NEIL KULKARNI, [email protected]
QUICKIES
Run The Jewels
Meek Mill
Warners
Get It
Project Pat feat
Juicy J
Relativity
Make Me
1.0
Apparently, as he reveals
on this autotuned
crockashit, MM's haters
only 'make him worse'.
Was thinking mebbe
I should hold off but
actually, Meek, it's not
POSSIBLE to be worse than
this. So go on fuckface,
show me how bad you can
get. There's no further
down to go from 'Make
Me' beyond the sound of
paramecium ?atulence
and frankly even that
would be preferable to this
big bowl of fuck-all. Gwan
man. Hit your nadir.
Fool’s Gold Records
9.0
Be A G
Run the Jewels are Killer Mike
and EL-P and you can imagine
what a freaked-out slab of fuckery
this is: ‘Get It’ impacts the head
with a bleak harshness to the
synthetic textures balanced
beautifully by the sheer chunky
joy of the 808 beats and looming
vistas of smeared bass that drag
everything to a primitive-futurist
nadir devoutly to be wished. The
album also features Prince Paul
and Big Boi and should be one
of the highlights/blowbacks of
the whole winter. Absolutely
essential.
7.5
Mike Will produces this
like a man possessed by
a lunatic urge to drive
all high-frequencies out
of existence with the
thickest, ugliest bass
sound he can ?nd. Don't
ask questions, just enjoy.
Termanology
You Ain't Safe
Brick Records
7.5
Most emphatically not
for the club. For that guy
down your street that you
see through his window
hitting a punchbag
into the wee smalls.
Survivalist, scary shit.
Me like.
Problem Child
Quickting
Potentfunk Records
9.5
Problem Child are Illaman,
Dubbledge & Dabbla, with
production by Sumgii, and
‘Quickting’ is the ?rst thing I’ve
heard by them. It’s fucking nuts.
Theremin, dutty dutty bass, crisp
vintage electro bits, derangement
in the mix kicking off everytime,
the helium voices and queasy
aggravation bleeds in on the
chorus. Absolute fuckin’ sickness
and by several country miles the
most compelling slab of madness
I’ve heard all week. Album drops
soon. Get ready for the end times.
Aztech & Reel Drama feat
Big Shug
Can't Stop
NA
8.0
TONY TOUCH TOUCH ENTERTAINMENT
01. TONY TOUCH FEAT D-STROY ‘Touch N D-Stroy ‘ Touch Entertainment/Red River Entertainment
“Intro for my ‘Piecemaker 3’ album... sets the tone.”
02. BUSTA RHYMES ‘Twerk It’ Cash Money
“Rockin’ the cl ubs right now!”
03. JAY-Z ‘Tom Ford’ Def Jam
“Sonically it is an incredible song.”
04. DRAKE ‘Versace’ OVO Sound
“Another guaranteed club banger.”
05. TONY TOUCH FEAT TOO SHORT, XZIBIT & KURUPT ‘V.I.P’ Touch Entertainment/Red River
“Another banger off of my album.”
06. SONI WITHANEYE FEAT RAEKWON ‘Get It Together’ iTunes
“This record has feeling...”
07.
WILLIE THE KID & ALCHEMIST ‘Shake Dice’ NA
“Underground hip-hop at its best.”
08. ACTION BRONSON FEAT STYLES P ‘Gateway To Wizardry’ Fool’s Gold
“More boom bap that I enjoy.”
09. N.O.R.E FEAT PETE ROCK ‘Vitamins’ Conglomerate/E1
“As you’d expect from Pete Rock — great production.”
10. TONY TOUCH FEAT EMINEM ‘Symphony in H’ Touch Entertainment/Red River
“Off the ‘Piecemaker 3’ album... saving the best for last!”
Sweetness on the mix from Reel
Drama, obviously touched by the
in?uence of Premo but cut with
a speedy grace that's pure postKanye and with sudden moments
of brooding doom amidst the
luscious Rhodes and jazz-funk. A
track that's not happy just staying
in one place, that hits all kinds of
different pleasure buttons across
its breathless, gorgeous twohundred-odd seconds. You owe
yourself this deliciousness.
Grayskul feat DJ Spark
Come On
Fake Four Inc.
7.5
2009's 'Graymaker' was an unsung
underground monsterpiece (but
way more accessible and palatable
than that suggests), in 2013
Seattle crew Grayskul are ready
to drop a new opus 'Zenith', from
which 'Come On' forms a blistering
opening salvo. Razor-sharp rhymes
and beats and on the ?ip check the
Aesop Rock-produced 'Not Going
Anywhere' for some truly diseased
'80s electro-funk that sinks as low
down and disturbing as a John
Carpenter soundtrack. Superb.
Madlib & Freddie Gibbs
Deeper EP
Madlib Invasion
8.5
The title track drowns a poignant
couple of string and vocal loops in
an ocean of echo and dub, Freddie
keeping the only semblance of
?ow going against the steadily
engul?ng sense of blissful dread.
'Harold' is even more skinpuckeringly awesome, a held
moment of exquisite tension kept
going for an almost-unbearable
length, the beats part-Outkastparty, part-minimal nu-skool. As
you'd imagine from these guys,
absolutely vital you own this
launchpad into in?nity as soon as
possible.
Professor P & DJ Akilles
Brews & Good News EP
Pro & AKHB/Ill Adrenaline Records
8.0
'Killing Time' featuring A.G is the
highlight here, great scratches and
production from Pro P & DJ Akilles,
A.G bringing total authority and
command to his verses. Also
check out 'Lamp Posts & Neon
Lights' for some re?ective, sharp
rhyming from Blu and a backdrop
that seems to breathe and exude
the rain-swept mystery of the city
night. Old skool perhaps but with
ever-new poetic things to say. I'm
here for hip-hop fans, no-one else.
Shabaam-Sahdeeq
Seasons Change/Relax
King Underground
7.5
"I'm light years ahead of your
thoughts kid" — Sahdeeq's skills
you should be familiar with from
his work with Polyrhythm Addicts,
Lewis Parker's production smarts
you should know from... what the
hell you still doing here? Y'heard
me! Lewis Motherfuckin' Parker,
man! The sumptuous, smoky,
addictive 'Seasons Change' is
taken from the forthcoming SS
album 'Keepers Of The Lost Art',
on the ?ip of this check out 'Relax'
for a truly lunatic few verses and
then keep 'em peeled for the LP in
the new year.
Sonnyjim & Kosyne
The Death Defying Saga
Eat Good Records
8.0
The ?rst single from the Sonnyjim
& Kosyne debut EP 'It's About
Time', highlarious rhyming,
astonishing headnodic production
from Kelakovsk. The EP also
features production from Apatight
& Dag Nabit, and is totally free
to download from Sonny or Ko's
Bandcamp pages now. One of
these days someone's gonna
come up to Birmingham and make
these people the international
superstars they deserve to be.
Until then, ?nd, download, share
the shit out of this brilliance.
Wu Tang Clan
Execution In Autumn
Soul Temple Entertainment
7.5
Fantastically dank, squalid
production from Frank Dukes,
norralot to it but what there
is accumulates a head of black
steam beautifully, occassionally
giving way to strange funkless
moments of static arrhythmia,
typically engrossing verbals from
RZA, U-God, Rae & Deck. Fingers
crossed, necks snapped that this
is just an offcut from a new album
soon-come.
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