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, December 30, 2022

Trylemma's Favs of 2022

 


And a Happy New Year! 

Trylemma here to check in again for a special year-end post recapping my favorite projects of 2022. You may have heard all, some, or none, but the following are my picks for my Top 50 Favorite Projects of 2022. This year, I decided to just put them all in alphabetical order based on artist as it's getting harder to compare projects that simply fit different moods. (Small comments on select entries.) 

1. Aceyalone - Ugmosis (Amazing that Acey is still putting out fresh sounding albums)

2. All City Jimmy - Westside Boy 

3. Awol One - Happy Rebirthday

4. Backburner - Continuum

5. Blackwinterwells - Crystal Shards (A worthy project to be at the forefront of Hyperpop moving forward) 

6. Blackwinterwells - Protector

7. BRavenous - Ghosts of Rockingham 

8. Buck 65 - King Of Drums (After a couple weird releases out of retirement?, this finally sounds like a proper Buck 65 return) 

9. Cities Aviv - Man Plays Horn (One of the densest albums of the year lyrically and musically - so much here to return to) 

10. Claud Six - In Case We Shouldn't Make It

11. Cleen - Curb Servin' 22

12. The Cloaks - A Cloakwork Orange

13. Collective Efforts - The Long Way Home (Another amazing release from a thought-to-be-retired outfit)

14. CVE - We Represent Billions

15. D-Sisive - Knoblic Gardens (This is a late 2022 release, but it's already the second best project D-Sisive has ever dropped imo) 

16. Death Dealers Anonymous - Salvo

17. Def-I & Smoke - Water Edges

18. Factor - Time Invested II

19. Fantasy Camp - Casual Intimacy 

20. Fax Gang - Dataprism 

21. Gepetto - Summer Tape

22. Homeboy Sandman - I Can't Sell These (Covid is real, anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers are dumb - Sandman still manages to kill these beats) 

23. Kid Cudi - Entergalactic

24. Marrow - Fission Two

25. Memphis Reins & QM - Reign Clouds

26. Mixed Matches - Mixed Matches 

27. Mixed Matches - With You (The prettiest sounding album of the year imo) 

28. Moka Only & The SOULution - Midnight Sessions

29. Nan Fiero & Qnorapname - Attention Span (Also peep that Feo Faces EP that Fake Four dropped for free this month) 

30. Open Mike Eagle - A Tape Called Component System (The best Open Mike Eagle album since 2015 - which is very impressive) 

31. Oscar Goldman - Oscar Goldman

32. Paper Rose Haiku - Paper Rose Haiku

33. Pass - Flowers

34. RAP Ferreira - 5 To The Eyes With Stars

35. Rove - If Not Now (The mysterious Side Road OG finally drops an album, and it hits perfectly - I heard there's another one in store) 

36. $imple - Peace Or Else

37. Sadistik & Kno - Bring Me Back When The World Is Cured (I wanted to not like this album, but I failed miserably) 

38. Sahtyre & Left Brain - Gone Folder 22

39. Saskatoon Folk Rap Records - SFRR Tape (Best crew currently in rap) 

40. SB The Moor - In Babylon!

41. Sick Aura - Give Thanks

42. Skizza - Bridge City Underdog

43. Swamp Thing - Noise Machine 

44. Taylor Morgan - Nature Power (Taylor Morgan is lowkey becoming one of the best producers out there no doubt)

45. Thavius Beck - Leo (Thavius Beck? And rapping?!?!?!) 

46. Topr - Gross 

47. Wicca Phase - Full Moon Mystery Garden

48. Wool See - Cope Money (Tribute to a lost cat) 

49. Wstdyth - Meltwaterpul5e

50. Z-Man & Tahaj - Animal Slavery


And for the beat-heads and instrumental lovers out there - here's my Top 50 Instrumental Based Projects of 2022: 


1. A-Plus - Cigano Road Vol. 1

2. AG Flux - Summer In-Flux Vol. 3 

3. The Audible Doctor & J57 - 8-Bit Beat Tape

4. Awkward - The Mighty Engine

5. Daedelus - Simmers Over

6. The Dirty Sample - Beats To Murder Rappers To

7. DJ Brace and Illdigger - A Time To Remember

8. DJ Day - Life After You

9. DJ Drez - Soft Electricity

10. DJ Eons & Bad Shane - 41st And El Camino

11. Drummachinemike - Artificial Environments

12. Duke Westlake - Lucia Lodge

13. Edison - Concave Rabbit 

14. Elaquent - Long Drives To Nowhere

15. Elephant Gerald - Life Of The Party

16. Emancipator & Lapa - 11th Orbit 

17. Endemik Remote Ensemble - They Fired With Their Lives

18. Fat Jon - Plaything Cipher

19. Filthy Fingers United - World Ablaze

20. Freddie Joachim - Hiding

21. Free The Robots - Kaduwa

22. Funky DL - Lo-Fi Blue Beats

23. Grainbin - Grainbin

24. Headnodic - Junk Drawer Vol. 2

25. Jason The Argonaut - Deep Time

26. M. Fusion - The Nobom Chronicles

27. Maki - American Road Films

28. Mestizo - Water, Breath, Flesh, Food 

29. More Or Les - Beats For Bounty Hunters

30. Nickels - Duality

31. Nickels - Top Ten

32. Noblonski - Lazy Loops 4our

33. oddballTheatre - gumboTape

34. Omid - Yalda

35. Parallel Thought - Poly Rythmatic 

36. Raz Fresco - Ice Cream Cake

37. Scholarman - The Rising

38. The Shaolin Afronauts - The Fundamental Nature Of Being, Part Two

39. SignOne - Signal To Noise 5 

40. Sinitus Tempo - Journey 2 

41. Sinitus Tempo - XXXIII

42. Sully - Beyond The Construct 

43. Suff Daddy - Basically Sober

44. Theory Hazit - Lowkey LoFi

45. Thes One - Shelter In Place

46. Thndrthf - Witch Poison

47. Tone Definite - Sky Vibes Vol. 2

48. Uggish - And Now To Learn To Fish II

49. Yungmaple - Archive 1

50. Zoen - The Harvest 

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3 comments:

  1. kaohtixDecember 30, 2022 at 6:38 PM

    hope this gem didnt slip under your guys radar, cause its pretty dope https://sankofa.bandcamp.com/album/vltr-kmbt

    ReplyDelete
  2. NapkinsJanuary 1, 2023 at 1:51 AM

    Nice list as always. I did a top 100 albums, here's the hip hop extracted as a top 10!

    1. billy woods - Aethiopes
    2. Buck 65 - King of Drums
    3. Elucid - I Told Bessie
    4. Infinity Knives x Brian Ennals - King Cobra
    5. billy woods x Messiah Musik - Church
    6. Pip Skid - A Really Nice Day
    7. Double Nice - The Last Dig
    8. Akai Solo - Spirit Roaming
    9. Roc Marciano x The Alchemist - The Elephant Man's Bones
    10. DJ Moves - Pam Grier's Kids

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2023 at 7:37 PM

    Lunar C - Most High & K.A.A.N & Smuff the Quiz - Kaizen Pt 2

    ReplyDelete

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