Hiphop
Track: Rhys Langston – ‘a two state solution to soak eye contact’: cracking the political lyrical prism with an Anticon touch
ATTENZIONE, lovers of rhyme and lyricism transmitting in from the leftfield; come May 19th, POW Recordings will be presenting a new album from Los Angeles’ Rhys Langston, splicing oblique but conscious verbiage with the indie rock spirit of bands such as TV On The Radio, taking on the dominant power structures, throwing in Yiddish slang …
Track: Bronx Slang – ‘Just Say No’: into ’21 with clear-eyed flow and crisp breaks
FRESHLY scrubbed and lyrically equipped, Bronx Slang come slammin into ’21 with some fine verbal consciousness rising with their first drop of the new year. Ollie Miggs and Jerry Beeks are still seeing true; still understanding just how we got here and where we really oughta be, and they’re railing against the construct that keeps …
SEE: Bad Colours – ‘Feelin’ Like’: future breaks drop teases for debut album
IBE SOLIMAN, the London-born, Maryland-raised, and now Brooklyn-based DJ and producer, likes to guise up for the world of music he produces as Bad Colours; and he’s set to release his first full-lengther, PINK, on Bastard Jazz at the end of this month. The album sees him drawing on influences from across the beats and …
TRACK: Confucius MC – ‘Lanterns’: the first essential UK hip-hop of ’21 has entered the building
IT MIGHT just be the first properly essential UK hip-hop track of 2021, and it comes from Peckham’s Confucius MC, longtime friend of Kae Tempest, teacher, outreacher; and it’s a readymade headnod classic, fo sho, in which Confucius is joined in the flow by Sonnyjim, Verbz, and Jehst, a loop of bells glimmering over a …
ALBUM REVIEW: Madlib – ‘Sound Ancestors’: beats genii’s wide-eyed, wide-open odyssey
Madlib’s Sound Ancestors, produced by Four Tet, is the beats genii’s wide-eyed, wide-open odyssey. Like a fractal pattern, the deeper you focus and the more you pull out, the more you see
Meet: We interview North East artist Leddie MC
2020 saw a rebirth of North Easy artist Leddie MC. The year saw her starting again with her music, and gracing us with a new single each month before releasing an EP – Born Of Stone last September. (Read our review here) First of all, how are you? How are you coping with the pandemic? …
Track: Leddie MC – They Don’t Make ‘Em Like You (Ft Eve Conway)
To start the year off, North East artist Leddie MC has released a track from her EP ‘Made Of Stone’ which she released last year. (Read our review here) The track ‘They Don’t Make Em Like You’ features Eve Conway A sweet pop opening as Conway sings the chorus but then a more aggressive beat …
SEE: Niklas Paschburg feat. Ex Mykah – ‘Cyan’: a lush meshing of two worlds
NIKLAS PASCHBURG is a modern compositional pianist and composer who’s released two rather fine albums for 7K!, K7!’s mirror-image boutique ambient label, namely Oceanic and Svalbard. He’s now opening the doors to his piano work for outside interpretation, and in combination with Ex Mykah, the avant-pop project guise of Colombian-Cuban American artist Bryan Senti, he’s …
TRACK: The Damn Straights – ‘Blow It Up’: one minute fifty-eight of lyrical fire
THE DAMN STRAIGHTS: who they? I hear you say. Well, as if proving gestalt theory – if you’ll allow me to don my professor specs a sec, that a transactional whole is indeed more than the sum of its parts – it’s a two-handed, transatlantic collaboration between Exeter’s Adam Gibbons, aka the connoisseur’s modern soul …
SEE: Kid Cudi – ‘Heaven On Earth’: rapper drops visuals, announces expanded Man On The Moon set
KID CUDI, the Cleveland, Ohio-born lyricist who’s been straddling the Billboard charts for a decade plus, has finally unveiled the final part of his Man On The Moon trilogy, Man On The Moon III: The Chosen, which emerged three weeks ago. And as that album finally hit the racks – drawing together a triptych that …