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!
Premier and Guru. Lateef and Lyrics Born. Ceschi and Factor. Mike and Jamie. Peanut butter and jelly. Grape jelly. And Dimxsk and Trylemma. Yeah it's about to be one of those posts.
Anyway what was that? You're probably thinking I clicked here to download this dope Onry Ozzborn remix album and now I gotta read more nonsensical shit from Dimxsk. But this particular download has a history.
Flash back to 2016. I had just recently acquired the means to rip analog albums onto digital files and was loving it. Like many of you I have built quite a collection of free lathes, exclusive physical only tapes and OOP vinyl just to have it without the means to easily listen to it.
So I was stoked about my newfound ability to share rare shit, and this album was my very first rip and very first share. I went onto a C-Box somewhere and basically asked who wanted it, and one of those folks was Trylemma.
So essentially this album is what led to the collaborative effort that is UGF, with T mainly handling the acquisition side of things and myself handling the ripping. I think it's led to some very exciting media being preserved and allowed to circulate freely to those of us who were too young to appreciate it when it dropped and then vanished forever, or those of us who just want to listen to super indie rare music on an iPhone.
Seeing it up here finally is pretty cool. I've been holding it back because a) it's really cool b) and I wasn't too sure how Fake Four Inc. might feel about it being out there. If they'd prefer just let us know and we'll take it down.
But this album is pretty damn awesome. The remix of "Flee the Colony" in particular is IMO IIRC even better than the original, and the exclusive Ceschi track is one of his dream pop masterpieces.
There's tons of good stuff on here, including the original tape hiss in 320 kbps glory! Enjoy friends and thanks for continuing to follow us on this journey.
This week's late post comes from one of my favorite piles of things to collect - northwest compilations. And this one, from 2006, has a pretty fitting title: "The North West Compilation One" from Super Happy Wax Records.
Super Happy Wax was a Portland label/store from the mid-late 2000's that seemed to have really got going once Northwest Order started slowing down. They put out some records from Smoke, Nite Owls (Mr. Hill and Barfly from Oldominion,) and Clockwerk (Iame/Goldini Bagwell from The Sandpeople.) I perhaps remember them most for their online store and message board from back in the day where you could cop some now NW gems and interact with other NW Hip Hop junkies.
"The North West Compilation One" was a label sampler that Super Happy Wax would give away with online orders (I think you could buy it separately for like a buck.) The act list includes Cool Nutz, Grayskul, DJ Wicked, Abadawn, Santotzin, Cancer Rising, Mo-B, OnlyOne, Soul Plasma, and many more. Unfortunately, future installments of the compilation series never came to be. Thanks to the legendary FTD scene group for the rip!
- Check out the new Gumshoe Strut EP that dropped today, "NT2D," HERE. MC Homeless, Nolto, and Chaps make appearances.
- Some deep Project Blowed heads may be familiar with Naj Ahead (formerly N/A of Tha Lepht.) Guy has been dropping some really good instrumental and remix projects in the last handful of years on his Bandcamp and last week he dropped "Random Rap Remixes Vol 2" HERE. Check it.
- And speaking of the Blowed, Abstract Rude just dropped his latest installment in his "Trax" series with "Making Indie Traxx: Dusty Pointy Fingers" HERE. He usually ends up printing CDs of these down the road for those who want to wait for the physical.
Today's post is a filler from a request I got on Discogs from Vims: Barfly's "I've Been Worse" album from 2007. (We'll also now occasionally be having a little "Notes Section" at the end of posts whenever seen fit to drop miscellaneous things.)
Barfly is one of the most productive members from the Oldominion crew. He's a core member in groups Candy's.22, Saturday Knights, Big Kids Run, and Leather Tuscadero. He's released projects with Onry Ozzborn, Graves33, and Mr. Hill. He produces under the moniker Floods, and he's even dropped a full length novel (in addition to various zines and poems.) Even so, 2007's "I've Been Worse" is really his only official solo album yet. A quick look around the net revealed that it no longer seems to be available to buy anywhere online, so I figured it could be documented here.
I've always loved Barfly's sound. His punk rock background, side of the mouth sarcastic delivery, and penchant for great complementary production makes him one of the most unique artists out of the PacNW - and this album really puts that on display. Features include Onry Ozzborn, Snafu, and NyQwil.
And for those who want to keep up to date, Barfly has dropped a new EP this year entitled "A Light In The Dark" which is currently for sale exclusively on Concuss Creations HERE.
Today is once again Bandcamp Friday (it looks like Epic hasn't ruined things yet?) so be sure to support the artists that have them. I'm personally looking forward to today's new releases from Awol One/Id Obelus/Rove ("Fresh Air EP,") Jade River/Beond of Acid Reign ("Conquest Part 3,") Billy Woods/Kenny Segal ("Maps,") Five Fingers of Funk ("Portland Say It Again,") and Buck 65 ("Super Dope,") You can also head over to Fake Four's Bandcamp and pre-order Factor Chandelier's new album "Moving Like A Planet."
RIP to HelloLA records - they put out some of the best looking cassettes and overall artwork over the years. Bertrand is now working with Adeem in a new label called "Echo Finch." They recently dropped a new album from Rain entitled "The And // Chapter 2," with features from Open Mike Eagle, Onry Ozzborn, John Robinson, Moe Pope, Latrell James and more HERE.
If you were a high tier member in the Fake Fouragers program last year, be sure to check that you got the new vinyl fossil from Ceschi - an exclusive 12" record filled with new music exclusively for subscribers. Word is, his final Ceschi project, "Bring Me The Head of Francisco False" will also be released exclusively on vinyl for those who pre-ordered the Ceschi/Factor trilogy.
Anyone else miss the blogs of yesteryear? Shout out to Beetbak, This Is For The Hustlers, Record Science, Ludz, Thirdman, and obviously the great GhettoTyylit! Hoping for a new Til Infinity post soon!
Sorta disappointed to find out this week that I'm not immune to Covid. I went years without catching it and here we go. And it SUCKS.
So I'm just gonna throw this one out there. You know and love Onry Ozzborn. Dark Time Sunshine made one of the best art rap albums ever in Vessel and I guess this party mix was in celebration of that or something. Not sure where I got this or if it's even legit. It is certainly Oldominion dudes rapping over beats that don't sound like OD. Courtesy of DJ Pratt I assume.
It's crazy to think, but it's been nearly nine years since Oldominion/Grayskul head Onry Ozzborn and super-producer Zavala last formed the Dark Time Sunshine train and gifted us an album (that was 2012's "ANX" if you're keeping score.) Suffice to say, a lot has changed since then - for both the world and the guys themselves. We of course now live in a fully postmodern planet with meme presidents and social distancing galore. Meanwhile, Onry has dealt with his daughter's diagnosis and eventual beating of cancer. I've always found that Dark Time Sunshine projects do a wonderful job in letting the listener transcend whatever state he/she happens to be in at the moment - so now seems like about the perfect time for another go round. Here's an early track by track review of Dark Time Sunshine's new album, "LORE."
1. Lore (Feat. Ceschi): It's become a tradition for Fake Four head honcho Ceschi Ramos to open up Dark Time Sunshine albums. Unlike previous outings, however, Onry accompanies him on mic duties and really sets a sort of 'triumphant return' type mood in proclaiming, "We bringing gully back/We bringing smilin' back, we bringing happy back/We bringing laughing and living a little back/But most of all, we bringing love back, and that's facts." Zavala provides a pretty bare-boned drum track for the guys to flex on, which works pretty well, though I do miss the big Zavala intros that previous DTS albums gave us...
2. Ritalin: Now here's that Zavala production! Multi-layered, atmospheric bliss from the Chicago producer that rarely fails to impress. The song's content, which has been a theme throughout a lot of Onry's work, tackles the struggle of dealing with mental issues ("I am an intricate doubter about myself") while at the same time trying to seek out basic joys in life. Onry also switches up the flows here a bit, giving us a bit of chopping, and gives us our fair dose of bars as well, "FML, FML/Rid myself of these blues like I'm Gargamel."
3. 7 Knots: Things get even deeper lyrically at this point in this ode to learning from the past and loving those close to oneself. Onry has a great way of giving us wordplay that is neither cheap nor too abstract, "I've decided to limbo beneath my own personal purgatory/Although my vantage point at that moment was rock bottom/It taught me how to morph colors and become autumn." The moody earworm electronics from Zavala, especially in the long outro, are gold as well.
4. The Rite Kids (Feat. R.A.P. Ferreira & Homeboy Sandman): Possibly my favorite track on the entire album (which is saying a lot.) Onry enlists RAP Ferreira and Homeboy Sandman, over some really cool retro synths, for his ode to the promising outcast and weirdo kids, with such unique quirks as "Separating they food and never letting it touch before it enters the tummy." The song hits hard especially as Onry has been rapping since the mid-90s, always taking fresh left-field approaches to music-making, and has managed to really carve his own lane despite the fact that...yes, believe it or not kids...indie rap wasn't always cool. "The wrong kids have been always the rite kids, the bright kids." Both guests fully deliver as well. Sandman notes, "Rite kids aren't part of the plan...but plans make God laugh," and Ferreira really ends up being the star of the show, "I write this for the chosen few/Who were told as children to speak when spoken to, and then were never spoken to." Having each rapper come in on the hook is genius too.
5. Star Scream: Here we have a mellowed out bouncy Zavala production, with Onry riding it perfectly. The joint is a humorous take on the constant journey of following fame, money, and trends, "These days everything/Is captured on a screen/Then captioned, turned into a meme." I especially appreciate the funky keys over the hook (hopefully an instrumental version of the album drops soon.)
6. Poor Pavel (Feat. Hail Mary Mallon): So not only are we getting the Onry + Zavala combo, we're getting the Rob Sonic + Aesop Rock combo as well?!? Yes, please. Over a pretty unique jazzy bassy instrumental, our hosts discuss, I believe (things can get murky when these 3 are involved lol,) the daily struggle of living up to one's promise or worth. Rob and Aesop of course bring their A-games. I felt Aesop when he said, "If I'm horizontal, eight hours on a thousand nails/Waking up is more than putting piss into the howling gales."
7. Hell Nah: On this personal track, Onry addresses using others' overcoming of obstacles as his own large inspiration in doing the same. While I'm not 100% sure, and don't want to assume, who the subjects of the song exactly are, it's clear that those close to Onry have made serious moves through the muck and grime in their lives, and it's made an impression on him. "After meandering in and out of those bubbles/Them rubber glovies were tossed away with the muzzles/I snipped your feeding tube in half and sat there puzzled...you made it through." The backing minimal melodic beat does its job in really letting Onry speak his mind.
8. Look At Her Go: Personally speaking, this is a slightly low point on the album (but luckily the only low point.) On it, Onry talks to a special girl in his life with some vivid imagery, "Your voice - a pocket of diamonds inside my satchel/Your smile - a fanny pack of golden ice capsules," which is nothing to complain about. Musically, however, the playful instrumental and sample choices didn't really work for me. The hook was a bit clunky as well. Hopefully others will dig it more than I did.
9. Familiars: Back on track, we're given a darker moodier intro here before things lead into a drum heavy track that is reminiscent of something off of DTS' 2010 album, "Vessel." The content is slightly vague, but I believe the song is concerned with the brute power of dealing with life hindrances, both physical and otherwise, "All of your arteries are opening/Channeling electricity to these probe machines/It's quite deafening/Mute button on lapse, quite threatening." The long Zavala outro makes everything hit that much more.
10. Ayemen: As we near the end of things, we're given some classic vibrant and illustrious Zavala synths and, being a longtime Onry fan I can say, some real OG Onry Ozzborn deliveries. Onry celebrates his daughter's overcoming of cancer, which has given him a new fresh outlook on life, "Broken before, but never again....used to try, just to live but now I won't die." The song really elevates above an already elevated album and gives us a peek into how far Onry and his fam have really come over the past years.
11. Better Off: As a parting gift, Zavala blesses us with a really colorful soulful instrumental as an outro, with Onry giving us some parting introspective words, "All of your flowers before you perish friends/It's always perfect at first, what about when it ends?/Are you able to make amends or does ego take over empathy and leave us like we hangmen?" Because the album has been a very personal journey for Onry, the raps here, and throughout the album, are able to dispense some words of wisdom without ever getting too preachy, which is something not always easy to achieve. A great closer for a great project.
Overall, "LORE" is not only a welcomed return for Dark Time Sunshine, but also a near-necessary body of therapeutic work that a year like 2021 can absolutely put to use. Zavala's production and Onry's rhymes hit all the senses and provide more than one reason to be optimistic for the future. For those who enjoy either artist, references to Yorgos Lanthimos films/Game of Thrones/Royce Da 5'9/X-Men/Walter Cronkite, or good music in general - be sure to give this a listen!
"LORE" drops via Fake Four Inc. on Thursday, February 4th. You can pre-order your digital copy or physical version HERE. Also peep the music videos for "Familiars" and "7 Knots / Ayemen" below!
We have a treat for you today - JFK's "Anchor Head Chronicles" from 2000!
I had heard "legends" of the elusive "Anchor Head Chronicles" from my buddy, and OD encyclopedia, Donluc for years now. But I always assumed that if he couldn't have gotten his hands it, I had no chance. I eventually forgot about it until a couple months ago two separate people I've bought stuff from in the past brought up that they had a copy that they'd sell!
I was of course pleasantly surprised, to say the least, that after all this time, not one but two people had a grail. Then some roadblocks came into the picture. The first guy's daughter cleaned out his car (where the cdr was) and accidentally left the jewel case in the rain, causing the inserts to be thrown away. He thought he still had the cdr, but didn't know where it was. Luckily, the second guy had a sealed copy(!) that we successfully bought. Unfortunately, upon trying to rip it...the data was not recognized (by laptop, cd player, car player, anything.) This was likely the result of the poor quality cdr and/or the fact that a strong adhesive disc sticker was used at the disc art. I told the guy who I bought it from who then tried playing his personal copy - which had the same problem. From there, after a couple weeks of waiting, I finally heard back from the first guy who had found the cdr and who said he was pretty sure his copy played fairly well (despite lots of marks.) So, somehow, I managed to find a copy with mint inserts + a disc that didn't work and a copy with no inserts + a disc that did work!
When I got the second disc, however, I could only rip part of the cdr. The first two tracks didn't work for me. That's when I sent it off to ripping expert Dimxsk who successfully got the first two tracks to work!! So we have a full rip for you today.
So what exactly is this thing? Well, it's not really a full album. There's only 9 tracks. And it's not really even a solo project. JFK is on each track, but it comes across more as a promo release for Oldominion as a crew. The release date is 2000 and the insert promotes Oldominion's "One" (which also dropped in 2000,) so I'm guessing that this was some sort of very limited run, likely tour-only, promo release that JFK put together. The "label" is Veastvick, which is the name that Onry used for his debut "Knightingale" release. Unlike the official version of "Knightingale," however, this is not a professionally pressed CD. It's a cdr of lesser quality than the old MP3.com cdrs that Oldominion members used to sell. But it did come shrinkwrapped lol!
Anyhow, seven of the nine tracks are actually available elsewhere: "Hendrix" and "No Pain" are available on Oldominion's "Vol. 1," "Nnetwerk" and "Just Ain't Got It" are available on Oldominion's "Vol. 2," "Train of Thought" is available on Oldominion's "Vol. 3," and "Screaming In The Wind" is available on Oldominion's "One." "Replacement Killers" is available on Oldominion's "Book of Fury" (and the crew's "Zero" release,) but this version has a slightly extended instrumental.
Luckily, two of the tracks are, to my informed knowledge, exclusive to this release. And as fate would have it, they're not only the two best tracks on this thing, but also two of the best tracks I've heard from JFK. The first is "The Kite," a solo track produced by Zebulon Dak. The second is called "Paracite Eve," produced by Onry Ozzborn and featuring Onry and Snafu alongside JFK. Both tracks are melancholic introspective tracks and really display the skill of these guys even at the early stage. It's a shame the tracks never got a proper release.
So without further yada, here is the rip. It is rough at times due to the cdr quality (plus scratches,) but it's more than listenable. Enjoy!
Today's post is a more obscure entry from the Sandpeople catalog - Bastard Patriots' self titled debut from 2010. Bastard Patriots consisted of Randolph Mctools (of Harvard Joeys) and Jon the Baptist. Jon is best known for being a co-founder of the Sandpeople, though he parted ways (on not so amicable terms,) with the group early on. He is also the (biological) brother of Sleep of Oldominion.
The duo was heavily politically based, as made evident on this album (their sole release) where the many failings of the government are addressed head-on (industrialism, police brutality, drug laws, militarism...) Some hardcore braggadocio and a dash of metaphysical raps are thrown in for good measure as well - think a less cringy West Coast version of Jedi Mind Tricks. The production is very rough and rugged and is handled by Flavordisk, Coley Cole, Pale Soul, $imple, and DJ Zone. The sole feature on the album comes courtesy of NW head honcho Onry Ozzborn.
As noted, this was the duo's sole release. A second release was planned and was partly recorded, but was ultimately never finished and, due to some personal reasons, the duo eventually parted ways. McTools began focusing on other artistic pursuits (he has a great art collection) and Jon the Baptist, as far as I know, faded to black.
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
From both of us to...both of you - Happy Holladaze from UGF! To celebrate, we're sharing Sixtoo's and Cee!!!!!!!!'s classic "Jesus Christ Never Existed" - because it's true. Jk jk jk. We've got a triple share for ya'll today.
First up is The Shape Shifters' first known release from 1993 - "Shape Shifters..." Note that this is the Shifters before Existereo, before Circus, before Awol One! According to the notes, the members were Relm, Smooth ER (who's that?,) Gary Gnu, Perk, and Mek. We're talking OG here folks. I have two versions of this (actually 3,) each slightly different. Enjoy this version today!
Next up is a weird little thing from Onry Ozzborn - noted as "Archives" on the cassette. The product is an early version of Onry's "Owleye" (which was a compilation of sorts itself.) It has most of the tracks from that project mixed in with a track from "Zero" and a couple unknown instrumentals. I believe this also went as "8 Track Oddities" at one point. #NorthWest
Last up is from our friends up north - the great Reality and D-Mic! If you've never heard of Reality or D-Mic before...you must not be a real Hip Hop fan. Or perhaps it's because you have never heard the one copy of this beat up cassette that they recorded decades ago and never released to the public. Chances are, you probably have heard of Reality and D-Mic though, just under their more contemporary names, Ira Lee and DJ Kutdown, respectively. This was a little demo they recorded way back when, consisting of four tracks (well, technically two, but you'll see.) They played it for friends but it never got an official release or anything and only exists on this cassette procured from Kutdown himself...until now.
Sorry for the late post this week, we have been deliberating over what we wanted to share today. As many of you probably know already, Onry Ozzborn's young daughter Violet was diagnosed with cancer recently. Onry has reached out to his many fans and friends via a GoFundMe campaign, to ensure he and his family are taken care of during these uncertain times. We urge any of his fans who read this to contribute (if you haven't already). He may already have reached his goal but cancer can be unpredictable, and nobody deserves to wind up broke for trying to save a loved ones life.
Trylemma and I are huge fans of Onry's work. We feel that he is peerless in his sincerity, creativity and heart. His music is beautiful, and I can say personally that Vessel kept me going during difficult times.
Violet, we don't know each other personally, but UGF wishes you a quick recovery.
We'll be back on Friday with another fossil. Peace!
