Underground Fossils was an indie rap focused blog run by myself (Dimxsk) and by Trylemma, who passed August 3rd, 2024 from liver failure of unknown origin at the age of 34. We mostly posted week or twice weekly, the bulk of which were rare rips we made, found on old blogs, he acquired through his insanely broad connection to the scene, etc. We did all we could to make sure we didn't post stuff that (1) You could still reasonably buy from the artist directly, (2) You could reasonably buy secondhand for cheap, (3) You could download easily elsewhere, (4) The artist(s) asked us not to for any reason.
Being involved in this blog was some of the most fun I ever had, even if at times it was time consuming, challenging or intimidating (having a readership). It was the product of one of the best friendships I've ever had. If I could say one last thing, it's to encourage all of you: if you have the time and desire, make your own UGF. Find a friend who loves this shit like you do and build it together. It will bring you incredible joy, enhance your connection to this amazing community, and change your life in unexpected and exciting ways. I know it did mine. Love you all!
We've celebrated the genocide of entire groups of people and are now off to buy off-brand 55 inch tvs for $200! That can only mean one thing - Xmas is in full swing!!! Enjoy this 29 track collection of some of my favorite holiday tracks!
As we begin to reflect on the end of the decade, I find little counter-argument to the claim that Dessa is one of the 2010's best Hip Hop artists. With three absolutely amazing solo albums under her belt, in addition to a string of great remix projects, singles and Doomtree work, her catalog has very very few missteps (perhaps the only real one being her podcast appearance on Nocando's Shots Fired years ago - peep that for some fun indie rap beef.)
This month, Dessa released a live concert performance recorded at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dessa has been working with large groups of live instrumentalists for a while now and I've caught glimpses of performances here and there, but I had yet to listen to a full set until now. I wasn't let down!
"Sound The Bells" tackles 18 tracks from throughout Dessa's discography, and does all of them justice. The accompanying orchestra manages to give the songs a large epic feel, while still maintaining the lowkey intimacy that a lot of the original versions thrive on. I do wonder if Dessa wrote her latest solo project, "Chime," with this possible performance(s) in mind, as the tracks from that album (e.g. "Boy Crazy," "Jumprope," and "Fire Drills") end up sounding the best in general. There are a couple tracks that I would have loved to hear an orchestra version of (specifically "Annabelle" and Dessa's latest single "Good For You") though at 18 tracks total, the project provides more than enough to chew on.
Listen to and cop "Sound The Bells" via Dessa's Bandcamp HERE.
[And as a Doomtree-related aside, someone tell greedyass Lizzo to free her Mike Mictlan verse!!!]
This week we have something as rare as it gets. Straight out of Trylemma's vaults comes Growing Pains, by F. Virtue (fka just Virtue). I haven't had time yet to listen to this album as Trylemma just ripped it a few days ago, but I know this is the one he alluded to in his post for Hue Records' Virtual DJ Set for Virtual Night. It contains a song with Nolto, as well as one with Sims of Doomtree.
You can find specific information about this album here. For those who don't know, F. Virtue makes insightful music about life, love, marijuana and as an openly gay rapper about what it means to be different in the rap game these days. "Anita Bryant" is a particularly moving and honest example of the kind of music you can expect from him. I've been really excited to listen to this for a while now, and I wanted to get it out to you as well.
Coming out of Detroit, Chris Orrick (fka Red Pill) has been making a splash on Mello Music now for a few years both as a solo artist and a member of the Ugly Heroes trio with Apollo Brown and Verbal Kent. He has been particularly prolific over the last five years and following May's release of Out to Sea Chris Orrick has returned again with I Read That I Was Dead, a collaborative effort between himself and fellow Michiganite producer The Lasso. The title is a reference to the recent death of the cryptozoologist of the same name, and the surreal nature of reading about oneself in the obituary pages. Hearing this story I was reminded of the anecdote behind the Nobel Peace Prize, in which Alfred Nobel, a manufacturer of munitions is mistaken for dead, and upon reading what was said about his life, realizes the legacy he's leaving behind and decides to change it.
Whether intended or not, this story fits with the music of Orrick very well in my opinion, he has never shied away from revealing the most disturbing aspects of his own character (Instinctive Drowning, put out under the Red Pill moniker contains some of the more disturbing material I've ever encountered in rap), often with a dry wit and a notable lack of emotional self pity. He is wise to the parts of himself he most struggles with, and has managed to turn them into something that can be both brutal and beautiful. I enjoy that about his music, and I was excited to hear his newest offering.
I Read That I Was Dead is probably the most interesting release I've heard from Orrick as a solo artist, and anyone who might have read my posts here knows that to me that means a lot. I attribute some of that to the production by The Lasso, which at times is unique yet dope enough to draw comparisons to El-P. Orrick's past work has included beats that were beautiful, intricate and catchy but not always particularly abstract or experimental. The closest I've heard him come to abstract hip hop was on 2017's Instinctive Drowning, although he always remains soulful and jazzy to a certain extent. This newest album has that edgy, at times harsh sound that Ill Poetic used to help illustrate the dark and depressing landscape of Drowning, and I would say for those who know Chris Orrick but haven't yet heard this new one that this is the closest he's come to that disturbing work.
Tackling subjects like mass shootings, capitalism and alienation (from others as well as from self on "Specimens" the only song to feature a guest verse by Quelle Chris who's unusual voice and style fit so perfect over The Lasso's beat that one wonders if a full length collabo is in order...), Orrick's lyrics are as cynical yet human as ever. He raps about the things most of us have felt and thought, often at our lowest but sometimes simply as an exasperated response to the state of daily life. I feel like anyone could relate to his poetry, especially with his later work that moves a bit farther away from the suffocating world of alcoholism and into a sort of twisted whimsy. I Read That I Was Dead is stated to come from the perspective of "a man who chooses to live in exile like an artist escaping a successful coup", and that separation from, and ascension over reality allows Orrick to examine everything at one remove, building on the distorted eeriness of the production to establish a palpable sense of surrealism and confusion.
If I had to make one criticism of this album it would be that it's a bit short. That seems to be something I run into a lot with his solo releases, I don't believe any of them have over 12 tracks. When working with a single producer, especially in a collaborative atmosphere like the one behind I Read (apparently the pair set up in The Lasso's lab and hammered out the album together) it's understandable that the final product will be a tight and concise piece of music. However I would absolutely love to see Orrick put out a longer work, maybe even a mixtape. It could be a great introduction to his music and showcase the many different subjects and themes that make up his artistic persona, not to mention the opportunity to experiment with all kinds of different production and rapping styles.
All in all I think if you like indie rap enough to have found this blog and waded through this review, you'll like this album a lot. I'm always excited to hear more from Orrick, I believe his music can be a one of a kind experience for the vigilant listener.
Get I Read That I Was Dead at Orrick's Bandcamp here, out now!
Manic D is a Portland based rapper, and more currently a comic creator, who is perhaps best known for being the rapper half of the duo Newspeak. Today's post is an early self-titled 3 track EP from the man, though I'm not sure as to the exact date of release.
Manic D displays an early playful, nerdy, West Coast inspired delivery on the EP over a handful of jazzy boom bappy beats. The main theme on the project is a painting of his life as a struggling rapper, though there are some hints of more introspective themes (topics that he dives into much more currently, especially in his comics.) You won't be blown away by anything on these 3 short tracks, but, for an old relic, it's certainly worth the 10 minute listen.
If anyone knows when this was released or the titles of the tracks (I have the cdr, but it contains no such info,) please let me know.
New very dope project from Eiji Kwan (formerly known as Everybody Knows) and Esem (the two most active members of Los Feo Faces.)
While Eiji is no stranger to melancholy lyrics, I am a bit accustomed to hearing him bring in more upbeat, whimsical styles and flows, particularly when Esem is on the production. "The Brothers Gloom," however, is easily one of the darkest projects I've heard from either of the guys. Esem crafts a collection of cold, often haunting beats and EK, who recently left Portland for sunnier Bay Area weather, delivers some very chilling internal reflection raps. "My Son Looks 40 In The Face" is one of the best EK tracks of his career! A truly fitting fall project.
For today's release we have something "very special". The compilation / self titled album Very Special People is a showcase of some of Los Angeles' most talented hip hop acts, performing over live instruments and production by James Morris (you've heard his work on such songs as "Lake Release" by G&E and "B-Boy Real McCoy" by Jizzm featuring The A-Team).
You'll experience such amazing voices as Neila, Abstract Rude, AWOL One, Acid Reign and Existereo transforming funky instrumentals into instant classics. Almost all of these songs are above average in quality and undeniably catchy; this album is most definitely a keeper.
Thanks to Devo for sharing this originally, I believe it deserves another online debut. Until next week!
Well, as of this post it's been a week since the night of, but Trylemma and I thought it might be cool to post reviews of the same tour, to give a side by side look at two different nights, in two different places, with two different lineups, but with the same one and only artist / visionary now known as R.A.P. Ferreira.
Flash waaaaaay back to 10/26/2019, I hadn't planned on going to a show that night but Trylemma had asked for some copies of the Nostrum Grocers cassette he'd missed out on in Seattle, and having never seen milo or his alter ego R.A.P. Ferreira live I figured it would be worth the trip. I've always enjoyed milo's unique creativity on record. His stream of consciousness ramblings that often seem random but not if you listen close enough are a trip, and his references to things like The Wire (one of the best shows ever made) and Game of Thrones (see previous comment) reward you for paying attention. I'm not one of his biggest fans by far (as I soon realized upon seeing the joyful crowd he'd assembled) but I like him. I'm glad I got the chance to see him in person, because it's certainly given me more reason to cherish his quirky genius.
Wolf Langis: The show began with former Bottled Water (a now local SF act, see here for their music) emcee and producer Wolf Langis (solo work found here), performing a few rap songs and improvisational beat collages. I can definitely say I liked his rap songs, the jam sessions didn't manage to hold my attention but as I may have mentioned before on this blog I've never been able to get excited about instrumental hip hop or electronic music. His mostly seemed to be distorted noise and offbeat drums, not particularly interesting but not horrible either. His overall style on full songs was reminiscent of Anticon or Fake Four acts, trippy melodic production forming the backdrop for angsty rants about the state of starving artistdom(ry?). This is actually my second time seeing him, he also opened for Ceschi at the same location and I will say I just downloaded both Bottled Water albums to get some insight into where he came from, so obviously I'm curious.
Pieces: Second up was duo Pieces (Idhaz & Rose Cherami, their music can be found here). The two nicest things I can say about this act is they're fearless and passionate, and that the audience seemed to get them at least. Neither I nor my companion were particularly impressed. The production was mostly boring and relied too heavily on noise and distortion verses melody. There was obviously some talent there, the singer was a decent vocalist and an entertaining dancer but often the instrumentals drowned out their lyrics and it wound up sounding a bit like two different records played in the same room at the same time, one female singer songwriter the other Nine Inch Nails. Improper mixing maybe, but I think it was likely just how this particular noise act wanted to sound. Good effort, they certainly weren't giving the audience half their attention. Just very solidly not my kind of music at all. Kaila Chare: Next we had a young woman named Kaila Chare (her SoundCloud is here). She was an extremely likeable stage personality, admitting to being nervous due to never playing in SF before, and being more familiar with basements than clubs. As a rapper she was talented, using complex rhyme schemes and a hip hop oriented flow, the kind you could tell originated as a poem in a notebook before it was ever envisioned as a song. Her overall lyrics were meaningful and heartfelt, and she seemed to have a particular vision for her act as performance art, standing perfectly still at certain points as the music washed over her. Unfortunately I noticed that she was rapping over her full songs instead of the instrumentals, and it made the whole set sound a bit odd, with a doubling effect on all of her vocals. Not sure if this was intentional or not, it did give her a novel performance. Decent production as well. Definitely someone with potential that hasn't fully been realized yet.
Phantom Thrett: At this point I wasn't expecting much from the next performer, but I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised with this next cat. Phantom Thrett is an LA county based rapper and producer (peep his work here), who relies on soulful melodic sampling and a poetic spoken word type rap style. I noticed he would sync up his samples and drum loops on his laptop at the beginning of every song and loop them until he was finished, very much the digital ages version of the back to basics two turntables and a microphone. All I kept thinking was how is this guy not more well known? His lyrics were very deep and meaningful, and his delivery was spot on. He had an old soul stage presence, a humility and maturity that made him seem like more of a seasoned professional than an up and comer. For fans of Mello Music Group and Brother Ali, and I highly do recommend his work. At one point he did choke on a song and forget the lyrics, but I do believe that it can be a measure of your competence as a performer how you handle something like that, and he just laughed it off and went right into the next song.
R.A.P. Ferreira
New song, Big Summer
Now I'm not as familiar with R.A.P.'s work as Trylemma, I've heard all of it but not as often as other albums I like. For that reason I'll leave out a specific set list and just go with my overall impressions of the show.
One thing I think is important to mention is that looking at the audience I was amused and happy to note that everyone seemed to have lost their inhibitions and were just getting into the music. Ferreira's weirdness seemed to be contagious in a very nice way, nobody seemed to be trying to look cool or deny who they really were. One guy in front of me had some of the strangest dance moves I've ever seen, and he's totally awesome for that.
Randal Bravery (what the hell, check him out here) came onstage first and mixed up some tracks for us, followed by the main man himself. In between weird comments, beseeching us to tag the word STRESS everywhere we could (after his performance of "stressrunstheworld" off his newest tape release) R.A.P. flowed with precision, making it all look easy. His low key ramblings are truly so much better live, they should be taken with the personality behind them whenever possible and I gained a much stronger appreciation for him as an artist after that night. Randal Bravery also performed a verse on one of the songs and I really liked his style as well. Definitely a multi-talented artist both behind and before the boards.
Now the song both Trylemma and I believe capped off the evenings was "Big Summer" (see my video above), a new track off his official upcoming release. Over a smooth and haunting beat Ferreira reflected on his struggles to become who he is today. Watching some get placards while he just got a set of spatulas, to paraphrase. In the past I sometimes didn't understand the message milo tried to convey, I felt a bit like he wandered into "weird for the sake of weird" territory on occasion (not to take away the fact that it always sounded good), but this was a solid and meaningful song about the strength of determination and reliance on your friends (Ruby Yacht in this case). If this is what we can expect going forward from the new incarnation of Rory Ferreira, then I believe good things are indeed on the horizon.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, it's the longest post I've done in a while certainly. I'll see ya'll Friday!
