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!

Friday, April 30, 2021

Babel Fishh - Exit Lever (2004)

 


 

Hey! So for today I've got this, one of the aforementioned Babelfishh's earliest efforts going back a shocking 17 years... an era when no one knew covid nor covfefe and life simpler, sweeter and more orgasmic. Unless I misremember.

I picked this one because I don't feel like I need to explain much since I did already on Tuesday and I'm feeling quite lazy. This is the same weird nasally voiced fishh, although doing a very different sound. Less Moodie Black more Why?, the droning static and distortion is muted in favor of jazzy acoustic samples and lo-fi drums.

This is not one of my favorites of his, it's very strange and in places too strange to truly enjoy. That said, it's still interesting and it does have it's moments. Later in his career he figured out a good balance between songwriting and creative exploration and releases like The Use of of and Father's First Musket are in my opinion some of his best work.


DOWNLOAD

 

 

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

New Music: Babelfishh - Coma Worthy

 


 

Wow, it's my week again! Time is flying like crazy this year, and bringing with it an absolute flurry of great album releases from artists who've been impressing for years at this point.

Today I want to focus on the newest cassette release by one of my favorite left field weirdos out there, Babelfishh. Babelfishh has returned after several years of relative silence (although he did drop a short one with Dug Yuck as Goats Gloom here) to bring us Coma Worthy, a drony, spacey and dark slice of noise rap hell perfect for a warm spring day at the end of a pandemic.

Coma Worthy is very much Fishh, containing the usual distortion and unpleasant noises to showcase his nasally complex poetry. This one is more Eyeless Terror than To Do Without, which was an acoustic folk rap album that I really enjoyed. Coma Worthy dispenses with any attempts at accessibility and lets Fishh and a few fellow 667ers just rip shit up on the mic.

To be honest I still haven't given this one a full listen, haven't had the time yet. However I love this dude's work, and I want to promote it so it seems the perfect choice for my Tuesday entry.

 

Get Coma Worthy here on cassette only, or here from Fishh himself!



Friday, April 23, 2021

Dumbfoundead - Dumburger With No Cheese EP (2008)

 



Today's post is an overlooked West Coast underground classic, Dumbfoundead's "Dumburger With No Cheese" EP from 2008!

The last true school of the Project Blowed is one of my favorite movements/time periods in Hip Hop - everyone was really pushing every aspect of rap music, and Dumbfoundead was really at the forefront of things. Before he became a K-Pop superstar, the man was making weirdo nerdy quirky comedic rap tunes and "Dumburger With No Cheese" is his best collection of tracks from that era imo. The song concepts, the multis, the beat selection, the content - everything is really grade-A here. DJ Zo handles the scratches which are really well done. Production is mainly in-house from the likes of Tokimonsta, Maestroe, and Hines Buchanan. And features include Surilla, Lyricks (from Year of the Ox,) and Thirsty Fish (Open Mike Eagle and Psychosiz.) 

Funny story, last covid summer I won a 5 CD pack from Dumb during one of his livestreams by giving the name of this project. Came in handy! 

This is the original free download from his site back in the day. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

New Music: $iMpLe - 3IMPLE

 


New, out of the blue, EP drop from one of the Sandpeople's more elusive members, $imple (aka Thndrthf) - "3IMPLE." I've only listened to this one once thus far, but it's actually the best rapping I've ever heard from $imple - great schemes, flows, and concepts. The mixing and beats are a bit shaky at times, but we're used to that by now in indie rap now, right? Apparently he's working on a full LP now, so keep an eye out for that! 

Peep 3IMPLE HERE

Friday, April 16, 2021

Killz & Baracuda - We in the Building Mixtape (2013)

 


 

 So I lied, turns out my Summon tour CDr was ripped in 192 kbps and so I need to redo it, and the one full length he put out that isn't available anymore I'm assuming got pulled for a good reason (it features Coolzey and Gajah so kinda strange he'd scrap it). I got inspired to just put this one out there since I know a lot of you probably are missing it and looking to find it like I was.

Baracuda is an ex-Plague Language, Guelph based rapper who takes the style Noah23 used to work with and makes it more accessible and less DMT soaked for the less brain fried listener. That's about it. He's utilizes great production and writes good hard hitting songs as well.

This album was sort of a preview for the full length album Killz and Baracuda put out in 2018 Shut the Front Door. It's got some serious bangers and runs a whopping 25 tracks long, no filler. A great example of straight up catchy and dope Canadian hip hop.

I'm tired of typing and you're tired of reading me try to describe this so just download it and enjoy!


DOWNLOAD

 

 

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

New Music: Blakwulf - Fangs / Nails

 


 

First things first, I want to draw everyone's attention to the fantastic original artwork by Trylemma's partner that we're now featuring at UGF. Very dope and fun so thanks to her for that!


Now, for this week I was lucky enough to intercept an email regarding the rapper formerly known as Summon of Dead Seagull Medicine and New Cocoon, formerly also known as Marxman 45. I actually had the very real pleasure of opening for this man in Fresno a few years back when I was dabbling in rapping myself (maybe some day I'll post some of it here) and I want to do whatever I can to support his work as he was a decent, talented weirdo who didn't have to put me on the flyer but practically insisted on it.

The email in question basically announces his new moniker and his intention to release music with every new moon. In this day and age every artist is doing these "live" album releases but this is a new one for me.

Anyway for those who don't know, Blakwulf is a shamanistic goth hop rapper who's lyrics invoke animism, magik and arcane spirituality in a dizzying spectacle of strangeness and dopeness. Imagine Oldominion on Ambien and you may come close to understanding his very unusual approach to rapping.

So I haven't had a chance to listen to this one yet, but as I said since I know this dude is cool as f*ck and talented to boot, I wanted to give him some promotion. And maybe Friday if I can find it I'll upload this tour CDr he was selling at the show that contains a few unreleased tracks of his!

Get Fangs & Nails here and if you haven't heard it before be sure to check out some of his earlier work as Summon here.


See ya'll Friday!

Friday, April 9, 2021

Iame - Rare And Unreleased (2009)

 


Today's post comes from Sandpeople's and Oldominion's Iame (aka Wool See) and his elusive "Rare And Unreleased" from 2009.

"Rare And Unreleased" was a physical-only exclusive made by Iame and handed out to "street members" who helped promote shows at his tour stops at the time. The CDR consists of an exclusive remix and six tracks hand-plucked from various projects. Nothing extremely special, but cool to have for collectors.

This is a UGDN rip, done by, I believe, the great DonLuc. Enjoy!



Tuesday, April 6, 2021

New Music: Illogic & Odd Nosdam - Right The Ship

 


Attention snobby 2000s underground rap fans! A new collabo EP from none other than Illogic and Odd Nosdam!

I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical of this when I first saw it pop up last week. I am not super heavy into either of the artists, but since it was a short EP, I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised! Instead of getting deep into the trenches of weird abstract "lyrical" rap, as a collabo like this could, things are kept very fresh throughout all four songs + the bonus remix. Odd Nosdam serves up some very melodic and colorful production and Illogic delivers on the raps on every track.

Peep the collabo HERE

Thursday, April 1, 2021

April Fuels: Scuba Chicken - After Death Collection (Unreleased Crap) (2020)

 

 


Every once in a while an artist comes around who's skill, talent, ability and gifts make you say "damn". I wanted to wait to share this stuff until my day tomorrow, but I was too excited. So, get an extra pair of underwear handy and feast your nose on this shit homies:

 


 

Wait wait don't worry, I've included a download of his music as well, since you were lucky enough to tune in today. It's an unreleased collection though, so it's pretty much his worst songs I guess. But considering how mind blowing and awe inspiring that video is, I think unreleased Scuba Steve would be better than Biggie on his best day and if you disagree then you probably secretly hate rap and maybe racism too.


DOWNLOAD

 

Oh it's April Fools Day today huh? Maybe I should've posted a joke... Sorry... I'm gonna go do some butane fuel and try to come up with something. But what...


Note: UGF dose not condone the abuse of volatle solvints. Unless you wanna be cool like Scuba Chicken and get layed a lot.

Double Note: This dude sucks balls. April Fools.