rescuing musical virtue in distress.
This latest album from Chicago’s Speedyville Nardy is a riot of spoken word, random vocal sounds and dexterous raps, put to the beguiling and meandering electronica which has become the hallmark of modern rap music. The music definitely takes second place to the vocals that it forms a platform for but that has always been... Continue Reading →
Keep Winning is the sound of a fifty year journey which began on the street corners, in youth centres and parties of South Bronx and which today has infused, influenced and opened doors all over the world, not least of all in Morocco. It’s also a great reminder of the power of music to cross... Continue Reading →
If life is indeed like a box of chocolates, then the world that Fabp operates in is like a hundred boxes of chocolates smashed with a sledge-hammer, mushed back into one squidgy ball of sweetness, fired from a canon, gathered back together and then used to write sonic graffiti on the wall of the nearest... Continue Reading →
It’s when something like this comes my way that I am reminded of the scope and scale of music itself, of its potential to connect people and of its power to instigate creative culture collisions and build sonic scenes which spread beyond country and creed, genre and geographical location.Vasily G. is originally from Istanbul and... Continue Reading →
Rap has always been the place you go when you want to hear about real life. Other music genres might wax lyrical about imaginary realms or wallow in self-aggrandisement about the high life, but rap music has, by and large, just told it like it is, given us a view from the streets, a taste... Continue Reading →
Some people use auto-tune and other sonic tricks to fix failings in their vocal delivery, Speedy2x uses it to great wonderful sonic textures, cascades of voice as an instrument, turning his gentle deliveries into a beguiling and other-worldly sound. This isn’t about fixing things, this is about building whole new sonic worlds to explore.Don’t Know... Continue Reading →
Blending trap beats and trippy sonics, laid-back lyrics and understated soundscapes, Ded Diary Volume 4 is the 5th EP from multi-disciplinarian and rapper Ded Stark. There are many routes to be taken through the urban music landscape, some obvious and aggressive, confrontational and cock-sure, others more understated, more intimate and it is the latter path... Continue Reading →
Music is always at its most poignant when it reflects the surroundings responsible for its creation and 51-50 reflects the complexities and past collisions in Najeé Muhammad’s life perfectly. Pulled one way by the conformity of the church and its teachings, the other by gang culture and violence, he has come through a sort of... Continue Reading →
Although not due out until 17th October, those of us lucky enough to have heard advanced plays can see why there is a buzz of excitement and no small amount of anticipation for Razzie's last e.p. A run of successful singles has already shown his ability to take rap into a bright new future. Not... Continue Reading →
A lot of rap music seems to follow the same sonic lines. Trap beat. Wobbly middle ground electronica. Mumbled and indistinct lyrics to top it off. You get so used to cuing up a track, dropping the digital needle, as it where, and then hearing the same old sounds coming back at you. And that’s... Continue Reading →
We truly live in a multi-media age. Music has often looked to video to enhance, explain and explores larger meaning or perhaps to just act as a shining beacon to draw in the curious casual listener. Today though the network between audio and visual and everything beyond seems to be a wonderfully expanded affair. Sound... Continue Reading →
The on-going pandemic has led to many different reactions from people trapped and traumatised by such unprecedented times. Anger fear, compassion, a renewed sense of unity, even laughter as a survival mechanism and everything in between. And music artists are no different but they do have a more public platform through which to express themselves.... Continue Reading →
Short, sweet and to the point. But that has always been the charm of rap music. It knows what it wants to say and it gets straight on with it, and you can’t accuse Sen Lombardi of outstaying his welcome. Repetitive to the point of hypnotic, minimal to a point that it seems to eventually... Continue Reading →
A lot of modern rap and hip-hop, and the music which has sprung from these forms, seems to be powered by a glitchy, skittering trap percussion. An engine room bookended by depth-charge bass beats and skittering, chiming chirps. Last Night manages to put a new spin on such a rhythmic approach, with the percussive beats... Continue Reading →
City Inside The Desert is, in many ways, a love letter to Phoenix, Arizona. But it is also one based in reality. Rather than mythologise and pander to the cities image, Rocadopolis takes an honest look at his home town's beating heart, pulling no punches whilst clearly proud to be from that place. And it... Continue Reading →
Music and video games have always had a close relationship. Some musicians make a healthy living providing the scores to blockbuster games and most gamers spend their game-time immersed in the sonic textures and musical washes that act as the backdrop to their adventures and exploration, melee and the mayhem. But it is surprising, given... Continue Reading →
This is a lesson about just how music works. First of all you are confronted by a song about female gold diggers which has very few lyrics in the verses and lots of the title/chorus being repeated over and over again.Then you realise that the video looks like it has been made by the same... Continue Reading →
It doesn’t pay to hold your thoughts in, to let them stew and bubble away inside getting ever darker and more confused. Letting your deepest feelings out and clearing the air is always a healthy option and if you are a songwriter, those thoughts invariably find their way into song. Merrick Road, the debut single... Continue Reading →
Driven by a combination of an inquiring mind and a desire not to fall back into the dark days which have shrouded his own past, CEO Chino Marley delivers us an intriguing album. All throughout Dripology, Vol. 1 you can hear him taking hip-hop, rap, R&B, trap and even more mainstream pop sensibilities, apart and... Continue Reading →
Rap, and the hip-hop form which it grew from, has always been music with a well-developed consciousness, the perfect vehicle for raising concerns, for shouting from the rooftops about the fears and frustrations of those caught in a certain place or locked into a certain life style. Here, that consciousness takes on the form of... Continue Reading →
It’s the curse of our modern lifestyle. You find the one that you want to spend the rest of your life with but then gradually gravitate towards spending so much time indulging your own passions and pastimes that you neglect the one thing that should be most important in your life. We all need space but... Continue Reading →
It is always hard to find new places for music to go. That’s true of any genre but perhaps more so in the case of rap and hip-hop which often seems constricted by rules and regulations of its own making, shackled down by their own sonic chains. And whereas many try to find a new... Continue Reading →
The best music always has something to say. And it is worth remembering that all movements that matter, from rock’n’roll to hip-hop, from punk to grime, have been born out of dissatisfaction, restlessness and outrage. Throw into that mix Rockie Brown, who has never been shy in coming forward, has never been one to hold... Continue Reading →
I guess the reason that so many rappers throw so much clutter into their songs, multiple layers of electronic washes, unnecessary musical multi-tracking and all manner of sonic distractions, is to hide the fact that they just aren’t that good at handling the lyrics. Which is ironic for a musical form which is all about... Continue Reading →
If hip-hop and rap, and the myriad cross-pollination and hybrids that they spawned, were all about pushing boundaries and creating new musical worlds, it is now left to those in the underground and skirting the peripheries of those forms to be left holding the torch. As this once revolutionary genre settled in to a safe,... Continue Reading →
As debut albums go, this is certainly great value for money, not just for the 35 tracks that are found on it but for the diversity of music and the who’s who of guest artists and contributors who feature here too. When left to his own devices his songs seem to tip their hats to... Continue Reading →
Music doesn’t have to always concentrate on the more serious aspects of life, sometimes it is enough to dwell on its simple pleasures. In fact, music is generally better when it sticks to such a brief, when it remains relatable and fun, it becomes something that the mainstream can revel in rather than aim at... Continue Reading →
Rap music is all too often the sound of aggression, revelling in a belligerent, devil-may-care attitude and a celebration of, for want of a better word, greed. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Who says so? Muhlatto says so, and Use Me is a song which offers a response to such "use and... Continue Reading →
Idle Time, the debut track from Dolo Don, offers some old-school soul vibes as it kicks into life, a wealth of cascading strings and a rising dynamic before cutting back into a starker, more contemporary delivery which matches the directness of his honest tone. He’s a pragmatist, keeping his head down, not being swayed by... Continue Reading →
There is something wonderfully circular about a hip-hop artist struggling to find their place in life both personally and artistically and then using that experience as the inspiration to write an album. They say that you should always write about what you know so an album inspired by the trials and tribulations of an artist... Continue Reading →