Symbolic Fantasm - Foot in the Door (2000)

What is this? Can anyone tell me? I got it as a replacement for a CDr I ordered that hadn't withstood the ravages of time. It's exactly the type of release we concentrate on here at UGF, totally forgotten, mostly or totally unknown, but strangely interesting and worth preserving in digital form for the ages.

I have it on good authority (Discogs) that Symbolic Fantasm is Orbit and Snail with Thunkone on cuts and EOS on production. They are apparently from Sydney, Australia (thanks Jamie!). Foot in the Door is DIY sample based turntablist hip hop music. Garage grade mixing as well, but I happen to like this one.

Foot in the Door grew on me, it's a strange little disc and definitely worth a listen.

Hope you enjoy, and peace until next week!

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New Music / Featured Artist: Happy Tooth & Dug - All in Your Head EP

For this Wednesday I have something a little different to offer that I'm pretty excited about...

Happy Tooth and Dug is a band from Columbus, Ohio that I recently became aware of, although fans of Lucas Dix may know Dug from his feature on the new album by Dix's R4PC4MP incarnation. All together they are a live instrumental hip hop group featuring the two emcees Happy Tooth and Dug, Ryan Liptak, a talented singer and musician, Eric Dixon on lead guitar, and a rhythm section handled by Phil Effingham and Corey Blaies who help to round out the overall sound of the band. I feel it's important to acknowledge every member of this outfit in particular, because it's clear from listening that each element of Happy Tooth and Dug is as crucial as the rest, and without them the novel brand of indie rap they produce couldn't exist. The live band format can sometimes be a gimmick, I've heard groups that really could have done the same music with a DJ. Happy Tooth and Dug is different, their sound is entirely guitar driven and melodic, with elements of progressive rock and indie rock ever present.

They also have a high energy live performance that looks to provide a very interesting experience for the jaded hip hop consumer. The video below really serves to highlight the way they bend genres, work together, and really put themselves into producing a highly unique and engaging sound. This is live footage of "The Last Song", which is featured on the EP All in Your Head, coming September 30th and reviewed today:

So, to get to it, my first impression of All in Your Head is that this humble little EP has serious power. While short, every song makes an impression, and the honesty and raw emotion make me confident that this could be something everyone could find a bit of themselves in. This is a group with confidence and integrity, and the music comes through with both. Listeners are not short changed here.

From the opening track "La Fin", both emcees show off their versatility, trading sing song rhymes over intricate arpeggios from lead guitarist Eric Dixon. The beats are often very unusual for hip hop and they give Happy Tooth and Dug the opportunity to drop meaningful lyrics slowly or rapidly while showing a bit of style and ingenuity. Ryan Liptak's choruses perfect each track, and the melodic sections often go in very interesting directions, reminding me a bit of songs by Ceschi (<3) or production by Sapient. Nothing here is too familiar, but it all fits perfectly.

Speaking of the above artists, I feel like anyone who finds the music of Fake Four amazing owes it to themselves to check into Happy Tooth and Dug. While this collaborative effort (the two emcees actually have worked together under the name Dug and Happy Tooth, check out their music here) is a fairly new venture for the rappers, Happy Tooth and Dug are sounding really solid. They manage to blend rock and rap in such a way that the final product doesn't entirely sound like either one. It's just good, catchy, honest music and I personally am glad I got the chance to hear it.

All in Your Head will be available Monday, September 30th here (while you wait check out the bands first album, up for download or physical CD purchase now!) for download, and up for free streaming on your favorite service as well.

Phew, now that that's out of the way, I wanted to offer something cool. I got the chance to ask these guys questions through the magic of email, and the end result is below. Enjoy!

A Cup of Digital Coffee with the Band Happy Tooth & Dug

First off I'd like to say what a pleasure it's been interacting with Happy Tooth. It's always exciting for me to get to correspond with any artist, and to find out that these guys are familiar with UGF and willing to do an interview is pretty f*cking dope to me. It was a bonus that he turned out to be so friendly and personable. So close your eyes and imagine a coffee shop in the snowy (it's December in this scenario I guess, whatever) Midwest, and here's me having some metaphorical coffee with the band (see above for the group photo)!

Dimxsk: So how did you guys start rapping and making music, and how long have you been at it?

Happy Tooth: Dug, Ryan Liptak, and I (Happy Tooth) were all friends / acquaintances through school and the local skate scene. Dug and I had been writing since we were kids, but we moved into a party house around 2008 or 2009 when we were 18 and we started freestyling at all the parties and eventually that lead to some bad demo songs with another friend of ours and me self-producing my first two projects. My first "official" release was 2012 but we had been dabbling since 2010 or so with writing songs / recording so I'd say about 10 years, but some of the members of the band have been playing longer than that on their own.

Dimxsk: Sounds like a lot of fun and some craziness! What's the background on the collaboration? You guys knew each other growing up, how did you get together as a musical entity?

Happy Tooth: I saw Ryan around 2011 at one of my brother's parties (he had become a sound engineer at that point) and I showed him a few of my songs and he suggested we make a song together. That song ended up being the track, "Last Words" off of the band's first record, W.H.Y.G.O.D.W.H.Y.. Ryan enjoyed working with me enough to want to do another song and I suggested it be with my friend Dug and then we worked on the songs, "Exhaust Pipe Dreams" and "Smoke, Steam, Dust." The chemistry was great, and Ryan wrote some of the best music he had ever written and wanted to pursue a whole record. It took almost two years to finish and during that time we recruited our friends, Eric Dixon, Phil Effingham, and Corey Blaies to help envision the rest of the record and start playing gigs. We all knew each other from different things but we definitely entered the local music scene together.

Dimxsk: The sound is definitely something special, it's interesting to find out how much influence Ryan had in the creation of that sound. Speaking of, what kind of music / specific artists did you grow up listening to, and who do you think was influential in forming that sound?

Happy Tooth: Dug and I got super into underground hip-hop around the same time but I had been listening to Atmosphere and other underground rappers from skate videos since I was 12 or 13. When we were living together we discovered all the other Rhymesayers affiliates, Eyedea & Abilities, Brother Ali, Grieves, Doomtree Crew, Kristoff Krane, Cage, Ceschi, Astronautalis, Ecid, Themselves, Chip tha Ripper, The Grouch & Eligh, Kid Cudi, Kill The Vultures, Sadistik, Sage Francis, B. Dolan, Scroobius Pip and tons of others. Those are just some of the hip hop influences but we also listened to every other genre too. I'm a huge fan of Jeff Rosenstock, The Smith Street Band, Tom Waits, AJJ, Gregory Pepper & His Problems, Pat the Bunny and I could just go on. And everyone in the band has lots of different influences, this was just some of Dug and I's early ones / some of mine. We were underground fans way before we started making records though definitely.

Dimxsk: I can definitely hear that in this record, it reflects musicians who've put the time in to study those that came before. Who do you like out there now? What do you like about them?

Happy Tooth: Why? has always been a big influence on all of us. They're just getting better with each release forever, same with Atmosphere and several of the people I mentioned in the last answer. But we all have such different influences in and out of hip hop its hard to pick just a few. We like artists like us that are harder to pin down and that don't stick to one style or genre. Ceschi, Astronautalis, Kristoff Krane, and Yoni Wolf are all good examples of that.

Dimxsk: I actually really enjoyed that about this record, I remember listening to Oaklandazulasylum as a teenager and realizing for the first time that things like rock and rap could be melded into something new, without the gimmicky commercial insincerity of nu metal. I hear that same type of amalgamation in All in Your Head. What is that writing process like? I see that you've all done various projects together, what is it like writing hip hop with such a large outfit? How is working with a live band different than rapping solo, or bedroom recordings or whatever?

Happy Tooth: Our process differs depending on the song / project. But for this particular new EP, Phil wrote all the main guitar riffs in each and then we all added different things at different points and the songs evolved as we played them together and became familiar with them. Sometimes we will write lyrics first and base the song around them, or the song comes first and lyrics second but we've had this process also be simultaneous. There are certain things you can only work out in a live setting with everyone all at once though, and that's why these songs were live tracked altogether because that's how they came to be fully formed. It takes a lot longer for a band project than solo just because it's not one or two people, but six different people that all have to agree on the same thing. Performing solo and with the band both have pros and cons, but traveling is easier solo because it's less equipment. But the energy level you can tap into with a full band in a live setting is something much more intense. You can definitely get wild with a solo set but when it's a group of people all playing as hard as they can collectively you can feel that higher level of energy from start to finish.

Dimxsk: I wanted to say I saw that video above of you guys performing "The Last Song" live and thought it looked like a killer show. Speaking of, what artists have you worked with or toured with? Anyone who's been particularly supportive of your music you'd like to give props to?

Happy Tooth: We have brought different artists to Columbus a bunch and we've played shows with Ecid, Farout, Eyenine, Ceschi, Carnage the Executioner, Bleubird, SEEALLHUES, Milo, Tyler Cassidy, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Blake Ambrose, Fat Tony, and The Garden
We've collabed with a ton of local / regional artists as well like: The Devil Doves, Damn The Witch Siren, Xzela, Eugenius, Juan Cosby, and Bum Theory. We have been very fortunate to have a lot of support from people we love but out of everyone it's definitely Eyenine and Farout, or all the Cinci friends we've made. They have said nothing but good things and we've played a lot of great shows together.

Dimxsk: Anyone you haven't yet worked with that you'd like to?

Happy Tooth: Well we would work with any of the artists we have mentioned so far of course but it would be cool to get an Astronautalis feature some day for sure.

Dimxsk: That would be wild no doubt, he's actually one of my favorites. Pomegranate was absolutely flawless. I've always wanted to ask a touring band this next question, what's the most interesting thing that's ever happened at a Happy Tooth & Dug show?

Happy Tooth: When we had Ceschi here a few years ago and we were on stage doing the last movement of the last song in our set and someone got shot outside of the venue. Then the shooter ran through the venue I guess and they got up and stopped us mid song and locked the place down for a minute til the cops got there but it was an intense experience that changed the vibe instantly. At the same venue for the Milo show Phil got hit with Ryan's guitar and it bashed his head open and he finished the set bleeding everywhere and that was pretty wild too, there's a video of that one somewhere.

Dimxsk: Nice! So "All in Your Head" is coming out September 30th. I talk a little bit about the EP above, but what would you like our readers to know about this particular collection of music? Any songs with hidden meanings you'd like to reveal?

Happy Tooth: These songs are an intimate look into very personal things but also very broad concepts as well. Some of these lyrics are as painfully honest as they could be. But I (Happy Tooth) guess I could sum up how I interpret each one personally since there are only five tracks.

*La Fin is about cycles and how life and all things operate on a loop, in the way death/nature reset the environment suddenly and unpredictably. In that same way the cycle becomes subjective and the ending just signifies the beginning of the next cycle, so we always start at the end. It's also a nod to our last song on the first record being called "To Be Continued."
*Always A Threat is about catastrophizing and anxiety's crushing effects in general.
*Good For You is about capitalism's effect on the healthcare system.
*Never (Give Up) is about the struggle of giving into the fact we can't control anything and the best we can do is to follow what feels right or fated, and leave something behind that represents us to somehow try and compensate.
*The Last Song is a rerelease of an old Happy Tooth solo song Phil and I wrote, it's generally about having an existential crisis and not being able to escape the feeling of being an imposter after a life dedicated to an artform that largely just creates a warped/distorted tragic character version of oneself and embracing that identity regardless.

Dimxsk: Thanks for that! It's always welcome to have an official understanding of some of the music I get to listen to. Anyway, this last question is from the living legend Trylemma. Since we focus on out of print releases at UGF, what is the one album you've always wanted but haven't been able to find?

Happy Tooth: We would definitely want to find Wu-Tang's, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. But there's only one copy and it's seized by a federal court at the moment apparently.

Dimxsk: Absolutely awesome answer, if my ninja caper* works out I'll hook you up with a rip for sure! Thanks again for taking the time to "stop by for coffee", I'll be keeping an eye on you guys from now on and hopefully can catch a show if you make it out West.


Anyway that's it, for those of you who've taken the time to read this far I / we appreciate it, and hope you can spare another 3 minutes to check out the dope music video for "Always a Threat" that just came out, and will pick up the EP on 9/30/19. See you Friday!

*There is no ninja caper planned, UGF condones no illegal activity.

Hue Records - Virtual DJ Set For Virtual Night (200?)

TRACKLIST: 

1. Paranoid Castle - The Answer

2. Thesis Sahib - Face + Hands

3. Ira Lee - Used Car Salesman

4. Def3, Kaboom, & Cam The Wizzard - What Could've Been

5. Ceschi - End of Skies (Feat. Icon The Mic King)

6. Nuccini - Girls Are Smiling

7. Nomad - Backbone

8. Eekwol - All Ways (Road Blues)

9. Candy's.22 - Lazy Days

10. Nolto & Factor - Obituaries

11. Soso - Put The Coffee On

12. Virtue - Superhero Blues (Feat. Nolto)

Today's post is an old compilation from the late great Hue Records entitled "Virtual DJ Set For Virtual Night." I don't know much about this release, so any further info on it would be appreciated. What I can say is that it's a nice little collection of tracks from artists who shared Hue distribution in the 2000s. 

There's nothing exclusive on the project, but it's hard to ignore the melodic nostalgic feels of a Hue compilation! Furthermore, the last track on the project, Virtue's (now F. Virtue) "Superhero Blues" (featuring Nolto) isn't available anywhere online that I could find. The track is borrowed from Virtue's debut album "Growing Pains." That great album is long lost (I have the physical CD version which I'll try to rip at some point - in addition to Nolto it features the likes of Sims of Doomtree and The Dirty Sample) but "Virtual DJ Set For Virtual Night" at least gives us a sample (and it's a good one as the track is the best off either project imo.)

I always loved Hue Records and the work they did. Last I heard, Shin was releasing folk projects in Japan? Peep the compilation below!

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New Music: Ruby Yacht - 37 Gems

The Ruby Yacht formed voltron last Friday with album "37 Gems" and wowee do things sound good. 

Headed by the artist formerly known as milo, and currently known as R.A.P. Ferreira, the likes of Safari Al, Pink Navel, SB The Moor, Kenny Segal, Eldon, and Elucid come together for the first official Ruby Yacht crew project. The album, which is produced in-house, showcases both the uniqueness of the, mainly, young artists as well as their chemistry with one another. The body of the album's rhymes are handled by Ferreira (who, along with SB, still shines the brightest,) Safari Al, Pink Navel, Eldon (a welcomed British addition,) and SB The Moor, each of whom has a distinctive voice and style of writing. Hopefully this will get some milo fans to check out the extensive back catalogues of the other members before the next bigger Ruby Yacht project drops (which it is set to.) 

Stream/Cop the album below and be sure to check R.A.P. Ferreira live on an upcoming tour date (the only place you'll be able to buy the first R.A.P. Ferreira project - "The Truly Ancient And Original Lefthanded Styles Of The Hoodwinkers and Penny Pinchers"!) 

STREAM "37 Gems' HERE

PURCHASE "37 Gems" HERE

The Latter (Feller Quentin & Edison Victrola) - Ivorics (2015)

Those of you who've been checking in on UGF since the early(er) days know this one was promised when I posted Feller Quentin's solo rap album I Want to be Black Kind of. I'm a big fan of the Forest Fire sound, and Tim Cohen aka Feller Quentin aka Smif Carnivorous is a good place to begin to get a sense of it. Put his vocals over beats from their talented producer Edison Victrola (not to be confused with Edison of Papervehicle) and you get interesting and catchy DIY rap.

Ivorics was a cassette only release that was sold briefly in 2015 and is as of now (as far as I can tell) sold out, making it properly fossilized and eligible for posting here at UGF. It consists of a collection of singles by the duo, re-released for the first time as a full length album. The closing track is also featured on I Want to be Black Kind of, but for the most part these should all be new for anyone who hasn't heard them in their original format.

The sound is very similar to the easier to find Forest Fire albums, sample based boom bap production with a hefty dose of indie rock sensibilities and instrumentation. There is also a tongue in cheek, self effacing sense of humor that makes all the releases by this group fun. They're dope tracks with something for everyone.

Enjoy Ivorics!

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New Music: Thorts - Chrysalis

With the new Swordplay coming out tomorrow (9/12!) and promising to be one of the many great indie rap albums of 2019 (dropping on the seriously ill Dora Dorovich on digital and CD and on everything else at the also amazing Audio Recon), I was wondering what I could possibly review today when this caught my attention.

For those who don't know already, Thorts is an alternative hip hop artist hailing from Bunbury Australia, a rapper since the mid 90's. He's worked with a lot of musicians crushing it in the Fake Four type scene such as Ceschi, Tommy V, Zoën, A. Hymnz, Aamir of Escape Artists and Variex, and has a similar take on the art of rap music. His songs are honest, introspective, catchy and always well produced going back to the early aughts. His EP with best friend and producer Aetcix as Field Trip was a surprise hit with me, and the 4 track EP the duo put out under their own names this year was similarly dope. He's also married to the talented Kady Starling (fka Kadyelle, you may have heard her on the Behind Bars Pt. 2 mixtape Ceschi put out while unjustly imprisoned) and the split EP they put out late last year was also very dope.

All that goes to show that Thorts is a dedicated hip hop artist completely immersed in the lifestyle, and as he alludes to in his music he takes his art seriously. He describes his new EP Chrysalis as being a window into a very dark time for him, and as I'm always honored to be given honesty in the form of music I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say.

The album begins with the title track, a song about changing in pain and breaking through, being reborn. The beat is almost reminiscent of early Atmosphere, and that said while the content is very dark, the song itself sounds almost upbeat and reminds the listener that there is something beyond this"self made universe" (the metaphoric Chrysalis of suffering). With "M.A.L.A.Y.A", a song about Thorts's late father, the content and the beat take a much darker turn and Thorts muses on death and how we are never ready to lose the ones we love the most. "Charcoal Grey" features the aforementioned producer Aetcix on raps and is a more hard hitting meditation on pain, with an eerie beat that is probably the EPs darkest moment. However the standout track is "Painting", which features Swordplay contributing his amazing vocal abilities to a waltz influenced melodic piece, also on mental suffering.

So the album is indeed very dark, although each of the tracks is dark in a bit of a different way, and the whole offering is only 4 tracks deep so it never gets tedious or too emo to tolerate. It is also apparent that the emotion is honest which isn't always the case with the darker indie rap. It seems like some artists realized they could reach a very open demographic with songs about sadness and pain, and this is very different. Thorts is speaking from experience, directly from the heart.

Overall it isn't my favorite release of his, I enjoyed Come What May (the Thorts side of the split EP I mention above) a bit more, although that isn't really due to the quality of any of the individual tracks. I think Chrysalis just never really comes into itself as cohesive work. It's hard to explain, but it feels a bit more like a piece of an LP versus a whole EP. It was over before it began and felt like it should have been longer. It is absolutely a solid few songs however, and shows artistic growth and a willingness to experiment and that makes all the difference to me.


Get Chrysalis here from Thorts' Bandcamp as a pay what you want download, or consider donating a bit to the cause. It can't hurt! Also definitely check out his other albums, especially the split with Kady Starling. It's a beautiful piece of work.

Thanks and see you Friday!

Write Brothers (Nolto & Dren) - Weathered Wings

Most of you probably know Nolto most for his incredible trilogy of concept albums with the great Factor. Dig a little deeper, however, and you'll find further jewels like today's post: Write Brothers' "Weathered Wings." 

Write Brothers are Nolto and Dren (both of whom are still occasionally active in the scene) and "Weathered Wings," as far as I know, is the duo's only full-length album (though I'm not exactly sure when it came out.) If you enjoy Nolto's work with Factor, you'll almost certainly enjoy this project as well. There's a lot of prairie-esque whimsical yet melodic production accompanied by some well-constructed societal, political, and humorous rhymes. The project isn't as tight as Nolto's collabos with Factor, but, generally speaking, it fits in pretty well with that legacy line. 

The sound quality on this varies (it's ripped from an old CDR that Nolto sent me back in the day) but it is well worth the listen. Rumor has it that Nolto and Dren are currently working on a new EP entitled "Sit-Down Comedy" which will hopefully drop sometime soon! 

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New Music: Project Blowed Roundup

The Blowedian fountain of output rarely ever runs dry and we've been blessed with a handful of related projects recently.

1. Ellay Khule - Speech Therapy: This is Rifleman's first album since getting shot in an act of road rage last year. He had a bit of help with the promo after a twitter exchange with Talib Kweli (during which neither guy came out looking very good.) The album itself has some very good rapping from Khule (mainly gangsta, street stories, and redemption bars) though it does fall short on the clanky production and sound mixing. LISTEN.

2. Mister CR - West Coast Icon: Khule's fellow Goodlife Bully and Afterlifer, Mister CR, also recently dropped a project. Fans of West Coast gangsta rap should enjoy. Cali-Rag has really been cleaning up his production and delivery recently and it's paying off. LISTEN. 

3. Kenny Segal - Hiding Places Instrumentals: I'm certainly in the minority insofar as I didn't really dig Billy Woods' "Hiding Places" album. While I'm not crazy about it, I do like the instrumental version of the project slightly more. LISTEN. 

4. Voles (Giovanni Marks) - Western Lessen Siren: Marks has been in his "non-music" phase as of late, though he did recently drop this short project of beats made while he was still in Germany. Fun stuff if you like Marks' lo-fi glitchy style. LISTEN. 

5. The Cloaks - Cloak Encounters Of The Third Eye: And now for easily the strongest project out of the bunch. I loved The Cloaks' first album and have been patiently waiting for a follow-up. 5 years is still probably too long of a wait, but the sophomore release does not disappoint. Awol and Gel Roc have amazing chemistry on the mic and Awkward's electronic production fits the duo perfectly. The Cloaks are certainly keeping weird rap alive in 2019! [Also peep Gel's new solo project, "Mass Elements."] LISTEN. 

Lots of Blowedian goodness! And more to come too with Sahtyre and Neila set to release new projects this month!