tracks: lil b - various tracks

via space age hustle

Lil B has been blowing up lately, but honestly it's a strange sort of success he's enjoying.  I've been a fan of Lil B since his days in The Pack, and a few of his latest tracks (especially the ones on this mix) I think are some of the best rap tracks being produced today.  Despite that, the fact remains that by almost any criteria you might want to use, Lil B is a terrible, terrible rapper.  In fact, one of the first things that made me a fan of Lil B is that he is so bad at rapping.  It's a debatable point I suppose, but if you look for cleverness, complexity, and actually rhyming in rap, Lil B is definitely awful.  So what's with all of the hype then?  Lil B's inability to construct actual raps are part of his larger persona, which is that of unpredictable weirdness.  Its impossible to guess what Lil B will do or say next, much less guess if he's going to bother to construct a rhyme at the end of a verse, and that is what critics and fans love about him.  That definitely makes it seem like the majority of the attention he is getting is from non-rap fans ironically enjoying a rapper for being strange, rather than for his music.  Of course, the nature of hip-hop is such that persona is always at the forefront, so it's hard to be too disappointed in people focusing on the rapper and not on the rap, but I can't help but imagine this probably grates fans of actual rap music the wrong way.  Personally I tend to focus more on production in rap than on actual mic skills, so it doesn't bother me much.  And Lil B's persona is really entertaining, especially his goofy motivational self-help positivity side .  But what I like best about Lil B is that he chooses to rap over unusual beats that you might not hear more conventional rappers utilize.  The "Illusions of Grandeur (Remix)" at the top of this post is a great example of this; Lil B says virtually nothing of interest on the track but its got such a huge vibe that it succeeds in spite of his shortcomings as an MC.

Lil B-Base For Your Face (Ft. Jean Grae & Phonte) by EverythingSwagBased

This Lil B track on the other hand, produced by 9th Wonder and featuring talented word twisters Jean Grae and Phonte, takes the wrong tact.  That's not to say it's a bad song, but there's pretty much no reason that Lil B should be on this track.  It's a bad fit, and makes it seem as if the established rap world hasn't really figured out how to approach Lil B yet.  Personally, I'm hoping that Lil B sticks with the more far-out style of beats.... and that some label or producer manages to step in and do some quality control so that we can get one really good Lil B album rather than dozens of mediocre ones.

Extra: A ridiculous and hilarious track-by-track review of the 676(!!!!!!) tracks Lil B has released over dozens of myspace pages.... it's EPIC.

various artists - 3 years ahead: the cloud rap tape (2010)

(download the mixtape here)
This free mixtape, produced by the rap blog Space Age Hustle, gathers together what they see as a common trend in recent hip-hop: "not the newest sub-sub-sub-genre of rap music we’re tying to forcefully bring to life" but rather "a lot of new artists singularly focused on stepping outside of rap’s comfort zone and doing what they want with beats and lyrics".  What links these tracks together seems primarily to be beats that largely disregard rhythm in favor of ambiance and melody, and which are frequently based around whispy female vocal samples.  The term "cloud rap" fits well; these songs feel ungrounded, floating free of a low end and without drums or actual beats to anchor them down.  The breathy vocal samples remind me of 90's trance and trip-hop, and the overall vibe seems very similar to those genres- drugged out and spacey, very mellow and directionless.  For the most part, I think this works fantastically.  Lil B is head and shoulders above the rest of the pack (that's a pun you see because he is a member of hyphy rap group The Pack).  His unconventional style of rapping is perfectly suited to this: not only are the beats unconventional, but Lil B has a tendency to defy expectations by NOT rhyming half of his verses.  The end result is a complete sense of unpredictability, and his two tracks that lead off the mixtape are best examples of the potential of the "cloud rap" sensibility, not to mention the best tracks in the mix.  While none of the other tracks succeed in the same way as Lil B does, there are still a few standouts: "Southern Funk" by Inkrowd is lush, and being closer to conventional rap, is catchier than a lot of the songs; the super chilled out "Flinstones" by Lowe & Clova sounds so high it barely manages to maintain consciousness; G-Sides' "Impossible" floats by on a haunting vocal sample.  Unfortunately, the rest of the mixtape doesn't hold up quite as well.  I didn't really care for Main Attrakionz, who sound as bored by their rapping as I am, and they represent 7 of the 15 tracks on the mixtape.  Still, compilations are generally hit-or-miss by nature, and you can't really complain about a free mixtape put together by fans.  Despite some shortcomings, this mix has some truly amazing songs that show that rap is still evolving and exploring new territory.

Preview: Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Just intercepted a few Cosmogramma promo tracks that have been floating around the internet (the Cosmogramma group on last.fm, specifically) for about a month now. And I gotta admit, they sound pretty promising. Album's due out on May 4th, but if you live in the bay area I highly recommend that you catch both Mr. Lotus and ultra-UK-electronic pioneer Kode9 at the Mezzanine on March 27th. I saw that same combo last year (along with The Bug) and it was mind-blowingly good. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Le tracks:

Flying Lotus - Dance Of The Pseudo Nymph by elpretentio2

Flying Lotus - Satelllliiiiiteee by elpretentio2

Flying Lotus - Computer Face//Pure Being by elpretentio2

Autechre FACT Mix

listen here (to download, right click this link and select 'save link as')

Autechre are known as legends in the field on electronic music called IDM (intellegent dance music). Their style is paradoxically chaotic and highly structured at the same time. They use odd time signatures, truly out-of-this-world aural textures, and their sound is alternately confrontational and difficult or pleasantly ambient and inspirational. And throughout out the years, it's been reported by various random sources they are influenced by hip hop, which certainly isn't much of a stretch if you just look to the fact that both hip hop and electronic music are all about beat production. The appropriate way to label Autechre as hip hop though would to call it techno-alien-future-hop-on-acid.

Despite the fact that i always assumed that this supposed hip hop influence was overstated, it seems to be confirmed by this recent mix they've compiled. Maybe i just haven't the proper hip hop radar. But nonetheless, here you have it. Hip-hop through the lens of Autechre. Old skool beats with some extra flourishes to add to the atmosphere, melding into some other IDM (Venetian Snares), a dash of randomness, and a metal track. I'm all for taking hip hop into new territories, often secretly wishing that a genre would emerge called prog-hop. And to my delight, they've come close to accomplishing that here. It's a testament to their reputation that i'm never truly suprised to hear something incredibly interesting from these two Brits.

(p.s. new Autechre LP, "Oversteps" in march. schweet...)

Tracklisting!

1. [00:00] Mark Stewart & Maffia - Blessed Are Those Who Struggle [On-U Sound, 1983]
2. [03:25] Sensational - Thick Marker [WordSound, 1997]
3. [05:03] Phat Kat - Cock Suckers [Sequence Records, 2002]
4. [06:45] Scorn - Black Belt [Hymen Records, 2002]
5. [07:30] Tangerine Dream - Exit [Virgin, 1981]
6. [10:28] Roedelius - Übern Fluss
7. [12:15] Sonic Sum - Negatives [Tri-Eight Music Supplies, 2004]
8. [13:40] Raekwon - Broken Safety [Ice H2O Records, 2009]
9. [16:09] Q-Tip & Free Murder - Just A Lil Dude "Who Dat Ovah There" [Koch Records, 2007]
10. [19:32] J Dilla - Won't Do (Instrumental) [BBE, 2006]
11. [23:10] Black Milk - Danger [Music House, 2005]
12. [25:02] Ruby-Lo - Guilty Until Proven Guilty (feat. Thirstin Howl The 3rd) [Skillionaire Enterprises, 2009]
13. [28:04] Black Milk - Sound The Alarm [Fat Beats, 2006]
14. [30:15] Venetian Snares - Molting [Isolate, 2000]
15. [33:13] Venetian Snares - Punishing The Atoms [Isolate, 2000]
16. [38:50] Todd Terry - Made By The Man [Sleeping Bag, 1988]
17. [42:06] Percee P - Throwback Rap Attack [Stones Throw Records, 2006]
18. [45:00] Tuff Crew - Behold The Detonator [Warlock Records, 1989]
19. [47:00] Ultramagnetic MC's - Break North [Next Plateau Records Inc., 1988]
20. [50:00] Strafe - Set It Off [Jus Born Records, 1984]
21. [52:50] Necrophagist - Diminished To Be [Relapse Records, 2004]
22. [56:26] Bernard Parmegiani - Ondes Croisées [INA-GRM, 1984]
23. [58:27] Stephen Mallinder - Pow Wow [Fetish Records, 1981]
24. [61:30]
25. [62:32] Beat Club - Security (Beats)
26. [65:45] Meat Beat Manifesto - Radio Babylon [Play It Again Sam, 1990]
27. [68:54] New Age Steppers - Radial Drill [On-U Sound, 1981]
28. [71:55] Stephen Mallinder - Cool Down [Fetish Records, 1981]
29. [74:40] Stephen Mallinder - Length Of Time [Fetish Records, 1982]

Hudson Mohawke EPs & Singles (2009)

I've been listening to a lot of dubstep recently, and have been trying to get a handle on what exactly "funky" and "wonky" are. And during my efforts to learn more about "wonky", this guy came across my path. My first impression on hearing the name "Hudson Mohawke" was, "If this lousy pun represents the level of creativity this guy operates on, this is gonna suck". And then I heard claims of his being Glasgow's answer to Flying Lotus, and my eyes rolled so hard I temporarily went on a journey to the center of my mind. "Yeah right" I thought, "like Glasgow could possible have anyone like Flying Lotus. I'm pretty sure hip-hop doesn't even exist in that corner of the world". BUT!!! This completely blew me away, no exaggeration. The last time I remember being initially so impressed about a hip-hop/electronic music hybrid is probably the first time I heard One Word Extinguisher, six years ago. Maybe I'm just in a good mood today, though. The album pictured above- Polyfolk Dance- is Hudson Mohawke's (sometimes known as Hudson Mo or Hud Mo) debut EP for Warp, and his most recent release. The overall sound is dense and hazy, glitchy, very multilayered, and brings to mind not just Prefuse 73, but also Four Tet, Daedelus and yeah, Flying Lotus. The omnipresent vinyl crackle that Flying Lotus and J Dilla put to such good work is here, but so too are an array of synths and other inorganic sounds. But the combination never feels strained or forced. I think so far this year, this is the most exciting hip-hop-related release I've heard.

Hudson Mohawke - Polkadot Blues
This is an older release of his, and I think his first proper release, the "Ooops! EP". It's his only release so far that features actual rapping on it, although as far as I know, all of these songs are remixes of older songs- the titular track is a remix of an R'n'B song from 2002 (about masturbation! daaaaaang). I generally prefer rap to instrumental hip-hop, so I'd love to hear Hudson Mohawke make more work like this or even produce some original beats for a rapper. Short, but great. And "Jelly 'n' Jam" makes me miss hyphy.

Hudson Mohawke - Jelly 'n' Jam
This is another older release, the "6x7" single. It's a little more downtempo and stoned than his other releases. I especially like the last track, "Star Crackout", which has a very pretty melody, and kind of makes me think of some of Aphex Twin's older and more melodic work, or Savath & Savalas.

Hudson Mohawke - Star Crackout

hijack - the horns of jericho (1991)

I mentioned in the post about London Posse that they could be considered, in some ways, to be the English equivalent of EPMD. well there is no such ambiguity here, as Hijack are basically just an English rip-off of Public Enemy. the rapping is a complete imitation of Chuck D, and the songs tackle social issues in the same way that PE do. still, this is pretty interesting as a novelty. and some of the songs are really good, too. just don't expect too much originality.

Hijack - Radio Hijack (Part 1)
Hijack - The Contract

london posse - gangster chronicle (1990)

early 90's old-school british hip-hop. to be honest, I thought this was ok-not-great the first time I heard it, but the more I've been listening to it, the more I've enjoyed it. for one, I love posse hip-hop- the old school kind where posse members jump in and finish each other's rhymes and lines, and then everybody says the same thing at once. why don't rappers do this anymore? maybe because it was too fun. ok for two, I like hearing people with british accents rap, especially East London accents. it sounds cool. and three, I like old sample-based hip hop. this sounds kind of like a british version of EPMD, lots of great old jazz/funk samples and boom-bap. it gets a little old over the course of a whole album, but this stuff is great nonetheless.

London Posse - Gangster Chronicle
London Posse - Jump Around (Censored Mix)

super barrio bros - s/t (2007)

the Team Teamwork album made me think of the other major videogame/rap crossover album I know of, the Super Barrio Bros record. this album features two Project Blowed rappers, 8-Bit Bandit and Dumfoundead rapping about videogames over videogame samples. it works pretty well- its really really nerdy, not just because its about videogames, but because the rappers are the indie-backpacker type that put together overly verbose rhymes. I'm not really enough of a rap nerd to get way into that style of rapping, and one of the rappers has a really nasally voice that kind of grates on me. but its still a pretty interesting album, one i'd say worth hearing at least for its novelty value. I probably would have been all over this if I had heard it five years ago.

Super Barrio Bros - Bosses
Super Barrio Bros - Outro Instrumental

team teamwork - ocarina of rhyme (2009)

so I don't usually care much for mash-ups, but god knows I love videogames and this was floating around the internet today, so I thought I'd give it a shot. as might have been expected, this ends up being better in concept than in execution... for the most part. mostly, the samples from Ocarina of Time mesh poorly, and i'm not convinced that these guys really have all that good a grasp of how to construct a beat. however, two tracks definitely stand out. the first is the Aesop Rock remix, which makes good use of the already weird and rhythmic music from the Goron Village. the second is the Still Tippin' remix, which is a great song that's easy to remix, but also the juxtaposition of the rap with the Fairy Fountain music creates a beautiful and narcotic blend. I imagine Link tripping off fairy dust while Slim Thug sips sizzurp.

Aesop Rock - No Jumpercables (Goron Village)
Slim Thug & Mike Jones - Still Tippin' (Great Fairy Fountain)