Two Reviews of Ira Lee - Growl

Michael's review:

I must admit that I was ready to dismiss this album without even listening to it. Having been a big fan of Ira Lee for years, I feel that his output has gotten weaker and weaker. But in the end I still felt that I had to give Growl a chance. Because when Ira is good, he is amazing and I didn't want to risk missing out on anything. So I kept my fingers crossed when the first song came out through my headphones. My first reaction was that I was really feeling the beats. Dirty and distorted, and just what I need to feel good. Unfortunately that's where the fun ended. Because even if the productions were good, Ira's vocals and lyrics were not. He's always been the king of emo and feeling sorry for himself, but in the past he managed to do so with clever lyrics and a twinkle in his eyes. This time around he doesn't just feel too sorry for himself, but he's lazily feeling too sorry for himself, and that just comes across as boring and annoying. I'm sad to say this, but my love affair with Ira is now officially over. I wish him all the best in the future, but we've just grew apart.

Jessika's review: 

It´s funny how this so-called alternative hip hop sometimes is everything else but alternative. The political correctness, the bad metaphors and the goody-two-shoes attitude of “the guy who has all the answers” I think we all heard this before, have we not? What I’m trying to say here is, and I guess you already know, what so new and fascinating about this? I´m really trying to get to know this genre of music, but when I come across lyricists like this I just get tired, very tired! I mean: "I call myself a genius because no one else does” might be an attempt to be different and alternative, or it could just be a statement reflecting reality. We (me), who live in the mainstream world, hear this political-correct-saving-the-world crap all the time. It is not new and exciting! Heard of Bono? 

I´m not saying it's bad. I’m not saying that the message in the lyrics isn’t important. I just want to experience it in a different way, and I thought this might be the genre to do that. I guess I’m just disappointed, again.

With this being said, in my own cynical words, I have to state what I do like about this album. I do like Ira Lee´s voice and his ability to articulate so even a novice, being me, can follow him and understand his language. I really enjoy the music as well, being a bit rough and rugged, definitely my cup of tea.

And finally, and this is a plea I guess. Show me how to love and approach this type of music because this didn’t help me at all.   

Michael's rating: 2.5/10

Jessika's rating: 2/10

sole - A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing

After a bit of a discussion on the blog's Facebook page a few weeks back, I finally got around to write this review of sole's latest record A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing. What the discussion basically centered around was my opinion that I was tired of sole's revolutionary image that I think is a bit over exeggerated and that I was wishing to hear some good music from him. I know, perhaps a bit immature, but everyone's entitled to their opinion. I used to be a huge fan of his music from around 2001 when I first heard his album Bottle of Humans. After that, he released some truly great music such as Selling Live Water, Live from Rome and a couple of installments of mansbestfriend. I thought for a long time that here's an artist that can't do no wrong, but unfortunately then it was time for sole and the skyrider band. From then on he stopped shining if you ask me. He turned to more live productions, simplified his rhyme style and started, at times, to make really hideous tracks featuring autotune and so on. I would also like to point out that I give him full respect for going his own way. After all, everyone develops in different directions, and musically he went along with a bit, in my opinion, more commercial sound.

First I wasn't even going to listen to A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing. I couldn't really see the point. There are too much interesting music out there being released, so why bother about someone I wasn't feeling anymore. But after the before mentioned discussion, I sat down and listened to the album really hard. I wanted to give it an honest review and therefor I listened to it over and over again for a couple of days.

So, what's my verdict? Well, I have to give him huge props for sticking to his guns and delivering intelligent lyrics dealing with the fucked up world that we all face everyday. He stands up for what he believes in, and is doing his thing for sure. So lyrically I don't really have too much to complain about this time. There are a few phrases that makes me cringe, but I find that on most records so that's ok. If I have any issues with the album, then it's the majority of the productions. Some of them are quite good, but most of them are way too much electronic pop for my taste to truly work for me. With that being said, it feels like he's starting to find a balance between the commercial side, and the more rough and dirty one. All in all, I feel that this is the best record sole has released in quite a while. There are a few tracks on it that I skip on every listen (Last Earth and Animal for example), but tracks such as Inferno, Assad is Dead and Non Workers of the World saves the day. So I'm the first to admit this, sole is still able to make good songs. Will probably never be a big fan again, but he doesn't need me anyway.

Rating: 6/10

Soundtrack to Week 44

a.hymnz & oracy - I Just Work Here

Some albums just seem to drop without anyone noticing at all, and many times those records can be real gems just waiting to get discovered. I Just Work Here is one of those albums. I think that the first time I really noticed a.hymnz was when he back in 2010 released the record Off the Beaten Path together with variex. That was an album filled with really great songs, and it's still a record that I like to return to. This time around a.hymnz hook up with oracy. I wish I could tell you something about him, but to be honest I have no clue who he is. What I do know however is that these guys work really well together. If you're a fan of labels such as Milled Pavement and New Cocoon, you should definitely check out this one. And you don't really have any excuse not to. I Just Work Here is available here as a name-your-price download. So go ahead, treat yourself.

Rating: 6.5/10

Child Actor - Victory

Child Actor is the frail lovechild constructed by Max Heath from Anonymous Inc. and Sedgie Ogilvy. I think their own description of their music says it best; R & B for the digital age, with hip hop and psych elements clawing at the walls of a restless alt-pop soundscape. And that's just what it feels like. It's a great mix of influences that in many cases would feel contrived, but here comes across as natural and really quite beautiful. It's the combination of Max's massive, but still constricted productions and Sedgie's dreamy and personal voice that makes this stand out from most of the thousands that throughout the years has attempted to do what Portishead succeeded with many many years ago. Perhaps not an album that I will return to time and again, but for now it's pure enjoyable pop, and that's just enough sometimes.

Rating: 5.5/10

Wordburglar - Drawings with Words

New video from one of my favourite geeks Wordburglar. The track is taken from the album 3RDBURGLAR.

Soundtrack to Week 43

PersephOne - al jawab

Time again for a new video from Texas based emcee PersephOne. She's definitely one to look out for!

epilog - Lauf feat. soda

Brand new video from epilog's upcoming album Vakuum that drops on the always superb label postrap on December 8th.

otem rellik - Blood Bone Piano

otem rellik's album Elephant Graveyard was one of the best albums coming out in 2010. After that it's been kind of silent from him. Until now. And it was definitely worth the wait! Blood Bone Panic is even stronger than its predecessor and feels just like I was hoping it would do. This time around he makes an album that it's more frail and beautiful then before, and at times it even feels slightly emo. I know, emo is a word that makes me cringe too, but it's not always necessarily a bad thing. It's more that otem puts his soul into his creations, and what comes out is beautiful and heartfelt music. What more can one ask for?! One of this year's best albums for sure.

Rating: 8/10

Soundtrack to Week 42

babelfishh - the king's horse

New video from mr babelfishh. Taken from the superb tape howl bender. Get it here.

El-P - Stay Down

Spanking new video from El-P's amazing album Cancer 4 Cure.

Soundtrack to Week 41

Asiatic - Problem Attic & Erb-N-Warfare

I honestly didn't see this one coming. Usually when I had An Accident Records release anything that is vaguely in the hip hop direction, I most of the time like it. So when I popped Problem Attic & Erb-N-Warfare in my headphones I was expecting to hear something new and exciting. This bored the shit out of me though. Boring rap, uninteresting topics and more than lackluster beats. I won't return to this one. Next!

Rating: 2.5/10

DJ Bizkid - Features & Collabos (2006-2008)

Just as the title of this album reveals, it's a compilation of tracks featuring DJ Bizkid between 2006 and 2008. As such, I won't look upon this as a proper album because that would be a bit unfair I think. With that being said, I have to say that this is a solid compilation that shows his skills as a DJ, and it that he has a good ear for good music. The list of people he's worked with is quite impressive, and include names such as Aamir, Nomar Slevik, dumbfoundead and Xczircles and he manages to bring flavour that match their own personal styles. Unfortunately the DJ gets more and more left out nowadays, so it's nice to see someone getting a bit of recognition at least. 

Rating: 5/10

Soundtrack to Week 40

DJ Scientist - For Better, For Worse

The first time I stumbled across the music of DJ Scientist I think was when he produced most of Ceschi's album The One Man Band Broke Up back in 2010. And what an introduction it was! Those two guys really complemented each other and make one of the best albums of that year. Earlier this year he released The Artless Cuckoo, an EP which sounded really promising for the future. So therefor it was with great expectations that I sat down to listen to For Better, For Worse which is his first full length album under his own name. And it is a good album. He's really good at building up moods and atmospheres with his productions. But, and there has to be a but here. After a while I'm kind of loosing interest for the album and even though it's still good, it doesn't sound very unique and personal. At times it feels like some of DJ Shadow's old left overs (which necessarily isn't a bad thing) and sometimes it sounds like those collections of samples that I used to listen to 10-12 years ago. One reason for this is of course that the material on this album was recorded between 2001 and 2006. But I guess what I miss is some vocals from time to time to really complete the album in a way that it's not able to do now. Like I said though, it's still a good album but if I had to pick only one instrumental album to listen to this year, I think I would pick The Small Minority by 2econdclasscitizen instead. 

Rating: 6/10

cars & trains - We Are All Fire

The Roots, The Leaves was one of my absolute favourite albums of 2010, so I've really been looking forward to this follow up from Tom Filepp's cars & trains. After my first listen I loved it, but after a couple of more I felt that something was missing somehow. I wasn't able to put my finger on it, but I think it was that We Are All Fire wasn't as immediate as his last album. But with that being said, this album still is very good and I think it is one that will grow more and more on me, and end up being a really good piece of art. He's a incredibly talented musician, and sometimes great art doesn't hit home at once. I really should be reviewing this after listening to it for a couple of months, but for now this will have to do.

Rating: 7.5/10

PJ Katz - ´92 Renault Music

I have no idea who PJ Katz is. I don't know where he's from, or if he's done any albums prior to to this one. I never heard of any of the guesting emcees either. I probably never would have either if I hadn't got this album through Dezmatic. Sometimes it can be a bit annoying not knowing anything about the artist, but sometimes it can be nice. You get to listen to something without any kind of expectations. ´92 Renault Music is straight up soulful boom bap of a really nice standard, PJ Katz is good at what he's doing, and the emcees comes out strong too. At times however it feels like I've heard this a few times too many already, but all in all it's a nice album from a very promising producer.

Rating: 6/10