Friday, October 30, 2020

Meen Green - The Leftovers (2014)

 


Add losing Meen Green earlier this year to the long list of reasons as to why 2020 can fall the fuck off. 

One of the great things about Bandcamp is that it seemingly gave/gives a platform to a lot of OGs that can be used to get the new new out there - Meen Green was one such OG. "The Leftovers" dropped on Bandcamp in 2014 but was seemingly removed thereafter. I'm sharing it here as it doesn't seem to be available elsewhere and was originally available for free DL.

Enjoy the blaze tunes and take a second to support Meen Green's estate by purchasing something that is still up on his Bandcamp HERE. Enjoy!


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Wednesday, October 28, 2020

New Music: Escape Artists - Evergreen

 


It was a nice little treat last year when the Escape Artists Bandcamp page upped the new unreleased "Theta Metronome EP" from Aamir and Cognition. Updates and messages continued to go out after and I was hoping for a new full project in the future. And now we've got it in the form of "Evergreen." 

Apparently, "Evergreen" was first conceived of in 2006, but kept getting pushed to the backburner as other projects took precedence. Luckily, the crew finally got together again and put the finishing touches on this batch of songs! And for those of us who enjoy that left-field Escape Artists sound, Aamir, Xczircles, and Ahmuse do not disappoint! Features include the expected left-field all star gallery - Riddlore, Ngafsh, Sach, 2Mex, Awol One, Existereo, L'Roneous, Penny, Subtitle, Jizzm, Rifleman, Raj, EVS, and more! 

Peep the album HERE



Friday, October 23, 2020

AndrRomak (Andrre & Roma) - Life Up There (2006)

 


 

So here we are again at the end of the week! As promised, to myself and all of you, I'm taking a step back this week and offering another download. It's down to the wire though, and I'm down to my proprietary algorithmic method of determining which fossil to post. After making it most of the way down the A's on my iTunes I came up with this.

I don't know if this is a real release. It does have a track from James P. Honey that is as far as I know unique to this EP so I assume it must be real, but the files are all mixed up and labeled like it was compiled by one of Andrre's many many fans. There is a lot of cool stuff on here though, and after I share a bit of background you can listen and find out what.

Roma's the DJ(ish) Andrre's the rapper(ish). One produces lush and haunting beats with a reliance on natural instruments such as keys and strings versus the far more common these days electronic spacey "trippy" sounds, the other raps and sings with a Quebecois accent that sounds like it lost a fight with a few cartons of Marlboros. I love both of them, and they work exceptionally well together. Andrre has some solo work as well as a full length album as AndrRomak out on Milled Pavement. Get it now.

Side note, Staplemouth of New Cocoon was supposed to do a project with Roma I believe. I heard a few tracks and found them frankly amazing so I hope that may still happen (hint hint).

Whether or not this release is a legitimate product of the names it bears, it's dope and I saw it first during my proprietary, absolutely not alphabetical scrolling based search of iTunes, so it's what y'all get for today.


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Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Mellow Drum Addict - Corner of Broadened Mind (2009)

 

 

 This week, after doing a few longer review posts in a row I feel like taking some time off. Not much of that lately. Luckily for you that means more fossils this week, starting off with this gem from Christian rapper Mellow Drum Addict.

Corner of Broadened Mind is a beautiful piece of work. It should appeal to secular rap fans (such as myself) as much as it does to those of us who listen with our religious convictions in mind. Employing a boom bap style with jazzy melodic samples and a voice built both for singing and rhyming, Mellow Drum Addict raps about life, himself, music, and of course morals and values although the preachiness is notably absent here and the emphasis seems to be on creating great hip hop. Mellow Drum Addict is here not a Christian rapper but a rapper who is Christian.

Anyway, that's it for now, enjoy!


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Friday, October 16, 2020

Trylemma's Spooky Dooky Halloween Mixtape V2

 


After a couple years of horrific stagnation - Trylemma's Spooky Dooky Halloween Mixtape has finally been updated to V2! The result is 29 carefully picked tracks (none of which appear on V1) suited to serve as your soundtrack this Halloween! Enjoy (insert ghoul sound.) 


TRACKLIST:

1. Onry Ozzborn - Intro

2. Wool See - Midsommar

3. The Mighty Underdogs - Monster

4. Awol One & Mascaria - Wolfman

5. Earlybirds - Walking Dead

6. Meyer Wolfsheim - Haunted Soiree

7. Duella Deville (Nebz Supreme) - Full Moon Rising

8. Signor Benedick The Moor - Halloween Song

9. Port Authority - Werewolves

10. Moe Pope & Rain - Gotham

11. Genghis Khan - Friday The 13th

12. Die Young & Deeskee - Vampire Hunter

13. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien & Bukue One - Horror Slides

14. Circus - Jason Voorhees Wont Stop Dien

15. Debmaster - March Of The Monsters

16. Azrael The Silent Angel - Gothic Horror

17. Swamp Thing Feat. More or Les, Wordburglar & Jesse Dangerously - Monster Island

18. Cookbook & Uno Mas - Monster Mosh

19. Noah23 - Blood

20. Extra Kool - Haunted Hill

21. Free Daps Feat. E-Turn - Monster Movie Part 1

22. Time - Vampire Mask

23. Yes Men - Early Halloween

24. Gajah - A Werewolf In LA

25. Lexington & Whatevski Feat. Cam The Wizzard - Bride Of Frankenstein

26. Nocando - Anne Rice

27. Delinquent Monastery - Halloween Queen 

28. Ruben Steiner & Ira Lee - Andy Warhol Vampire 

29. Nedarb Nagrom - Halloween 


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And if sequels suck, feel free to return to V1 (featuring tracks from Buck 65, Mega-Ran, Nolto, Equipto, Ecid, Zion I, and many more) HERE

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

New Music: Awol One & Pigeon John - Can't Handle Us

 


We've been promised multiple intriguing Awol One collabo projects over the years that have yet to surface. Remember when Awol and 2Mex were gonna drop an IlluminatiByNature album years ago? Or how about the Awol One/Busdriver collabo project? We're also still waiting on the Awol One/Deceo Ellipsis project (though I'm pretty sure that one is coming soon.) I initially feared this Awol One/Pigeon John collabo was going to meet a similar fate when it was slated to drop in August and didn't. Luckily, we finally have it in form of "Can't Handle Us" EP! 

"Can't Handle Us" is a four song EP with Awol One on the raps and fellow Good Lifer Pigeon John on the beats. Gel Roc stops by as the project's sole feature. While short (none of the four tracks exceed the 3 minute mark,) the EP is extremely successful in combining the two men's styles and sounds. Awol has rocked over countless beats, but harder, darker, more eerie sounds are a staple of his. Pigeon John switches things up a bit by giving the Walrus some upbeat poppy-sounding instrumentals - and Awol delivers on them all - giving us some top quality reflective raps as well as some tongue-in-cheek braggadocio raps. Fun times all around. 

You can cop the EP digitally on Bandcamp HERE or cop a very limited cassette or 7" of the EP HERE. The cassette features a bonus remix of "Can't Handle Me" with Kool Keith on the beat and Pigeon John on the mic (with DJ Hoppa on the cuts.) You can also cop a 7" picture disc of said remix at the previous link. 

And if that's not enough Project Blowed for you - wait til Friday when we're getting new albums from Open Mike Eagle, Sahtyre, and Kenny Segal! 

Friday, October 9, 2020

Variex - Lavender Canvas (2006)

 


 

So as promised, I have for you today an early release from the subject of my Tuesday post, Variex. Lavender Canvas is arguably the album that started it all in more ways than one. First off, it's the release that was entirely produced by the artist himself which gave him the opportunity to begin cultivating the sound that becomes his trademark with his later releases. His first album, while really notable in a charmingly DIY sort of way featured a number of guest producers and lacked the professionalism and songwriting skill that he shows, beginning here. Secondly, this album can really be thought of as the genesis of the New Cocoon label, which introduced me to his work as well as the work of some of my very favorite musicians.

Lavender Canvas was put out on the label Broken Branch Noise, which was also home to artists such as Wormhole, Slew, Dayeve Xienze, Herald Foster, Unspeakable Easels etc. After some artistic differences (lol) these cats decided to form a "new cocoon" from which to create something different, and there you have it. Variex provided me with that information and I figured it was cool background. To be clear, Variex himself is no longer associated with the label, after some artistic differences. He now makes music on his own Red Tempo Records, and with his vast experience and artistic merit I expect great things from him and his associates.

Anyway Lavender Canvas is highly enjoyable art rap, heavily influenced by shoegaze and electronic music that deals with personal issues and struggles. It is very different from Struggle Sandwich, but in a lot of ways is every bit as good. It's been a pleasure getting to know more about Variex, and if you haven't heard him and enjoy anything from Anticon or Fake Four I can basically guarantee you'll like this. Thanks!


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Tuesday, October 6, 2020

New Music: Variex - Struggle Sandwich

 


 

So it's been a crazy week for me (do I start posts with "so" a lot? It seems so) which is becoming more and more common lately. I'm recovering from dental surgery which was even more fun than you might expect and I'm strapped for time. However, I got a really cool email from the subject of this post and it turns out he actually reads our blog which is seriously fucking fantastic. So I really feel like the least I can do is try my best to help him promote an album that demonstrates from the first note how talented, driven and dedicated to the art of hip hop Variex actually is.

For those of you who weren't aware, Variex has been a musician first and foremost for his entire adult life. Starting back in high school he led a spoken word club and wrote and produced songs for himself, eventually learning the art of engineering formally and going on to have a hand in tons of music from Bay Area artists and beyond. For a more detailed background and lots of other information, check out his website over here. I discovered his music through his affiliation with the radical artist collective New Cocoon, which I just now learned he had a hand in founding. It typified their willingness to make music that could struggle to attain mainstream appeal, but lived through it's sheer audacity and heartfelt desire to destroy conventional norms. However, for me his signature style of electronic shoegaze folk rap was instantly something I could both relate to and seriously enjoy. Not only was his production unique and intricate, ranging from unsettling to beautiful to hard as fuck but he employed a sing song high paced rapping style that was impressive, fun to listen to and unlike most of what I'd heard before.

Up until recently Variex's work could be summed up as such. Mostly hand crafted electronic sounds and effects, with spacey and melodic production provided the background for emotional and personal poetry about difficult subjects. Honestly, I could have been happy with hearing that style from him indefinitely. However, starting with his collaborative effort with Rawbeartoe Always Something, Variex's sound has taken quite a different turn. That album seemed to reflect a more funky and R&B side of the musician, and it gave somewhat of a preview for what he had in store for his fans.

Two years ago Variex dropped the The Bread Crumbs EP, a sort of preview for Struggle Sandwich and a radical turn away from the style he'd made himself known for. Demonstrating what had up until then been a sort of behind the scenes fascination with the G-Funk style of West Coast hip hop, The Bread Crumbs EP was very well done but proved to be not for everybody. Variex's talent behind the boards and behind the microphone has been indisputable for a while now, but the question with his newest album was how well he could fit those talents into a tribute to the West Coast stylings of old, popularized by artists like Bored Stiff, San Quinn and Too $hort. The production and sound of The Bread Crumbs EP was laid back, professional and funky, and borrowed heavily from the artists mentioned above. It utilized talk boxes, g-funk synths and sample based beats along with lyrics with slightly more edge although still about his family, his home and his past.

I personally liked The Bread Crumbs EP. Not everyone did but if nothing else could be said for it, the man is extremely talented when it comes to making music on an indie rappers budget and resources. Plus when it comes down to it, a dynamic musician is a real musician. With age and experience Variex has found himself drawn to a different style and with his extensive credentials his work is always worth a listen.

Now I say all that to say this. Following up the EP with a full length album in the same format was a bit of a risky move for the artist, who tells me he considered scrapping the Variex alias entirely for this record and using a different name. However, considering that he plans this to be his last record for a little while he elected to release it under the name he's worked so hard to bring to our attention.

Struggle Sandwich builds off the energy and ambition of the previous EP, and in a way brings Variex's career "full circle". Blasting off with a previously released track giving an extensive history of his love of rap music from "I Got 5 On It" to "Daylight", we begin to see that the G-funk style is not really a departure for Variex at all, but an attempt to be true to a part of his work we haven't heard as much of, and bridge the gap between his indisputably indie and indisputably popular roots.

This album plays all the way through like a summer drive through the SF Bay Area. As a lifetime resident of that same part of the world I hear so much in this music I can relate to, from the laid back blunt scented production that brings to mind a backyard BBQ on a summer evening (no watermelon sugar highs here) to the very real observations on the changes we've experienced as the internet exploded and made living in our home towns a struggle for so many of us. All tracks are definitely influenced by the Bay Area legends of the previous decades, but they have the same emotional appeal and stylistic flair that made me an instant fan of Variex ever since I heard Quitting Tomorrow. Despite (or maybe as a result of) being a bit slowed down in some places (one thing that made Variex's older work fun to listen to was his rapid fire delivery) he's able to more fully showcase his songwriting abilities. My girl opines that his love poem to his partner of 10 years "Until I Met You" is better than "Evenfallingsky" because she can understand what he's saying. While I disagree a bit (Evenfallingsky is amazing), it brings up another point that this record could very easily find more widespread appeal through it's identifiable themes and accessible sound.

 Struggle Sandwich, entirely produced, rapped and lacking a single credited feature save some guitar work and scratching on two tracks is clearly a sort of magnum opus for Variex. It is polished, catchy, relatable, smart, slick and hella cool. And while I will say again that I found the originality and experimental sounds of his older material in some ways preferable, there is no way to avoid finding something on this record for a true fan of hip hop to vibe out to.

Alright I did my best. As I stated earlier I'm recovering from surgery and I have a mouth full of stitches and a belly full of pills. But I wanted to help draw some attention to an artist I respect, and I hope you will have sympathy for me and look past a possibly meager review to the great music it's attempting to showcase.

 

Get Struggle Sandwich from the homie himself on mp3 or CD right here! Oh and check in Friday for some difficult to find music from the man dating back over ten years. Thanks dude for allowing us to offer this gem!


Friday, October 2, 2020

Guest-Post: Elucid - The Bible and the Gun (2002) + Bond - Eminent Domain (2004)

 



Guest-post today from an overseas friend....

I suppose that once one is part of a cultural scene, one rarely asks the question why one does what one does. She reads the blogs, listens to the albums and playlists, ranks these albums and playlists, maybe writes reviews, sometimes she trashes other people's reviews and so on. What happens when she asks herself, why she does all that in the first place?

Does she seek the best this kind of human activity has to offer? Is it pleasure or emotions that she's after? Intellectual satisfaction? What about music (i.e.) that she only listens to because it is talked about? In this case her reason may consist in her interest to be able to participate in a conversation, rather than being in touch with greatness. Most likely there are many other cases one could mention or discuss. I want to simply pose the following question: Why do we want to listen to the first tentative steps of our favorite artists?

I'm talking about these abandoned old tapes, the neglected early works. Neglected by the fans, critics and the artist alike. The ones the artist himself isn't proud of, he may blush when you mention them at the end of a concert. The ones the artist never considered uploading on Bandcamp, even though they so easily could.

We know that those early works won't be amazing. We know they may even be bad. So do we want to experience bad art? Or maybe we want to experience our heroes not as these sacred entities that we and their music make them out to be? The entities that were able to create such works as Dour Candy or Valley of Grace like a rabbi shaping a golem out of clay or God forming Adam out of mud. Maybe we want to get rid of these "out of the blue myths" by gaining that one piece that lets us tell a humble origin story instead. Maybe we want a disenchantment of art.

Whatever it may be. Here are two such abandoned and neglected early works. Elucid's debut album from his pre-Armand Hammer and even pre-mixtape days and Backwoodz Studioz' first release: Bond's Eminent Domain EP. The latter features a lot of familiar noises that later got re-worked into Billy Woods' Camouflage and Bond's Golden Gunn, as well as exclusive songs like the opener "Harvest", which retroactively adds another great song to the already amazing catalogue of Billy Woods and Bond collabos: "Two ounces in my place but only one in the court case/ Interesting/ Justice got a fucking handscale/"


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