My apologies for being a little lax on the posts. I meant to put up a MotW last Friday, but I hadn't really had the chance to go thru things the way I like, and there really wasn't too much to talk about... plus, its been a busy month so far.
Anyway, on to the action:
First up this week, something "new" from the trip-hop/abstract/however-you-refer-to-it legend known as Tricky. His album Knowle West Boy dropped a little over a year ago, but 9 of the tracks have been remixed and reimagined by the South Rakkas Crew on the aptly titled Tricky Meets the South Rakkas Crew.
Now, I'll be fair in saying that I've fallen away from buying Tricky albums since 2003's Vulnerable, so I haven't heard the originals that appear in remixed form on this LP. That being said, this one isn't really up my alley. There's a few things worth listening to, and maybe buying individually off iTunes or Amazon, most notably "Coalition," which will definitely find its way into a dubstep set... but all in all, I'm just not that into it. Maybe I'm being too closed-minded, but I miss the Tricky of "Christiansands," "Makes Me Wanna Die," and "Overcome" (amongst others). I was even one of the few people I knew who really enjoyed Juxtapose and even had Blowback on regular rotation for a while.
Maybe I'm just stuck on the Tricky of the 90's and early 2000's, but I feel his work back then (and when he was still working with Massive Attack) far outshines the more recent stuff. But, my tastes aren't universal, so check out the album in MP3 format until the hardcopy drops in December, and let me know if I'm wrong in the comments... I'm always open and willing to having my mind changed.
Tricky Meets South Rakkas Crew on Amazon (no iTunes listing available)
I'm an avid reader of khal's Rock The Dub blog, but as mentioned before, my tastes aren't universal, so I'm not always up on the stuff he posts - though he's got the inside scoop on everything hip-hop/dubstep/dnb related (with being a contributor to Dogs on Acid and having his RTD and Dubplate Digest blogs). One of the things we can agree on is the stuff from Elucid.
I slept on the Sub Bass Diet LP Elucid dropped for free, but finally downloaded it this past week, and have to say its something any fan of mashing up hip-hop and dubstep should appreciate. Since its free, I'll just pass you the link (above), and let you decide for yourself.
Why some people decide to name their band/group/alter-ego the things they do always escapes me. Hell, sometimes I wonder how my crew and I have come up with some of the names we have... but naming yourself Robot Koch seems like shooting yourself in the foot right at the starting line. Sure, some pronunciation word-play can be fun, and yes, you're not really expecting to have alot of radio play when you produce IDM, but really?
In any event, the man known as Robot Koch dropped his new LP, Death Star Droid, on Tuesday. An interesting combination of IDM, glitched-out hip-hop, and dubstep-esque basslines will have you thinking you're listening to the love child of Prefuse73, The Glitch Mob and Lusine. Ethereal melodies meet blips and wobble in an on-time/off-time experiment made for zoning out and letting the tracks do the work.
Robot Koch - Death Star Droid on iTunes
Speaking of mashing up random bits of multiple genres, Kid Koala's new project The Slew released their new LP, 100%, this past Tuesday as well.
The group, consisting of Kid Koala, Dynamite D and the former Wolfmother bandmates Chris Ross and Myles Heskett, puts forth something that some of you may find reminiscent of El Stew (which was a "supergroup" of sorts from the late 90's consisting of Eddie Def, Extrakd, Brain, DJ Disk and Buckethead). I'm not quite sure how to describe this album, so I'll let their promotional material from Terrorbird do the talking:
4 1/2 years ago, Eric San (aka Kid Koala) and Dylan J. Frombach (aka Dynomite D) started working on a rock record. Already deep into the psych rock-influenced score, they teamed up with the former rhythm section of Wolfmother,The Slew put together a full-blown rock band to do justice to the material in a live setting, in the form of six turntables,full band and wall of amps that made their way across North America this October. The Slew bring punk rock attitude back to the turntable unlike anything you’ve ever heard. The album, 100%, was meant for tour only but due to post-tour demand, is now hitting record stores.
Really off-the-wall but interesting stuff for sure.
The Slew - 100% on Amazon (no iTunes listing available)
I can't not mention the new LP from hip-hop's legendary Rakim. His newest effort, The Seventh Seal, brings his unmistakable back to your ears as if he hasn't been on a serious hiatus. Opening the album with "How to Emcee" reminds you that The R really is one of the Dons. Rakim has always been an unreal storyteller, and his rhymes are precise and only comparable to a select few MCs to have ever graced a mic (which I'm sure is a discussion that could go on for hours).
Now, I don't claim to be a wealth of knowledge in the hip-hop vein - there are way too many MCs and producers out there to know them all, but I was a bit disheartnened to find that not one of the producers from this album were recognizable names to me. I know there was alot of talk about Rakim working with Dr. Dre and that there was allegedly some big beef between them (or their people/labels/whatever) which cancelled the plans to have Dre produce the album... but where are cats like Primo or The Alchemist or 9th Wonder or someone with a proven track record on the beats? I'm not dissing the work on the album - cause it is solid, and Rakim has the ability to spit heat on anything, automatically raising the quality - but I guess I was just expecting "bigger name producers" to be all over getting a verse from a living legend. Is that too much to ask?
Rakim - The Seventh Seal on iTunes
Finally, I'd like to speak briefly about my biggest let-down in some time. When I first heard that it was coming, I searched high and low to find a leak or even radio rips of the tunes, knowing that this was gonna have to be off the handles... unfortunately, I was wrong in so many ways.
2005's Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture was one of the best "independent" hip-hop albums in a long time. With covers of Wu classics by cats like Aesop Rock, Planet Asia, MF DOOM, Del and more, you couldn't go wrong. When I heard version 2 was coming, I got excited... when I heard it was going to be called Enter the Dubstep, I was thrilled... When names like Evol Intent, Datsik, Trillbass and Parson were mentioned as remixers... well, lets just say I was probably a little too excited. Then, I got a copy. I wasn't too excited anymore.
I think one of the things that separates the Wu from other hip-hop groups is the extremely different styles of the MCs - their flows, delivery and rhymes are so different from one to the next, yet work so well when they're together on a record. Unfortunately, when their acapellas are dropped on dubstep beats, something changes. The off-time flow of an MC like the RZA can work over 80-110 bpm originals, but turn it up to 130-140 bpm, and it just sounds off. Now, I'm a producer, so I understand the endless hours of crate digging and going through the archives to find acapellas that sound right, or say the right things - most of the time to only find a snippet or two that you can use. And using snippets of hip-hop lyrics have worked so well in dubstep up to this point (see Datsik & Excision's "Swagga" or Bassnectar's "Cozza Frenzy" etc. for examples), it makes me question why the producers on this compilation had to try and force the entire verses.
I guess if you're a fan of the Wu, you can still appreciate what's going on here, but this release was lost on me. Listen for yourself, and again, if you think I'm wrong, let me know.
Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture Vol. 2: Enter the Dubstep on iTunes
I hope everyone's Turkey Day was good, and make sure to bundle up... it's getting cold out there (I should know - the heat in my place died last night). Till next time...
