Well looks like pictures are working. Unfortunately I like my Chakra poem description of Neila's cover so it's staying up.
Today I have something new and exciting to get the word out on. Meet the Mood Patrol EP. The Southwest's Fang Over Fist Records, another amazing find from Fake Four Inc.'s amazing Freecember deal is proud to release a brand new collaboration between the phenomenal Cecil Tsoh (formerly Whatever Cecil, nka Tsoh Tso), B.Moore on the raps and Lady Quasar on the singing tip.
I was only familiar with Mr. Tsoh at the time of my first listen, but I have to say I really enjoyed this EP (for the record in case you haven't noticed, I basically don't review anything I can't give a fairly positive review on. And if I don't absolutely like something I've agreed to review, I will try very hard to paint it in a positive light without lying or exaggerating. I like to think of these New Music posts as promos as opposed to real 'reviews'. That said, that is not the case here this shit is dope.) and I think you will too. It's easy in this day and age, with the huge volume of random collaborations between hungry indie hip hoppers to dismiss an album when you don't recognize all of the names, but there truly is something magical at work here in the interplay between the singer, the rapper and the producer.
The beats here are simply beautiful. Tsoh Tso has been making noteworthy music ever since popping up circa 2010 with An Illustrated Mess and he has steadily improved. At this point with his sample based production such as we find here, he has perfected his own style of chopping and rearranging songs to form collages of true beauty and substance. These beats exemplify the best kind of sample based production, making use of layering, effects and unorthodox percussion ("New to What's Been Orbiting") to entirely own every note. In fact, I would say these beats are my favorite type of production and were what initially attracted me to hip hop. Hitting hard enough to keep the head nodding while retaining subtlety and mood. If you miss Dark Time Sunshine Vessel era, you're gonna love this.
Lady Quasar is a great choice to keep these songs fresh and unique as well. Again, there are SO many rappers out these days, making so many albums and EPs with their peers. Choosing to recruit a vocalist to provide melodies on every song, especially when the production is so heavily melody driven was an excellent decision. And she is by no means a gimmick or just a pretty voice. Her vocal style is slightly Squalloscope slightly Dilly Dilly, toeing the line between rapping and singing and generally crafting the vibe we hear throughtout the album. Her participation is absolutely necessary for this to work.
Lastly we have B.Moore the rapper. I need to either see a lyric sheet or listen more to this EP to fully grasp the story to each of these songs, but I can tell you B.Moore writes with a good sense of drama, unusual wordplay and a penchant for dark imagery. With repeated listens I am reminded again and again of DTS in their prime with this album, especially because of B.Moore's relentless and fantastical lyrical style. I plan to dive into this more deeply as soon as possible.
Once again Fang Over Fist kills it. My only complaint? Too short! This collaboration is gold, and I think it really would have been great to build up a larger volume of songs before releasing the album. I truly hope, guys, if you read this that you're inspired to flesh this out. Beautiful work!
Get the EP right here, today and forever more!
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