Tuesday 23 April 2013

35: The Mitchell Brothers - A Breath Of Fresh Attire


Ah yes - the first half of the noughties. I went to a fancy dress party in 2002 where someone went as the cover of the Streets first LP. I went as either E or P from EPMD. Someone broke a door. Heady days indeed. It's easy to forget now how big Mike Skinner became at that time. I never realised he was big enough to have his own 'imprint' which this record came out on. His legacy is a strange one - his records are missing from the list, but he was never really hip hop and I could never decide if he had found a way to make a spoken version of a rap song or was just a load of rubbish.

His hands are certainly all over this, but it's not the trial I thought it would be. There's something about the brothers which is honest and it comes across on this. Basically the tales of two fairly amusing guys and their trials with ladies and football. None more noughties.

The first track does it no favours - lots of swearing. It's the third track before it gets going - stuttering beats, and (the best thing in rap) handclaps too. They aren't quite Skinnered up on this, there's a bit more melody to their flow that makes the whole thing work, but they are essentially speaking. Skinner shows up and his contribution polarises me - he's certainly different but it sounds like someone reading, but there's something about the way he places words which I quite like. But then it veers back to rubbish.

Then there's a track which is like dry your eyes one that the streets did. It then trundles on in the same vain - quite varied lyrically, if the production's a bit one speed. The 11th track starts with them boasting about cunnilingus which is a little refreshing to hear. Then it goes off with a rap ballad. The best line of this whole album? : "She's been here since Popworld started, and I haven't got to pop her bra yet". This is one of the defining sounds of the first decade of the new millenium.

Here's a stupid video for Routine Check, featuring Sir Skinner on the Fuseball:

Wednesday 17 April 2013

36: Ty - Upwards


That most frightful of formats - the triple LP. Thankfully, this was available on US iTunes so I dodged that bullet. Triple LPs - especially Triple Hip Hop LPs (This is a 13 track album) are not designed for casual listening. I've been in California off and on for over half a year and I've yet to feel any homesickness. Even with this project, and a recent Thornbridge mini-fest in Berkley.

And now Ty - I knew a few of his tracks prior to this, notably on the first Nextmen LP. This took the token urban slot in the 2004 Mercury Prize, amongst the Streets, Amy Winehouse, The Streets and, er, Keane. It lost out to tedio-rockers Franz Ferdinand of course. I used to listen to all the mercury nominated albums which was always quite interesting but my favourite never won, I was always too far removed from the judges.

This, by the way, is a fantastically accomplished record - I don't know about a man at the top of his game but this is brimming with confidence, and reminds of the forward thinking krautrock records I listened to over the summer.

The production is tight and varied, and his not afraid to mix singing and rapping, like on 'Rain' which is  the sort of blend of rap and soul which is not easy to pull off. It's a solid listen throughout. The last track is something of a narrative, another difficult thing to pull off and he doesn't quite make it. But it is good - nice soul backdrop and his writing is almost good enough to make it believable.

And then a hidden track. Which on digital format comes off as a 5 minute silence where you think your player's broke. But yet this is a good record all the way through - a little too effortless though but a good un.

The only way to film hip hop is in the comedy style - so here's Wait A Minute:

Sunday 7 April 2013

37:Silver Bullet - Bring Down The Walls No Limit Squad Returns


This was the hardest listen so far. Not because it was bad, nor was it challenging, nor was it avant garde. It's simply the most brutal record I've ever heard - so much so, that I found it physically tiring to listen to in full.

Silver Bullet are seemingly known for the 20 seconds to comply track - an uptempo, Public Enemy like clash of tough drums and a load of Robocop samples. If someone's sampling Robocop then everything is right with the world. It's not far off a Hijack's Badman is Robbin', which makes me wonder why this did so well but Hijack seemingly didn't? But anyway.

The rest of the album takes the same tack - heavy drums, fast rapping and the sound of a man losing his voice. The version I bought  has 4 bonus tracks, including, of all things, two Bomb Squad remixes. I guess they struggled with the remix, since it's so close to their sound anyway - the version of 20 seconds is basically shorter but still as relentless. It's a good record but too one dimensional and not distinctive enough to keep me interested. And exhausting.

Here's a cheap video which (surely illegally) includes a whole bunch of scenes from one of the greatest films ever made:


38: Outlaw Posse - My Afro's On Fire


The Outlaw Posse album cover is channeling a little bit of the Jungle Brothers, and a little more of the Dream Warriors. Fortunately this is just a carbon copy but a channeling of the above into a coherent whole. There's even a track called "Doin Our Own Thang".

Everything's in balance - upbeat, optimistic rhymes, jazz backdrops and embellishing scratching. The samples are straight out of UBB, blended with a bit of Gang Starr speeches. It's a good capture of US afro-centricity but through a UK filter.

There are many highlights - With A 'K', where Karl outlines that his name begins with said letter, over a looped Ode to Billie Joe, close your eyes and your listening to a lost De La Soul album. It's a solid listen, though a little unremarkable and though I enjoyed it, I can't say it made a huge impact on me.

Here's a horrendously mixed live performance of Stop the Negativity: