? Ha! Buy it here!
4 out of 5 nerds...
"On the one hand there's low rent, on the other you'll wonder where your clothes went. It's simple the house is a fish bowl. The wow factor, wow what a shit hole. The Mansion. I just came to say goodbye 'cause the room for rent was, mine..." - Room For Rent
I heard a lot of hype about this guy before I came across his music - or so I thought until I started writing this review! Since then I've realised he featured on a track on A-Love's album Ace of Hearts.
Jimblah was the 2007 winner of the Hilltop Hoods Initiative - which is a fantastic government grant set up by the Hilltop Hoods to help young Australian hip hop artists make and distribute music. And so last year, the long awaited Face the Fire was released. I've been listening to this album non-stop for about a week now. I tend to do that when I get new music - listen to it on repeat until I get sick of it, then rotate it through my 10k long list of songs... I have to say, this album is doing well. I'm still listening to it on repeat and still enjoying the hell out of it.
I don't know how much attention artists put into the construction of track order - or whether they notice it at all - but I tend to think a lot about it (thanks High Fidelity for teaching me the proper order to put tracks on a mixtape), and I think this album flows really well.
The first track - My Life - is an introduction to Jimblah as an actual person. I love the listing of his family and people close to him - it's as if he's inviting us to be a part of it all. Love it - so much better than just the usual random intro track most hip hop albums have. It sets the tone for the whole album. I'm not going to do a track by track, as much as I would like to, but I'm pretty sure track 2 is my fave on the album...I say pretty sure because as I listen through, I change my mind... haha. The title track, Face the Fire... I don't know what to say exactly... is empowering and sad and inspirational and I just love it.
I could keep talking about how he's doing brilliant things helping out Indigenous musicians, how he's a fantastic DJ and producer and just a straight up nice guy, but I thought I'd just recommend you buy the album and follow him on twitter.
This documentary is entertaining, knowledgeable and really, really interesting even if you're not a fan of hip hop. Hosted and directed by Ice-T who most of this generation knows for his acting roles in shows like SVU. Some who've been around a little longer will remember what an awesome rapper he was before he even thought about acting. Even though I remember him rapping, for some reason it had just slipped my mind how damn popular he was back in the day. Watching this doco and hearing some of his special guests talk about how they used to have his tapes (yes, tapes!) before they got into the game made me realise that I actually know quite a lot of his tunes!
T is the perfect person to do this kind of feature; he has all the background knowledge and the proper contacts. There was one point when he was interviewing WC or maybe it was Ras Kass (I'm not sure 'cos this is the first time I didn't take notes as I was watching!) and they asked him whether he'd gotten in touch with Xzibit. When T said no, they promptly offered him Xzibit's personal phone number and address, and you know what? When T rocked up at his house, he took the time to sit down and have a chat. Who else would be able to do that?
And they're not even the biggest names he's got on this awesome piece of film. Legends such as Afrika Bombaataa, Kool Keith and Doug E. Fresh, not to mention KRS-One, Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Nas and so many more that I can't even list them! T asks them questions like why do they think that Hip Hop isn't a more respected genre of music, how do they go about writing a song and what lyrics from other MCs get stuck in their heads. KRS even tells us the story of how he was literally pulled up at a battle for his clothes and thought Oh, hell no! got up and battled back! That is so very cool.
I suppose I should bring up my own views in here somewhere. You all know how much I love Australian Hip Hop and I know I am biased but I just find the lyrics and beats so attractive. I steered away from typical American Hip Hop because I wasn't a fan of all the songs about bitches and niggers. I hate that! This doco made me rethink this; maybe I was too quick to judge. So today, I started (softly) with an album everyone has been raving about; Nas' Life Is Good. I know, it's not an old one but I need to ease myself into this, alright?! You know what, I'm freakin' loving it!
Another reason I chose Nas, besides all the guys on Twitter going on about the awesomeness of the album, is because of his comments in this documentary. When asked why he thought Hip Hop didn't get more respect as a genre he replied that it's threatening. How dare they talk like that and make poetry out of their broken English, these people from the streets and slums with vocabularies that will stump most college graduates. How dare they come in and spit magic like that, wear their caps and pants like that....and he's right! Listen to the clip here.
When asked about people who were absent such as Jay-Z and Ludacris, T said; "The only thing you'll say to criticize this movie is you didn't see your favourite rapper but trust me, your favourite rapper's favourite rapper is in this movie."
Really good, really enjoyed this. Very thought provoking and makes me want to start writing bars. Definitely going to get myself a copy of the DVD when it comes out in October. Give it a go, you can pre-order it here!
The Last Kinection are a brother and sister duo, Weno and Nay, plus long time friend DJ Jaytee Hazard signed to Elefant Traks. They are all no stranger to the spotlight with Nay having been signed as part of R&B duo Shakaya at the tender age of sixteen - I actually remember these gals, you can see one of their music vids here - and Weno and Jaytee were awarded MusicOz' Best Indigenous Artist in 2005 for their part in group Local Knowledge. All in all, these are some talented and dedicated people!
Now it all makes sense! I've heard Nay rap before and was blown away - there are just not enough female rappers around for my liking - but I did not expect to hear her singing! Of course, at the time I'd completely forgotten she was in Shakaya. She's amazing; she has this brilliant singing voice that you can't help groove along to and then she blasts that out of the water with her straight to the point raps. These guys are on my list of people to see live!
I was about halfway through the album before I heard the first didgeridoo. I'd been expecting it but I always forget what an awesome instrument it is. There was one song - Prove Them Wrong - that used the didgeridoo in a way I've never heard before; a womp womp bass line! Brilliant! Not only have they used an Aboriginal instrument but there are entire songs in their language; Ywar-Gu. I wish I could translate it, hell, I wish I could speak it! I do not understand why we learn French and Italian in schools and not any of the hundreds of languages indigenous to Australia. How does that work? These languages are dying, it's so sad!
Besides some funtastic features such as Briggs, Rival MC, Lotek, Simone Stacey (Shakaya), Ozi Batla (The Herd) and Omar Musa (Moneykat), there is some great use of instruments. The didgeridoo features heavily, as I've already mentioned, but there are some killer guitar riffs and at the very beginning an awesome harmony from a piano.
This album and group is huge for Indigenous music in Australia. Expect big things!
4 out of 5 didgeridoos....
[Lyics: Millions of People]
So many days have come and gone,
so many things I been doing wrong,
but now I see millions of people are feeling just like me.
So many things I could of said,
so many things I shoulda did
but I didn't, I didn't and now they keep telling me;
that anything you want in your life you can have it,
but they never said how hard it'd be to grab it,
chasing my dreams like an addict all I have left are a few bad habits.
Don't judge the album on the video above; the song is awesome but I found the video clip tedious and boring. This album is not tedious and boring. It's got some fantastically funky beats and the flow from song to song is so good, and you all know how much I love a nice flow!
This 15 track album, despite having an Intro track - which I'm never really a fan of, it's like cheating by adding another track to the album count - the beginning of this album had me hook, line and sinker. Rainman's style reminds me ever so slightly of early Urthboy and I was just a little surprised to see this album was distributed through Obese Records and not Elefant Traks. Then I heard Rainman will be on the decks for the Melbourne, Byron and Brisbane leg of Urthboy's Niave Bravado tour. Nice choice Urthy!
Can't See You has me rocking in my chair and singing the hook aloud. It's such a good song to start the album with; the beat is rocking and the hook is catchy. The last line of the song has been stuck in my head all week, I knew it was from another hip hop song but it just wouldn't come to me. Then the husband came to the rescue; The Herd - We Can't Hear You. That made me giggle, ironic.
Muse Sick; it took me a little while to realize the play on words here. Yes, I know, sometimes I'm a bit slow. Love the smooth guitar riff in this track and I'm a sucker for a wicked womp womp bass line like the one that runs through the middle of this song. Not only that, but it has a killer addictive hook. Man knows how to arrange a song!
I found myself singing along to half the tracks after only hearing the album once. That's a good sign in my book! Features such as Seven, 4th (Vegas Aces), Muph, Tommy Illfigga and Calski rock my socks! Then there's some new names I haven't heard of before; Laneous, Kel On Earth (Bankrupt Billionaires), Yuin Huzami, Leah Carr, Pear and Youka. Ten points for anyone who can give me any info on these artists!
As per usual, this album has been on repeat all week....and it's still rocking! Buy it here!
4 out of 5 glasses...
"Push em both out like you're blowing a kiss, now flatten em out and make it look ridiculous." - Duck Face
[UPDATE]
@geeoh108 ps re more info: pear is from pear & the awkward orchestra, Youka is from Killbot Kindergarten, Yuin is from Coalition Crew...
— Rainman (@rainmantic) August 8, 2012
You might have heard these two guys mentioned around the place lately. Though both are relatively established in the industry I'd only heard about them in conjunction with Seven and Born Fresh. It's kind of annoying me that I don't know more about these guys!
Mr. Hill features on Seven's single off the free Floated EP, Good Thing which you can listen to here, plus the two of them have done a series of remix videos including the Kooks' Niave.
Rahjconkas - love that name - makes some killer beats. They're really heavy on the bass which I love! With that and features includingThe Tongue, Seven, Phatchance (now known as Chance Waters) Joyride (Spit Syndicate), Hau (Koolism), Jeswon (Thundamentals), Trials (Funkoars) and 4th Degree (Vegas Aces). Not only that, but Rahj and Mr Hill opened for Atmosphere and Evidence on their recent Australian tour and have a track on the upcoming Obesecity 2 Mixtape. Exciting things!
Have been playing this album all week, really enjoy it. Nice mix of different styles, love the flow of the album. Buy it here!
4 out of 5 flanno's...
[Side Note] Kind of ironic doing a review for an album called The Feedback.
Amazing beats, catchy hooks, awesome flow, lyrically brilliant, fantastic hair-do; what doesn't this guy have?
Previous to the EPs release, Jeremedy was part of a band called The Melodics for about six years. I'm so annoyed that I've just discovered this band and now they are no longer playing shows. Damnit! I'm going to go hunt down their discography for my collection, keep an eye on this space, it may just pop up in my reviews.
Apparently this EP was made in under three months, production by Matik - whose name you might recognise, he tours with Seth Sentry (Facebook / Twitter) - and is that an accomplishment or what? This short, five track EP has been playing on repeat since I got my grubby little hands on it. Cannot get enough, can't wait for the mixtape / album / next EP / whatever Jeremedy decides to do next.
Fave Line - "Hope the rain don't come tonight, got my ego hanging out to dry. Hope the rain don't come tonight, got my ego on the washing line." - Unf*ck Me (With Your Love)
Rks (pronounced Ruckus) is a rapper based in Virginia Beach, VA. I've known this guy for a long long time now and I knew the whole time that he was into recording and producing music but what I didn't know was that we had an interest in the same genre; hip hop.
Actually, now that I think about it, you owe me a signed EP Cam! I'll be coming to collect in December ;)
Since we discovered our shared love of music, we've had many discussions about styles, lyrics, beats, etc. We've swapped albums and suggested new artists for the other to check out.... this is what I love about hip hop; there's always more music to listen to and artists pimping out other artists music is the norm. (If you want to see more about this, follow this Twitter List - I'll do an update on this shortly!)
Through our discussions Rks was introduced Selekt Few, the results of which are below.
Rks has the style of hip hop I absolutely love; it's lyrically based with awesome beats! What more could you want in a track? He writes all his own lyrics and even produced the beats for a lot of the earlier tracks. We often hear a lot of features in hip hop but Rks tends to rely on his lyrics and beats. When I asked him about people who helped behind the scenes, he came out with a list of people.
John Andrew from Queens, New York produced some of the darker underground style compilations and Mart85 is responsible for some of the rock inspired instrumentals.
I'm a big fan of acoustic hip hop and I'm seeing it more and more lately, which makes me a happy Gee. The Falling acoustic version is one of my favourites in the list with guitar played by Ben from band Shift (one of Rks' other projects). Upcoming tracks will also feature production by DJ Corbett of Black Light.
"Some of the newer stuff wouldn't have been possible without them. It was hard getting back into the swing of things after I took a few years off, more so in regards to the production of the music. I can write any day, but really conveying the right emotion and providing me with an awesome playground in which to play around lyrically is very much thanks to them." - DJ Rks
I understand why he's only got a few full tracks up on the Reverb and the others are samples, but damn dude, I just want to listen to an entire EP or a mixtape! *hint hint, nudge nudge*
4 out of 5 treble clefs...
Fave Tracks - Through My Lies & the beat for My Time is just amazing!
