L'Orange – The Mad Writer

November 25, 2012 • Jakarta Records

I love few things more than picking out things to listen to almost randomly and being massively surprised by something great. In this case, I've been casually looking for noir-flavored hip hop ever since I heard MF Doom's Vaudeville Villain and haven't found anything good—until I stumbled on this unique and fantastic album by L'Orange.

No point in beating around the bush—the production on The Mad Writer is simply superb, some of the best I've heard in a long time. The beats seem to ultimately derive from the old east coast sampling style with a definite southern-hip-hop flair: simple, hard drums; jazzy piano and winds; smooth and soulful musical and vocal samples; reverb and vinyl crackle topping everything off. It's nothing particularly groundbreaking, but it is very well-arranged and is great at evoking various styles and moods of early 20th century America—not to mention catchy as hell.

A lot of the intrigue (at least for me) comes from the myriad of clips from old-time radio shows and films, giving the album a dark and intriguing atmosphere. I can't really say where most come from, but there are definitely quite a few from hard-boiled-detective dramas, which I've always thought go well with this kind of hip hop. In fact, I was so intrigued by some of these samples that I've started looking into golden-age radio shows and listening to a variety of the dramas and thrillers that were so popular from the '40s to the '60s. It's really great stuff. I don't think there are many albums (if any) that have helped me get into a whole new medium like that. So even if the music sucked (which it doesn't), there's still a positive coming out of this album for me.

The rapping is obviously playing second to the production, as it only shows up on three tracks. And unfortunately while what rapping does exist is well-performed, there isn't a whole lot to comment on and it seems like a lot of it exists just to take up space. I would rather see it go one way or the other—either focus on the production and don't let the rapping distract from it, or feature rapping over most of the album so it doesn't feel out-of-place when it shows up. I do really dig the singing on "Femme Fatale", though; it has a sort of underground-vocal-jazz style that fits in perfectly.

I'm definitely glad I found this album, and hopefully I can use it as a jumping-off point for finding more of the fabled noir-hop I've been looking for all this time. And I really hope there's more from L'Orange to dig through, too.

Clipping – Midcity

February 5, 2013 • self-released

I haven't really been listening to quite as much music recently. Not totally sure why (probably work-related), but I've felt the need to experience things in smaller, more intense bursts to try to get everything in. Midcity has been out since February so I'm way behind on everything I wanted to listen to, but at least this falls under the "intense bursts" I guess I'm going for.

Noise and hip hop—two genres I've liked for a while, and two genres that you don't often see together (at least, not at this level; Dälek or Death Grips come near it but still aren't in the same league). Clipping's style almost forgoes the standard styles of hip hop entirely, opting for harsh static, glitch, junk noise, anything dissonant they can get their hands on. It's a really interesting contrast to the more standard rapping that's comparable to a lot of modern rap; against the backdrop of the noise beats it becomes something entirely different. It's still pretty rhythmic music (most of the time), but hearing those rhythms made with static and sound effects instead of drums and samples is offputting, to say the least.

Production aside, it still comes off as a pretty solid album when it comes to hip hop. There's some great scratching (something sorely lacking on a lot of hip hop I hear) and sometimes the beats can get a little catchy on their own. The rapping is quite good too, even if it is a little typical (and I could go without hearing "swag" ever again). They aren't very aggressive at all which provides a nice balance to the head-pounding production—whereas Death Grips beat the listener by shouting relentlessly, Clipping opts to take a more subtle approach to alarm the listener, and it works.

Overall, it's a really cool aesthetic, and I'd be excited to hear more extreme hip hop like this. Midcity is best served in short chunks, though, if the listener wishes to retain their sanity.

7

Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, Busdriver

February 19, 2013 • A&R Music Bar, Columbus, Ohio

Yeah, yeah, concerts two days in a row. Not something I'm going to get into a habit of anytime soon, but this was easily an exception. It wasn't quite as good as Monday's show, and it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped in general, but it was still a pretty good time.

Busdriver

I barely know anything about Busdriver, aside from that he's a very eclectic artist in the hip hop world, and that definitely proved true here. I was pretty impressed by his set: just two tiny samplers provided a large array of both minimalistic and very noisy beats. And he's quite the talented vocalist; his rasta-style singing was decent and he spits like no other—if I thought Aesop Rock was a fast rapper, Busdriver is some other league. The forty-five minute set got a bit taxing, and maybe even a bit repetitive, but it was by no means a bad show.
6 • Most Exquisite Haircuts Award

Aesop Rock / Rob Sonic

I didn't expect them to go on at the same time, but it made things move a bit faster so that was nice. I was unaware that they have a group now (with the DJ who backed them up, Big Wiz), so the setlist was a pretty even mix of Aesop Rock's material, Rob Sonic's, and the group's (Hail Mary Mallon). Unfortunately this meant that I didn't even recognize half of the songs they did, which kind of undercut my enjoyment of the set a bit. Still, it was great to hear Aesop do some of the better Skelethon tracks and a few older ones as well, including some of my favorites like "None Shall Pass", "No Regrets", and "Pigs". The sound itself was horrible, though—you would be lucky to hear the beats aside from the super-heavy basswork, aside from DJ Big Wiz's (admittedly good) solo set. It made it hard to tell what they were even playing most of the time. Overall, though, the show was decent; not one of my favorites but it was still pretty fun.
7 • Best Use of Entertaining Backdrops Award

Aesop Rock – Skelethon

July 10, 2012 • Rhymesayers Entertainment

There'll always be a special place in my library for Aesop Rock; after all, he's the reason I listen to hip hop, and Labor Days and None Shall Pass are still two of my favorite hip hop albums ever. So naturally I was pumped as hell for Skelethon, almost to the point where I knew the real thing couldn't live up to my expectations. Well, it did. Somehow he's completely outdone himself and Skelethon just might be his best yet.

First of all, what the hell has Aesop Rock been doing hanging out with Blockhead all this time? Not that the tracks Blockhead produced on his older albums were bad—far from it—but Aes' beats are killer through and through, and he finally has managed to put out a full album of entirely his own production instead of the odd track here and there. The end result is awesome. It's not too different from his older stuff; it has lots of rock samples (check the catchy-as-hell guitar lick on "ZZZ Top"), very ethereal-sounding synth effects, hard-hitting drums... It still sounds very much like any given Aesop Rock album, and the production is still going to appeal to anyone who enjoyed his older stuff, but here it's simply so much better in every way. It's tough to describe exactly what's going on here, but there's a definite atmosphere going on through the whole of the album—I don't want to say it's necessarily "dark", but it's definitely darker than None Shall Pass and almost melancholy in places ("Zero Dark Thirty", "Gopher Guts"), the kind of mood I already love. It's like he's deliberately playing to my tastes. The album isn't without Aesop Rock's silly and fun humor, though, as there is a small handful of much more upbeat tracks to balance things out ("Racing Stripes", "Grace").

His rapping is the same as always—rapid-fire abstract word salad which I've always been pretty ambivalent about—although it seems like his rhythmic skills have improved quite a bit. Maybe it's a side effect of making his own beats and being able to tailor everything to himself better, but he's constantly meshing his vocal rhythms with the beats which makes everything feel more unified. His older stuff often felt like the beats and rhymes were made completely separate and just mashed together later (which wasn't always a bad thing) but Skelethon feels more deliberate, and it feels great.

As usual, I don't really pay attention to the lyrics, but from the bits I catch here and there he's the same as ever. The artfully-descriptive "Ruby '81" reminds me a lot of Labor Days' "No Regrets", one of its better tracks because of its lyrics. So that's a good indicator, if nothing else. (But I'm not one to talk about lyrics, really, so I'll leave it there.)

The only misstep on the album I can even think of might be the female vocalist on "Crows 1" and "Racing Stripes"; I feel like she interrupts the album in a way and it's a bit jarring (and she's not very good, either). Those tracks (and "Crows 2") mark the inevitable middle-of-the-album slump but gladly it's not much worse than the rest of Skelethon (the great beats on "Racing Stripes" help) and it picks back up just fine afterwards—just about every other track on the album is really good, with maybe just one or two tracks total I'd cut if I had the final choice (and they're not even that bad).

I hardly need to restate how much I'm enjoying this album—but better than Labor Days? It's entirely possible. I'm not sure yet; it needs more time to sink in, but I will say the five-year wait from None Shall Pass was absolutely worth it. If, in another five years, we get another album that's as improved on its predecessor as this one was, I just might wet myself.

8

Special bonus: The whole album up on YouTube! Thanks Rhymesayers, you're the best.

Death Grips – The Money Store

April 24, 2012 • Epic Records

Hopping on the hype train once again, it's time for Death Grips' The Money Store, this month's indie hip hop critic darling. As it turns out, there's good reason for that. I'm only marginally familiar with their debut Exmilitary, and I liked it; this, though, is one of the most interesting followups I've heard. It's on a major label and offers a more catchy sound, yet somehow at the same time it's still dense and impenetrable. And, yes, it's good.

Happily, Death Grisps seems to be intensely deconstructing their hardcore freak-out style and seeing what new things they can do with it. The Money Store's beats have become a bit softer, catchier, and more "west-coast-sounding", but the result is just as good as their debut. The songs can be a bit hit-or-miss (there are a couple lame tracks like "Fuck That"), but when they hit they hit hard. "Hustle Bones", for instance, has a huge bassy distorted beat that is still somehow nicely danceable; "Hacker" has a fantastic and infections house beat and a great hook; there are too many examples to list them all. Many of the new sounds heard draw from various electronic genres (there's lots of indie electronic, IDM, bastardized downtempo, house, and of course the surprisingly-awesome poppy style of "I've Seen Footage"), which is wildly successful. And some tracks still have that nice dissonant creepy sound I liked on Exmilitary, like "Lost Boys" and the crazy bass wobble on "System Blower", so there's quite a mix of styles here. On the whole the production isn't as thick as before, but it's more nuanced and rewarding.

The rapping leaves a bit to be desired, though; MC Ride's vocals here are more "normal", unlike Exmilitary, with very little of the intense yelling that made that album memorable. It's one of the elements that made Exmilitary as compelling as it was, and to hear it so downplayed here makes me feel like there was some wasted potential. However, here it does fit the beats' softer and more melodic style really well, so I'm not going to complain too much. And there is still harsher rapping to be found here and there.

On the whole The Money Store is definitely a strong album, among some of the most interesting hip hop I've heard to come out in the last couple years (though admittedly I don't keep up as much as I probably should). It's not perfect, and there are a few filler tracks here and there (as much as the album tries to make you forget about them), but I would say it does live up to most of its hype and has its share of really good tracks.

7