Underground Fossils is run by Dimxsk and often by Trylemma, who is on a hip hop spiritual journey in the Himalayas and may not be back for a bit. Posts are every Friday, usually some quality old sh*t but sometimes promotional posts or "reviews". We do all we can to make sure we don't post stuff that (1) You can still reasonably buy from the artist directly, (2) You can reasonably buy secondhand for cheap, (3) You can download easily elsewhere, (4) The artist(s) asks us not to for any reason. Rips will include our own personal rips, old scene rips, and random web rips.
Okay, by request we have the self titled CDr by Anticon's three oddest voices as the Object Beings. Pedestrian, Dose One and Why? (when that was just one person, not a band) along with someone called Emynd. What could go wrong?
The result is possibly one of the strangest things Anticon ever was involved in, and that's saying a lot. Many of these tracks are just noise experiments, spoken word poems, or random samples. The full songs aren't bad however, specifically the "Theatre of Nature" tracks are enjoyable and the remix of "The Cannibalism of the Object Beings" has it's moments.
So a special treat crash landed over the weekend, and as excited as I was to listen to it I felt like I just had to help promote it. Thoel Simérville is the collaboration between Australia's number one dark folk rap poet Thorts (Sommerville), and Sweden's number one noise and folk hop producer / rapper Joel Siméus. Hence Thoel Simérville. Pretty clever right?
The result is quite the strange experience. We have here an album born of anxiety, anger and paranoia, lightly laced with a rather twisted sense of humor. Thorts finds himself working with production and a vocal style from Joel that allows him to be free of the constraints he's often faced in the past, when his rap while often undeniably good, did not do much to venture beyond the bounds of what others had done before. Basically just good somber folk influenced hip hop with personal and emotional themes. Fairly serious.
Here we get a real glimpse of the man who recently released a free promo EP with production "jacked" from Haunted Days & Witches Teat, hence the title Jacked Off a Ghost. Thorts is a bit of a weirdo with a willingness to be whimsical in a vaguely sick and dark manner. Not a bad thing at all, and Joel's influence seems to have opened the door to that in a big way. Songs swing wildly from dark ambient static to carnival sounding craziness, and Thorts manages to match Joel and keep these songs interesting. It also allows the album to blend together, almost the nonsensical dreamlike experience of sleeping with a Nicotine patch on. You may know what I mean.
Sonically the production is almost a cross between Joel's work with Milled Pavement and his more current catalogue with empty space. We have both the industrial, noise and discordant quality along with his deep voiced Swedish raps that reminds me of his more recent material, along with some acoustic and melodic work that seems to be a revival of some of what he did with Decorative Stamp. Fans of either label should find something to enjoy here. Often these sounds can be found on the same track as the two rappers trade English and Swedish lyrics about (I don't speak Swedish unfortunately but I can speak on what Thorts is rapping about) mental illness, emotions and world politics.
The demo like quality in some places makes me feel a bit like they haven't tried to take themselves too seriously, and depending on what you're looking for from Thoel Simérville that could be a good or a bad thing. There's a very left field, stream of consciousness feel to these songs, and in certain places it makes them difficult to listen to (the repeated use of the c-word on "Är Det Dåligt" is unnecessary, yeah Trump sucks, anyone who matters is aware of this. Useful commentary in this instance is more appreciated than name calling, and I absolutely know Thorts is capable of that).
That said, this album is good for what it is. Two artists stretching their creative muscles and enjoying the experience without too much concern for sounding a certain way. You'll either like this or absolutely hate it. Fair warning, I like it but then I love Babelfishh and those folks so...
Get Singer-Songwriter Demos Vol. 1 from Thorts himself here, or on Joel's empty space collective Bandcamp as an extremely limited cassette with exclusive artwork here.
Per request, this week's upload is the "Los Scandalous" mixtape from DJ Handprints, hosted by (my favorite rapper of all time,) Nocando.
Both Handprints and Nocando hail from the legendary Project Blowed and, more specifically, the Customer Service crew. Like other Handprints mixtapes, this one consists of various West Coast classic jams mixed in with a good deal of exclusive tracks that you can only find here. It's always fun to listen to tracks like "Holdin' Down Spots" with Dumbfoundead, Open Mike Eagle, Sahtyre, Nocando, Alpha MC, Psychosiz, and SP and see where they're all today!
The download includes both the mixtape in individual track form as well as a single file mix. Both are old FTD scene rips. Peep the mixtape below and enjoy!
If you're looking for some new music during this hot summer, look no further than perhaps the most underrated Blowedian of all time, Ngafsh, who recently teamed up with his son, DJ NoWords, to bring us the new album "Dynamic Duo."
NoWords, often with the assistance of his father Ngafsh and the Afterlife crew, has been dropping singles and smaller projects for a while now, showing great signs of production. "Dynamic Duo," however, finally gives us a full meal of bouncy fresh Blowedian sounds that should satisfy any West Coast underground fan.
While Riddlore, rightfully, often gets the most shine out of the CVE crew, I always personally liked Fsh, who handles the rhymes here, the most. The man's delivery, flow, and animation never fails to impress, and here is no exception. The catchy hooks and banging production make it a top notch summer album.
Stream and cop the album HERE. CDs are coming soon!
So here's a little reminder that the Midwest is not all bad when it comes to indie rap... Interlock Records, home of not only some of the best and most sexual assault free rappers from the Twin Cities region but also home to minority rappers which allows me to continue my mission to promote more Black and other non-white indie rappers. Interlock released this little compilation on cassette 20 years ago(!) now. It's got some exclusive material from rappers like Carnage, Crescent Moon and Nomi of Oddjobs and Kill the Vultures, Muad'dib and Felix of Heiruspecs, Kanser etc, all with that tape rip quality you've come to love from our home made digital versions.
I own this on tape and did rip it myself. I think it sounds pretty good, and as far as I can tell this is not available online at the moment so enjoy. Know I did my best, it is a very old tape. I also own Table Scraps II, and plan to rip and upload that in the not too distant future. For now, I present Table Scraps the first.
For this Tuesday I wanted to draw a bit more attention to this album right here that completely slipped in under my radar. An Illustrated Mess (Prosodic & Whatever Cecil) is an indigenous hip hop outfit from Flagstaff Arizona, who many of you probably only know from their Fake Four debut Last Night & All of Our Glorious Mishaps, another fantastic Freecember offering. That was certainly the case for me at first. However, wanting to support an unusual perspective in hip hop and just generally having a good feeling about that album, I went back and introduced myself to all of their work (the rest of it can be found at their personal page, right here). I have to say that they hooked me with their interesting songwriting, catchy melodies and deep emotional maturity. It's also worth noting that they have gotten better with every album, culminating in the very good Does It Matter? and continuing to deliver ever since. That release is basically fire from start to finish and would absolutely appeal to any fan of the more melodic indie rap that most of us probably enjoy; Trylemma and I certainly do.
Their sound can best be described as a slightly different take on the dark folk hop sound popularized by artists like Ceschi and David Ramos, Onry Ozzborn, Ersatz Splynter, another guy who doesn't deserve mention, Otem Rellik etc. They make use of somber and sometimes beautiful melodic production, although never is it lukewarm or too sleepy, it still remains fully noddable, with a passionate lyrical style and melodic vocals. All in all it makes for hip hop that never really gets boring, and where the older stuff doesn't always instantly impress, it does give the impression of notable potential not yet fully realized and it is almost always enjoyable.
One More For Safety is their official sophomore album on Flagstaff's Fang Over Fist label, and since I had never heard of that label I was lucky to notice this title among the collections of some dudes I follow. Thanks dudes, you almost definitely don't know who you are. Lol. An Illustrated Mess' official debut on Fake Four had them upping their production values considerably, bringing on some notable guests, and growing exponentially in songwriting ability. A concept album, Last Night dealt with some very heavy issues as the main character succumbs to the various pitfalls all too common to the community they represent (Navajo Nation). Alcoholism, mental illness, targeting by law enforcement. Whatever Cecil and Prosodic now want to move a bit beyond those issues and show what happens afterwards. One More For Safety therefore is an album that provides "the growth and sense of closure that was missing (in Last Night)". "The underlying theme of this album is that of accountability, growth and family". So I have pretty high hopes for this new one, and I actually read something they wrote where they mention they had a hard time getting reviews(?!) for Last Night. In the meantime they've been making some major waves, so guess those reviewers f*cked up, but I thought why not give them whatever small recognition UGF can offer. It certainly can't hurt right, and they more than deserve it.
So unfortunately I don't have much time to dedicate on fully absorbing this album. I have to give it a rough once over and leave it at that. My first impression is this is a solid work. The production is a bit dreamier than it's been in the past, more laid back although it fits the content and actually to me is a sort of sonic equivalent of the bleak desert which might seem boring to the ignorant or inattentive, but possesses a real beauty and hidden depth that rewards those who have what it takes to grasp it. I dunno if Flagstaff is actually even desert anymore, my exposure to the Southwest and what the Navajo people call Dinétah is mostly limited to Breaking Bad, but there it is. So my point is the production isn't quite as immediately accessible as what they've done before, but it's actually more interesting in places for that. I loved the easier songs off of Does It Matter? but I respect that the artists have moved away from that style and have grown beyond that. Not to say this album doesn't still offer some instant hits like the second track "Break It" which has an amazing beat and great introspective lyricism though.
Speaking of the lyricism, this album is still chock full of insights into the lives of indigenous peoples in Arizona, including thoughts on the experience of growing up there and examples of the language, and I love it for that. I value any exposure I can get to communities and perspectives we just don't hear from enough in hip hop or elsewhere. It also never shies away from the personal and the painful, while never really being emo or losing that adult sound that two (I believe, don't know for sure but their pictures look pretty young) fairly young artists have been cultivating for a long time now. You get the impression of old souls who have grown up regrettably quickly, but retain a pride and positivity that's impressive for that. And with a dedication to "our loved one's who don't allow us to be defined by the dark", I feel like maybe that's spot on.
We have some Fake Four artists showing up here and there, with the peerless E-Turn, and the guy I keep on waiting to hear more from Heirmax representing the Southwest as well. We've got Soultru also, another Freecember alumn as well as Reason the Citizen and Def-I, two names I recognize but don't know much about. And as with their other albums we have labelmate Tre Orona (don't know how to type the accent over the "e" but it should be there).
Like I said, all I've been able to do so far is quickly sample through the tracks. I do feel like this is the type of album that requires more than that (and will reward you for it), and I almost feel like I shouldn't be posting about it until I've been able to give it that. However, I want to make sure I do my part in promoting it, just please make sure you understand that there is so much more here I haven't had a chance to touch on yet.
Get One More For Safety on Fang Over Fist's Bandcamp right over here!
And here's a dope music video for "Sunsets" off Last Night for those of you who want a quick look into what these guys are all about. Great song.
This week we have a pretty obscure little project from Saskatoon, SK, Canada to share - Asthma and Reese's Pieces' self titled EP.
I recently had the chance to cop some stuff from Saskatoon legend Epic's personal music collection. When we were going through stuff, he told me that his brother (actual legal brother that is) had a project and asked if I wanted it. It was of course an immediate "yes" from me, and the product was "Asthma and Reese's Pieces." Asthma is Epic's brother, who I only know elsewhere from having a song on the Epic and Nomad collabo album. I have no idea who Reese's Pieces is.
The 5 track EP sounds very indie and packs a pretty hard punch. Both of the guys are skilled rappers technically and have a lot to say regarding Canadian politics and their personal lives at the time (though I'm not quite sure when "at the time" was, there's no date on the project.) There's no track titles included.
Fans likely know Video Dave most for being Open Mike Eagle's current right hand man, but hopefully that'll change a bit after Video Dave's latest album, "Week 1560," sinks in.
"Week 1560" is the first album to drop on Mike Eagle's Auto Reverse Records. The album does contain the now infamous number of 7 tracks, but this is far from a bite sized release. Each track is named after a day of the week, and follows the life and times of Video Dave on that particular day. Like Mike Eagle, Video Dave has a gift for reaching larger themes and topics via a look at the mundane daily moments. Dave does have a more ethereal approach in general to making music, however, when compared to Mike, which sets him apart. The production on this also has a very summer vibe to it, which makes it ideal for the times (even if we're stuck inside with masks on.)
Stream "Week 1560" HERE and cop it digitally (only digital for now I believe) via all the major platforms!
Welcome welcome back to UGF's Friday Fossil thingy. For today I've chosen this weird little rarity from way back in 2004 by K-the-I??? and Paramanu's own Shortrock, Hibernation Experiment.
Anyone who's been listening to indie rap for a while knows K-the-I??? and his signature question marks. An intelligent and verbose rapper who's stream of consciousness word salad rhymes are often bolstered by his eerie and discordant production style to create a bad acid trip version of hip hop in my experience totally unique. He's put out a huge number of albums and as far as I can tell this one is the rarest.
Shortrock is probably best known for going a little nuts with the cuts although we can forgive him for that because like K himself, his style helps make his music a completely unique and unforgettable experience.
Enjoy Hibernation Experiment, and don't forget to laugh a bit if you're American over the last track. Remember when the Dubya was embarassing? Ha. Maybe listen to it and contemplate where we came from and where we're going this Independence Day, and why our colony wanted to get out of the British Empire. And DEFINITELY vote in November please.
Also Bandcamp is doing their revenue sharing thing again today, so buy your favorite artists music and know they really are benefiting from each and every dollar.
