compulsive Liars

It looks like the latest Liars joint (aptly titled "Liars") is a bit of a connundrum. Or at least, it's penny-farthinged the indie-critic world.

I 'picked up' the album this morning after seeing such contrasting reviews.

Ok, so I was mostly intrigued by the Liars "going pop"

As it turns out, they've remembered what song structure is! While using mostly loops and electronic techniques they no doubt honed in on for the last two albums, Liars seem to have crafted something "practical" in terms of mainstream music. You can bounce your head to this one.

In terms of sonic quality, the mixes are really dense and filled out, showing off their production skills more than anything. I doubt anything that was recorded stayed the way it was. Parts sound sampled, pieced together, chopped, and manipulated.

The lyrics and aura aren't really any less pretentious, and people certainly aren't getting as excited as they were when they heard "Mr. You're on Fire Mr." but the album definitely sounds like it's for the kids. "Houseclouds" even sounds like Radiohead at certain points and "What Would They Know" most definitely sounds like Joy Division (though very pleasantly so).

I guess I'm less stoked on this new Liars shit than I thought. They're a good group of musicians, and they make good art, it's just not the kind of thing I'm putting on all the time. Maybe the "pop" or "60's garage sound" of this one will change that, but until then, this one's about as inspired as a six-pack of Rolling Rock.

The Cabinet of Dr. No

Everybody knows who Oh No is now, right? Sure, you missed the Disrupt, and you might have heard that little ditty he did with all of those Galt MacDermot tracks, but what has he done lately?

Oh, he's been picking through various middle eastern psychedelic rock and funk records? Oh, you wanna hear it? Oh!

Yeah, it turns out (probably coincidentally) that Stones Throw can't stop dishing out the short-track instrumental hip hop albums. This one has a little more Donuts vibe than it does, say, Beat Konducta (check out the beginning of "Hot Fire," sounds a bit like "Anti-American Graffiti" huh?), but it definitely stands out on its own.

Most of it sounds loop-based, rather than chop & paste, but that could just be some of the man's slick skills. The interesting thing (and this isn't really new since Exodus) is that it's really not surprising that every sound on the record comes from those psych records. Aside from EQ/filtering, some delay, and maybe a few other DSP techniques, the ingenuity is all in the chop block.

All in all, I would call the Oxperiment a success, even if it sounds like Daedelus sampled that flute line from "Land Mine" first. The beats are simply really enjoyable. Pitchfork shit some mortar on it. Not quite a whole brick, but mortar nonetheless. Allmusic gave it half a star more than Exodus, but Exodus has the check mark for some reason. Cokemachineglow and tinymixtapes haven't touched it. I guess that leaves me pickin up the slack and listening to the bangin' joints.

Don't make me get oldskool...

This is another one that's been a while in the making. Dizz dropped Showtime only a year after Boy In Da Corner (the same year in the US), but Maths & English took him a few more years to put in the bag, and it definitely shows. While Rasket maintains his signatures Logic synth-layered style, he is also progressing forward into new territory. Like, for instance, sampling James Brown.

In terms of his first album, the production sounds a lot more traditional-hip-hop, but there are still psychedelic nuances, wonky synths, sweeping filters and wandering delays. And it's still gangster. I'm pretty convinced that the "hi-hat" sound for the opener "World Outside" is the sharpening of a large butcher's knife. People say he's getting Americanized or whatever, but I don't see Pharrell or Kanye doing this sort of production. Sure, it doesn't quite sound like grime anymore, or whatever, but it sounds good: it sounds different enough to be a progression, yet the same enough (maybe even just in attitude) to be familiar.

If you've yet to venture into Dizzee Dizz territory, I'd probably suggest Boy In Da Corner first, but if you've been following along with things so far, Maths & English is no surprise. 4 stars from allmusic, but they tend to be off on this sort of shit. There's no review, and there's not even a state-side CD copy of the thing, you have to import it. Thankfully CDUniverse has it on the cheap (for an import).

At this point, I feel a bit redundant. Everything I've written is about music I've been digging. What's my excuse? I don't listen to music I don't like? I dunno.. maybe. Not enough radio, or promotional cds, or something. Anyways, listen to Dizzee Dizz. Summertime....

A Monarch minus the A&R

I'll admit, I've only Pharoahe Monch work I've really really listened to before Desire is The Extinction Agenda, but fucking hot damn. I just snagged that self-titled joint and Internal Affairs off of the albumbase, and will probably take a trip to the record store when I get out of this sweltering paradise called Oáhu.

Desire is the return of the heart and soul to hip-hop. It's funky, fresh, original, and damn refreshing. I didn't even know I was waiting for anything, but this is what I've been waiting for. The album is chock full of lyrical genius ("I'm the poetical pastor/ Slave to a label, but I own my masters", etc). I've been doing some reading, and dude's taken 8 years, either brainstorming or working at a steady pace (or waiting for labels to figure their shit out). Regardless, the time and effort certainly shows.

Desire is well put together, sonicly cohesive, and just generally well-produced. Only three of the joints are labeled as containing samples, and even those do well to keep the sample as just another voice in the mix (complementing original drums, bass, and other voices). Not to say that sample based composition is is any less work or less artistic, but you can almost feel the days they spent in the studio working on this shit.

I read the allmusic review, saw that Ryan Schreiber gave it a "best new fad" tag, --- ok, --- I just paused and read the review. They quoted the same line as me (except they misquoted it, adding a "still", ha) -- Anyways, Brian Howe gave the new !!! album an 8.0 and this shit a 7.9, which is so fucking arbitrary, but it still means I can't take him seriously. In a nutshell, if you're into hip hop, you'll probably dig this album. If not, it may turn you on to some new shit. I think it's the best release of the year so far.

Get commenty with the shit, allmusic and Howe aren't down with the Public Enemy cover, but I think it's pretty dope. Sure, Monch isn't Chuck D, but the instrumental is fresh, and he added a verse. So say what's on your mind... or does nobody read this shit yet?

Boot Camp Clik ain't nothin to Wu Tang. Soundcyst motherfucker, get to know how we do things

I know it came out in January, but I can't get enough of this album. The beats are a bit more relaxed and soulful than Monkey Barz, but Ruck delivers big time. Dude's flippin' shit crazy, making new words ('respecognize'), and bringing the soul choir to boot. Some production by 9th Wonder, and a lot by dude's I've never heard of (but have probably heard) before but probably should have.

My buddy maintains that it's not as gritty or street as Monkey Barz, but I only really feel that in terms of the beats, and even then, it's shakey. Jesus Price definitely doesn't sound like Monkey Barz in terms of sonic quality, but shit, doesn't everyone always say they like artists to progress? P's still the brokest rapper you know (and now he's lettin you know he slangin that crack rock after the show). Guest appearances by Rock (fuck yea), Buckshot, Steele, Sadat X (!), Skyzoo, and a bunch more.

Basically, there's not a bad track on the record, and it's full of those bomb Sean P stanzas. So fuckin' get it already.

Jaylib Reissue Sample Clearance

This is probably old news for people with their head in the monitors, but I recently discovered that the new Jaylib Champion Sound reissue from Stones Throw has got some catches. Two of the Madlib beats from the original pressing have been changed, "The Red" and "No Games."

If you were paying attention in June, you might remember that the album got delayed due to "pressing complications," but it was really because Stones Throw was served with legal papers. Legal papers saying "hey, fuck you, don't use my song" from a whiney little bitch named Cris Williamson. Maybe a label exec from the Sony BMG owned indie label Olivia Records caught a glimpse of some youTube footage that a fan posted, or maybe Olivia Records has nothing better to do than lurk on the Stones Throw message boards, but either way, it's rather upsetting that the two companies couldn't work out a deal.

Blind and/or greedy on Olivia's part, as people do tend to buy albums with sample sources, and how much do they really think they'd get from royalties on this?

Business decision or completely helpless on Stones Throw's part. It either cost too much to pay off Olivia, or it was completely out of their control. Most likely the latter, as they were apparently issued a cease-and-desist letter from good old Olivia Records.

The issue of sample clearance is a fucker. It's a moral, ethical, and most prominently a financial issue, but it's one that is usually seen as confined to the RIAA realm. Well, friends, indie labels can be fuckers too. Why they can't just take their 3 cents per sale or whatever the standard is these days ($0.09 maybe?) and let Stones Throw release a proper reissue is beyond me. They probably don't understand the music, which is odd, because it seems like an open lesbian in the 70's could associate with the "mostly shitty women" sentiment that Quas expresses towards the end of the song.

Regardless of motive, the Champion Sound reissue is unfortunately missing two of the original tracks, making it incomplete to an extent. The instrumentals are a great bonus, but the closer "Ice" is also absent, and the packaging claims that "Raw Addict" was previously unreleased on CD (funny, my original copy has it). So really, we're down 3 tracks, up "Pillz" and "Da Rawkus", a couple of new instrumentals and a handfull of remixes.

With the original beats for "The Red" and "No Games" the reissue would be a very welcome enhancement to a repressing, but without them, the release seems watered down or incomplete.