The Most - A.O.K. (2003)

 

 

Happy Friday y'all! Time to take it way way back, to a time long ago called the early 2000's, when two New Haven brothers formed a trio with another dude named Jay Scarafiello and decided to make weird sing songy hip hop in the vein of Imprints and Shapeshifters. The result is just as out there as it sounds.

The Most is essentially Anonymous Inc. minus a lot of what made them so amazing (live instrumentals, good songwriting, Max Heath) but it does have it's moments. And both Ceschi and David Ramos have enough talent to make just about anything sound good.

That said this is mostly for the hardcore Ceschi fans out there, and be warned there's a reason it's never resurfaced. Hopefully he doesn't mind if I share this. It's a great fossil and definitely hard to come by...

 

Enjoy A.O.K.! Oh and by the way, definitely check in a week from today because I caught a glimpse of what Trylemma's offering up and you don't want to miss that...

 

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  Note: There appears to be a single image file of this album cover floating around. I have never seen a larger, higher resolution image, it's clear someone scanned a jpeg back before we could all do it at home. This can't be all there is. Does anyone have good cover art for this one?

New Music: Chief and TheDoomsdayDevice - Flux Populi

Thanks for your patience! Home from work now, tired but UGF must live on! And frankly I'm excited about this because from my first listen I'm as fresh as I was at 8 am this morning. We got a line on it from Th' Mole, who's beats grace this and grace it well. Flux Populi is Chief and TheDoomsdayDevice, coming out only on Fake Four Inc. on May 6th.

I'll just say this. Th' Mole is known for his off the wall personality and I think it may be off-putting to some people. But to be fair this guy can produce like crazy (and he's not a bad rapper either), and lately the material I've been hearing from his Weird Rap label is pretty much exactly what I look for in hip hop. This is no exception. Chief and TheDoomsdayDevice's (let's call him C&TDDD from now on) lyrical commentary on the modern world, politics, mental health, etc are perfectly backed by Th' Mole's relentless industrial barrage. The result is an unsettling dream in the form of music, and it is definitely worthy to come out on Fake Four Inc., my favorite label.

That's all I got. Time to crash!

 

Check back on Fake Four Inc. here on May 6th for a quick dose of something dope and interesting.

 

 

Return of the Dream Team (Medusa, Ariano & LD, DJ Flict) - Album Sampler (2010)

 

Today's post is an album sampler for an album that, as far as I know, never came out, delivered by supergroup, Return of the Dream Team!

Return of the Dream Team formed in 2009 when LD & Ariano joined forces with Medusa and DJ Flict. Flict and LD handled the production while Ariano and Medusa handled the vocals. The group did a couple of shows and dropped a few singles but, to my knowledge, never went on to do much anything else. In my collection, however, I found this album sampler from 2010 that must have been sent around to stations and/or handed out at shows. 

The sampler consists of 7 tracks (a full album now!) but is a mix, with drops from Medusa, that cuts each song short (so you gotta go buy the full album...that doesn't exist!) You can buy a couple of the songs in full online, but most of them seem exclusive to this sampler. The sound is very early 2010s - think Black Eyed Peas or Taio Cruz type deal haha!

If anyone has any further info as to the state of the group (or, better yet, if anyone has the full album) drop it below!

Return of the Dream Team Album Sampler 

New Music: AG Flux - Long Winter

 

As I get older, I find myself listening to more and more instrumental Hip Hop and AG Flux's recent "Long Winter" album has been at the top of the list over the past week. 

AG Flux is a member of the mountain-state collective Black Mask as both a rapper and producer. Most of his output recently has been beat-based. "Long Winter" is a collection of 8 lush and colorful instrumentals that deliver full length song punches. Think a slightly more ambient version of fellow Black Mask member Maulskull's production. I can definitely relate to the title as well as we recently got 3+ inches of snow up here in the middle of April lol! 

Peep it below!

Long Winter

Echelon - Echelon EP (2003)

 

 

Crazy awesome Friday to everyone! Thanks to the homie OpenMic, I can now offer the very much fossilized joint Echelon EP by Trust One and Mash 23. Trust One is to me the epitome of San Diego hip hop, together with Orko and his million and a half surnames of course. His production has made for some of my favorite releases of all time (Formula Abstract) and his rapping is unique enough to keep even the most jaded indie rap fan listening.

I don't know much about Mash 23, and to be honest I haven't even heard this one yet. We had a request a while back from Josh, which was the first time I'd even learned this existed. Thanks to the magic of the internet we now have it. Sadly no album art though. Wish he'd re-release this one on Bandcamp hint hint.

So we can all be surprised at how dope, trippy, enthralling and weird this is sure to be (keep in mind this is the scene Summon came up in lol).

Enjoy Echelon EP!

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News - R.I.P. Gajah / Acid Reign - Not Your Average Mixtape (2005)

 

 

This one hit me hard.  I had a few very brief interactions with this cat online and I can only say that he was a humble and kind individual with a gentle soul that shone through in every rhyme he wrote. What really struck me about him was how, given the insane level of technical skill he displayed on the mic, he still seemed so thrilled to hear when someone loved his work. One of a few people I've really gotten this vibe from. I don't know the details of his death but 42 is a ridiculous age to lose anyone. Such a fucking tragedy.

I've read a few very touching tributes to Gajah since his untimely passing was announced. This one from Uncommon Nasa was great. Personally when I needed to listen to some dope skills with a positive message and tripped out production it was hard not to immediately jump on this dudes music. The idea that he won't be around making more music, touching new fans and being a father is hard to accept. That's the best I can do on the subject, I didn't know him personally beyond a few messages on FB.

So how about we celebrate his legacy with a nice mixtape of Acid Reign tracks, some exclusive? I'm actually not sure why I never shared this before.

 

 

Enjoy Not Your Average Mixtape and take some time to think about how short life can be. Much love from myself and Trylemma to Gajah and the Navarrete family.

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Alpha MC - IDGAF2 (2015)

 

Today's post is a minor "long lost" project that I recently retrieved in the form of Alpha MC's "IDGAF2."

Alpha MC, currently known as Alph Tha Alien, is an LA rapper who is part of Project Blowed and the mighty Swim Team. He's always had a real laid back nonchalant comical delivery that I've always loved. "IDGAF2" is a mixtape that Alpha uploaded to his Soundcloud in 2015. It wasn't available to buy or DL and about a year later it was wiped :(

That sucked as the project was one of my favorites of 2015 (I always figured he'd make it available to buy, so I never worried about ripping it myself.) The mixtape was a follow-up to his "I Don't Give A Fuck" mixtape from 2012 (which is almost as dope as the sequel and which is still available to DL for free on Alph's Bandcamp.) On it, Alpha tackles some mainstream beats and gives a total clinic and flows and deliveries. It's not much in terms of "substance" (think a lot of braggadocio and rhymes about fucking) but if you like hearing dudes just rap over some dopeass beats (and no, I'm not talking about ya'll boringass NYC boom bap rappers lol)...this is a great modern example! 

Anyhow, I've been bugging Alpha about getting the project for a while now and while he himself no longer had the tracks, one of his producers did and Alpha was nice enough to send me along the 10 tracks. Huge thanks to him! DL and enjoy below!

IDGAF2

New Music: Factor - Time Invested II

 

20 years ago, the GOAT producer Factor Chandelier, comin' straight outta Saskatoon, dropped his first official solo album, "Time Invested." Now, 20 years later, we finally get the sequel!

"Time Invested II" not only celebrates Factor's longevity in the game, as well as his birthday (the date on which the original and sequel dropped,) but also very successfully re-taps into the atmospheric folky prairie-hop that ran through the original (which a healthy dose of synths to update things.) 

On vocals, Factor calls upon some MCs who appeared on the original - Kirby Dominant, Sunspot Jonz, Kay The Aquanaut, Eligh, and Moka Only - as well as voices that have come to become Factor staples - Awol One, Ceschi, Def3, Myka 9. 

Everything about "Time Invested II" flows together so smoothly and both takes you back to the good ol days of 2000s underground rap while also continually proving how forward-thinking Factor is as an artist. Pay what you want for it below!

Time Invested II

Very Serious Announcement / Pesticyde & Poetic Death - Aftermathmatikz (2008)

 

 BIG CHANGES AT UGF!

Hey ya'll, so excited to share a monumental moment in the history of Underground Fossils and the world at large. Trylemma and I have been discussing this move for a while and figured the new month would be a great time to debut it... Welcome... to...

 

Underground Fossils: The Fossil Blog

 

 

So instead of hip hop, from this day forward UGF will be all about fossils, all the time. Any discussion of music will not be tolerated. This is serious. This is rock solid. This is history.

No more wasting your valuable time with posts about new releases you might not have heard about. Everyone knows the radio does a fine job of picking your music for you. No more free downloads either. To be honest, why would you waste disc space on anything that isn't related to fossils? And especially no more April Fool's jokes, because we all know nobody reads these and if they do they don't think they're funny.

Look at the beauty. Feel the time, frozen in rock. Waiting to be unearthed. The heart pounding excitement of a bazillion years sitting quietly in mud, dead.

The only music we want to hear is the sound of petrification of ancient plants, accompanied by the back beat of chisels freeing them from their stone prisons.

For the next few hours we will be removing all material related to music. When you next log on, prepare to take a very educational trip back in time through the magic of fossils...

Seriously?? You want a download? Alright. Don't tell anyone though, I swear this is a one time thing...

 

This one is an early release from Riverside native emcee Poetic Death (nka Von Poe VII) over beats by Pesticyde. You might have this one if you knew about these folks back when it was on Bandcamp.

I've done a few Poe albums I believe so I'll skip the lengthy descriptions. To be quick, expect conscious rap musings with obscure biblical references over melancholy eerie music.
 

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