New Music: Mood Patrol - Mood Patrol

 

 

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!

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.

 

 

New Music: Jae Krxnalege - 2022 Tape

 

 

In my humble opinion one of the best new(ish) producers working these days is Tsoh Tso, fka Whatever Cecil, the driving force behind Fang Over Fist records and the beatmaker behind An Illustrated Mess. Once again a wonderful Freecember discovery for me, I've grown to truly appreciate the sound he cultivates. Some of his work on albums like Long Distance with Thorts and Does it Matter? by the aforementioned An Illustrated Mess frankly sounds like no one else out there and that's a difficult thing to achieve when the indie world is growing by leaps and bounds every day.

Last week I was made aware of this new one on FOF. Jae Krxnalege is someone who I'd personally never heard of but my respect for the label and desire to support the struggling artist in whatever way I can in these incredibly difficult times drove me to give this a listen and drop a post. It's essentially a beat tape, which is not usually my thing (for some reason I just like vocal hip hop music more, beat tapes tend to feel incomplete to me. This is something I've had endless discussions about but that I really can't explain), but 2022 Tape does feature some rapping on the part of Jae which keeps me focused.

Jae is considered a staple in the Southwestern and Indigenous hip hop communities. He's done producing for a wide variety of indie artists and from the sound of it grinds full time as a rapper. Originally from Shiprock, New Mexico Jae Krxnalege is now working out of Salt Lake City, Utah greatly upping his four corners cred. It does sound like he could use more support and more new ears so before I get started on the review I want to direct everyone to his Spotify and his album. Hopefully at the very least some algorithmic magic can be worked and we can get this dude some attention.

 Anyway 2022 Tape does have the feel of a mixtape moreso than an actual album. The BC page does say that it was thrown together off the cuff and that does make itself apparent in some ways. The production could use some vocals and was clearly made for that purpose (cypher with your friends!) as it has a mellow, humble simplicity to it that is actually soothing and beautiful but a bit somnolent in places.

All that said, these beats are clearly made by a professional. They do indeed have a sound that immediately took me back to the indie rap I fell in love with back in High School. We're talking Madvillain, Lord Quas, Ugly Duckling. That stuff a lot of your friends probably thought was weird but you didn't care. This has that dusty, slightly offbeat charm and makes creative use of sounds (whispers, unorthodox time signatures) to build a chilled out atmosphere.

Jae Krxnalege can rap no doubt as well. We've got a few instances here of his poetry and it does a great job of really showing you the potential these beats have to become dope ass rap tracks as well as showing what he can do. I'm definitely intrigued as songs like "Cold" really showcase what he's capable of. As he plainly states in "Teachable" "I feel I've finally found my purpose and I speak it so" and 2022 Tape shows us that this guy is a jack of all trades hip hop artist, clearly loving the art and doing it for that alone.

This tape is cool. It's not going to blow any minds but I don't think that's the purpose here. What it does is show us a new artist who's been struggling behind the scenes for most of us and cultivating a real amount of talent. Tsoh Tso and Fang Over Fist want to show for those of us outside of the Indigenous community and the Southwest what Jae Krxnalege can do. I'm on board, let's see what he can do with the time and budget he needs.

For $3 this is worth your money. I know he could use the funds and if you can afford it you've got a nice little tape to relax and chill with friends to.

Check it out, here once again!

New Music: heir MAX - The Moment-20

 

 

The post for this one basically wrote itself while I listened to this album at work. Spoiler is that I loved it, it's great, and you should get the physical version not only because MAX deserves some cash for this but also because the two bonus tracks are fire and include an unreleased (sort of, Progeny's got it on his Soundcloud I think) Alligator Food song (yes that means some of the last Sixo you'll ever hear) and a new Sixo beat.

So the story is this album was written and recorded during the pandemic. It was released digitally on Sixo's birthday, as heir MAX and Sixo came up together and his death rocked MAX as it did many of his fans and so many other artists. It was offered free as an EP or on physical as a mini-album. I bought the mini album which is why I'm reviewing this a few weeks after it first dropped.

Basically this is flawless. There is nothing I would change about it, from the production to the songwriting to the style to the raw emotion on display. What emerges is a proud, loud introvert with a serious love for all music and an ability and willingness to trade complex styles and intricate wordplay for simple, groundbreaking truth. This is basically what MAX says on his Bandcamp, and while I agree that the easy to grasp lyricism and bare bones emotional weight of this is easily apparent making it very relatable, I would disagree in that the starkness of this offers the listener the option to sort of brush off what he's saying and listen to the sound and enjoy it, or dive in and really understand the pictures he's painting.

Take "Cranium Crack". Almost matter of factly MAX is describing a home life where his mother did everything in her power to make his life as wonderful as she could and hide the darkness while dealing with addiction and poverty. The words are brutal, insightful and sad. The song is catchy as hell, well written and displays some very good rapping on the part of MAX.

The whole EP is like this, with very heavy topics being delivered over irresistibly catchy beats and songwriting. "RALPH"'s tripped out, plodding production provides the perfect soundtrack to a four wheeled smoke session (stationary one though, don't blaze and drive please) while telling the story of a neighborhood taking control of it's police problem. Another standout, in my opinion one of the best tracks on the album partly due to Progeny's FIRE beat, is "No Turning Back", speaking frankly of the difficult life of an indie musician. If you don't buy the CD you can't hear it though... :-(

While it doesn't seem like MAX has much of a back catalogue, (I've got part of an album he did with Sixo and Poindexter way back when, and a collabo called Heir J's as well as a three track DOOM tribute thing) he certainly comes across as someone who knows how to craft his own style of rap. He sounds like virtually no one else out there, and backed by a score of damn talented producers he puts out a 5/5 EP for real.

Definitely buy this. Not kidding.

Simantic - Blue & Yellow (200?)

 

 

This is a picture of tape. It's a familiar brand, in fact too familiar so I blocked out the identifying features. But the reason I used this picture today is because the hip-hop folk rap weirdos from Texas known as Scotch Tape Portraits (not at all affiliated with the brand of tape possibly pictured above) are so indie that the only one who appears in any photographs online is Babelfishh, and I'm not sharing a Babelfishh album today. So no art for my post that makes any sense at all. Frustrating state of affairs.

Anyways, Scotch Tape Portraits was a group consisting of, according to Discogs, Fishh, E9ine and Simantic aka Richie Simantic. This is an EP by Simantic called Blue & Yellow. I have no album art or track titles, don't know when it came out either. I'm frantically looking both for more info on this and for any rips of more Household Nameless Records material. You would pretty much be my hero if you shared any of it.

But for now, here's this one. It's pretty damn good actually, for fans of Univac, Otem Rellik, Astronautalis, Edison / Papervehicle, Lewee Regal... You get the idea. Enjoy!

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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.

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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!

New Music: Thorts & Whatever Cecil - Long Distance

 

 

So, as I mentioned last time around Thorts, a personal favorite of mine and an artist who's been particularly friendly towards the work we do here at UGF dropped a new EP recently with Whatever Cecil of An Illustrated Mess. I literally just (Monday night) listened to this album from start to finish (around 20 minutes total) and I wanted to drop a quick note because it really is phenomenal.

Over mostly guitar driven melodic tracks Thorts is at his introspective best, honestly speaking about fatherhood, mental illness and music with his usual blend of cynical humor and touching sincerity. His work has always struck me as deeply personal and as a result it benefits from a vivid quality that makes Thorts a standout.

Whatever Cecil is also in top form and every single beat on this bite sized album is absolute gold, beautiful but not boring in any way. His use of guitar on almost every track is supplemented and enhanced with eclectic drums samples and creative effects to liven things up, moving away a bit from the dreamlike sleepy synths he made use of on the last Illustrated Mess record to, in my opinion improve on his evident talent and keep things surprising. I feel with time Cecil could be the next Factor, producing beats that bring out the completely unheard and unimagined qualities every guest rapper (Lawson Graham did that for me on every track).

Finally, this album is truly notable for the eclectic and unlikely cast of guest rappers. Every track has at least one guest and Thorts showcases a notable humility and lack of ego in letting so much of the album bearing his name showcase the talents of others. OneWerd is as always personable and deep, HeirMAX is weird and wonderful, Scatty Stormborn lives up to the rapidly growing hype and of course Prosodic of An Illustrated Mess totally blesses the opening track and shows that it's not just Cecil that's been building his skills since they last worked together.

Basically this album is a collection of fantastic voices working together over gorgeous production curated and cultivated by old soul rapper Thorts. If any of that sounds good to you get it right here. If not then I'm sure FM radio has some stuff that's more your speed. No judgement.

 

New Music: An Illustrated Mess - One More For Safety

For this Tuesday I wanted to draw a bit more attention to this album right here that completely slipped in under my radar. An Illustrated Mess (Prosodic & Whatever Cecil) is an indigenous hip hop outfit from Flagstaff Arizona, who many of you probably only know from their Fake Four debut Last Night & All of Our Glorious Mishaps, another fantastic Freecember offering. That was certainly the case for me at first. However, wanting to support an unusual perspective in hip hop and just generally having a good feeling about that album, I went back and introduced myself to all of their work (the rest of it can be found at their personal page, right here). I have to say that they hooked me with their interesting songwriting, catchy melodies and deep emotional maturity. It's also worth noting that they have gotten better with every album, culminating in the very good Does It Matter? and continuing to deliver ever since. That release is basically fire from start to finish and would absolutely appeal to any fan of the more melodic indie rap that most of us probably enjoy; Trylemma and I certainly do.

Their sound can best be described as a slightly different take on the dark folk hop sound popularized by artists like Ceschi and David Ramos, Onry Ozzborn, Ersatz Splynter, another guy who doesn't deserve mention, Otem Rellik etc. They make use of somber and sometimes beautiful melodic production, although never is it lukewarm or too sleepy, it still remains fully noddable, with a passionate lyrical style and melodic vocals. All in all it makes for hip hop that never really gets boring, and where the older stuff doesn't always instantly impress, it does give the impression of notable potential not yet fully realized and it is almost always enjoyable.

One More For Safety is their official sophomore album on Flagstaff's Fang Over Fist label, and since I had never heard of that label I was lucky to notice this title among the collections of some dudes I follow. Thanks dudes, you almost definitely don't know who you are. Lol. An Illustrated Mess' official debut on Fake Four had them upping their production values considerably, bringing on some notable guests, and growing exponentially in songwriting ability. A concept album, Last Night dealt with some very heavy issues as the main character succumbs to the various pitfalls all too common to the community they represent (Navajo Nation). Alcoholism, mental illness, targeting by law enforcement. Whatever Cecil and Prosodic now want to move a bit beyond those issues and show what happens afterwards. One More For Safety therefore is an album that provides "the growth and sense of closure that was missing (in Last Night)". "The underlying theme of this album is that of accountability, growth and family". So I have pretty high hopes for this new one, and I actually read something they wrote where they mention they had a hard time getting reviews(?!) for Last Night. In the meantime they've been making some major waves, so guess those reviewers f*cked up, but I thought why not give them whatever small recognition UGF can offer. It certainly can't hurt right, and they more than deserve it.

So unfortunately I don't have much time to dedicate on fully absorbing this album. I have to give it a rough once over and leave it at that. My first impression is this is a solid work. The production is a bit dreamier than it's been in the past, more laid back although it fits the content and actually to me is a sort of sonic equivalent of the bleak desert which might seem boring to the ignorant or inattentive, but possesses a real beauty and hidden depth that rewards those who have what it takes to grasp it. I dunno if Flagstaff is actually even desert anymore, my exposure to the Southwest and what the Navajo people call Dinétah is mostly limited to Breaking Bad, but there it is. So my point is the production isn't quite as immediately accessible as what they've done before, but it's actually more interesting in places for that. I loved the easier songs off of Does It Matter? but I respect that the artists have moved away from that style and have grown beyond that. Not to say this album doesn't still offer some instant hits like the second track "Break It" which has an amazing beat and great introspective lyricism though.

Speaking of the lyricism, this album is still chock full of insights into the lives of indigenous peoples in Arizona, including thoughts on the experience of growing up there and examples of the language, and I love it for that. I value any exposure I can get to communities and perspectives we just don't hear from enough in hip hop or elsewhere. It also never shies away from the personal and the painful, while never really being emo or losing that adult sound that two (I believe, don't know for sure but their pictures look pretty young) fairly young artists have been cultivating for a long time now. You get the impression of old souls who have grown up regrettably quickly, but retain a pride and positivity that's impressive for that. And with a dedication to "our loved one's who don't allow us to be defined by the dark", I feel like maybe that's spot on.

We have some Fake Four artists showing up here and there, with the peerless E-Turn, and the guy I keep on waiting to hear more from Heirmax representing the Southwest as well. We've got Soultru also, another Freecember alumn as well as Reason the Citizen and Def-I, two names I recognize but don't know much about. And as with their other albums we have labelmate Tre Orona (don't know how to type the accent over the "e" but it should be there).

Like I said, all I've been able to do so far is quickly sample through the tracks. I do feel like this is the type of album that requires more than that (and will reward you for it), and I almost feel like I shouldn't be posting about it until I've been able to give it that. However, I want to make sure I do my part in promoting it, just please make sure you understand that there is so much more here I haven't had a chance to touch on yet.

Get One More For Safety on Fang Over Fist's Bandcamp right over here!

And here's a dope music video for "Sunsets" off Last Night for those of you who want a quick look into what these guys are all about. Great song.

Vice Versa - Blind Surgeon (2008)

As promised, here's some old old Cane Corso music from the subject of my Wednesday review Carminemoth, as Vice Versa.

Blind Surgeon is in my opinion a great place to start with his work, it's a bit more accessible for the fans of more conventional rap than his later stuff, and it's got some great production with enough eeriness and darkly mystic quality to make it a different take on the East Coast conscious rap it shares some stylistic components with.

Enjoy Blind Surgeon!

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New Music: Carminemoth - Noumenon

A little under a decade ago I impulse downloaded something off of Bandcamp, a label restrospective by a group I'd never heard of based in the Soutwest going by the name Cane Corso Records. That album was Supernormal Decorum, and I wouldn't listen to it for another 5 or so years. I remember the first time I did though. It was the opening track "Pharmakon", featuring the rappers Vice Versa, Riishii G7 and Poetic Death (now Von Poe VII, I mentioned him during our Decade Wrap Up list) over a deeply eerie but incredible beat by Krippled Khemist that really showed me what kind of music people have been making on the sidelines, quietly and without concern for convention or trends. A bit like Wu-Tang, if Wu-Tang practiced witchcraft. Lyrically conscious but often times stream of consciousness, from the spiritual Poe to the grimy battle rapper Alhazred there were a wide variety of styles (the label compilation even features a doom metal track) interspersed with extremely effective vocal samples about the desert. I told Carminemoth that Cane Corso does "atmosphere", and I feel like no one at the moment is doing it better in hip hop.

Speaking of atmosphere, what we've been going through together as a planet is touching every aspect of our lives (no this isn't a tangent, give me a second...). Some of us are finding ourselves drawn to the ones we love. Some of us are reaching out to the less fortunate. Some of us are slowly breaking down. Of course some of us are just the dicks we always were. And many artists are using this opportunity to put out some of their best work in years, and we need that distraction almost as much as we need some working ventilators. The aforementioned Vice Versa, now going by the name Carminemoth (sometimes one word sometimes two) has been particularly productive lately and has released three new albums to add to his already extensive catalogue of vocal and production material. As Blunted Sultan, who's made a name for himself working with artists like Apakalypse and Boxguts we have the instrumental albums Vox Angelicas and Young Chimaeras, and as Carminemoth we have the vocal work Noumenon.

I have a weird inability to truly get into instrumental hip hop as music in itself. If it seems to be intended to feature vocals (as in a 48 or so bar song featuring a sample, some drums and some synths without too much variation) then I usually find myself wishing someone had blessed it with poetry. It feels unfinished to me (these instrumentals do have movements and variety, so they don't come across as just "beat tapes" necessarily. Sound experiments is probably a good phrase). So when I decided that I wanted to do a Carminemoth review for this week I chose Noumenon, and just finished listening to it this morning.

There is more than enough of that atmosphere I mentioned earlier to be found here, from the opening track "Antipope", laced with weird religious references and a plodding organ driven beat to the somber, dusty "Comb of Rays" Carmine's lyrics paint disturbing and surreal pictures that always remind me of something you might see in an abandoned Victorian mansion, possibly one that hosted a murder party decades earlier and has remained unquiet since. He's exceptionally talented when it comes to drawing back the curtain on weirdness, with a voice like a possibly undead stranger on a dark road passing a cemetery. If anything as the years have passed and he evolved from Vice Versa to Carminemoth he's allowed himself to create music more and more different from what we're used to hearing, abandoning rhyme all together in favor of rhythmic stream of consciousness. In some ways I prefer this, it can occasionally be distracting when it's more unclear than normal what he's talking about, but since his alteration of ego occurring around the time he released 1917 he's made himself distinct for his style alone, and I am truly a sucker for originality in all it's infinite forms. The old Vice Versa was comparable to a cid dosed RZA, Carminemoth is in a league of his own.

His old fashioned, historical sensibility isn't solely the result of lyrics that seem to draw on obscure and outdated vocabulary such as "split by a blunderbuss" (he clearly reads a lot and has a penchant for 19th and early 20th century horror) and names like 1917 and "Oculus Theater" from the album Miniature Mansion. He chooses (and produces) beats that utilized warped and altered samples from obscure sources that all together give an almost visual impression of dusty wood, cobwebs and ghosts in outdated dress. Long forgotten rooms full of obscure relics. Noumenon benefits from some of the most interesting production I've heard from him in a while (save for the album he did with 7th Galaxy, Useless Human as ひきこもりwhich I believe means Hikikomori, that was probably my favorite of his works), including one song produced by the peerless Aloeight, who seems to be getting the recognition he deserves among our people at least. Pianos, wavery vibraphones and harpsichords are absolutely perfect backdrops for Carmine's lyrical stylings, and if the production isn't all that dissimilar from what he's used in the past, it is at least some of the most captivating.

So Noumenon is another great chapter in the Carminemoth canon, exceptional in the way he's solidified his sound, but not groundbreaking when compared with his other albums under the same name. That's totally fine with me, I have yet to hear something with his voice I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. That said, I do also want to remind you guys of the two instrumental albums he's put out as well. Check these covers out, and be warned that he hasn't lost his penchant for that atmosphere even lacking words to bring it home.

"A painter may know what he doesn't want, but let him be weary if he ever wants to know what he wants. A painter's lost if he ever finds himself. As for myself the fact that I was lucky enough never to find myself, that's my only claim to merit."

That quote is featured on the Bandcamp page for Vox Angelicas, and I interpret it to mean that the creation of art is a journey to knowledge where the end means that creation is also at an end. Art is the process of exploring oneself, and if that self is found, then there is nothing new to dredge up. I find that fitting, as Blunted Sultans work has been steadily becoming more sophisticated and artistic while reveling in each level for it's own sake, rather than seeming to rush headlong into the next venture. Enjoy these sludgy beats, he did message his supporters and mention that he's okay with these being used by aspiring rappers, although I think it would take a very specific individual to truly do their eerie colors justice.


Get Noumenon and the aforementioned instrumental works by Carmine's producer moniker Blunted Sultan here, and definitely consider checking out the extensive collection of other works by great artists like the late Arcanegel and Alhazred, as well as Riishii G7, Ben Lowder and more. Cane Corso is one of my most cherished Bandcamp finds, and I can only hope others will love their work as much as I do.

Oh yeah, and tune in Friday for something cool from Carminemoth, way way back.

Univac - Snocap (2008)

Well, we made it to post #120, and we hope you're all liking the changes to the site, including our new "mission statement" located at the top of the page. I wanted to take a moment to explain the guidelines we use for posting downloads We wanted this blog to offer everyone the opportunity to enjoy some of the rarest rips that folks outside the scene community or not on Soulseek might not have access to. While we're definitely happy if it saves you some money in the process, we aren't trying to discourage anyone from buying something that's still available for what most would consider a reasonable price, be that secondhand or even better, from the artist themselves.

Therefore we won't be posting anything that can be found easily, for free or for what is a fair price. It's just not what we do, there's plenty of sites out there specifically dedicated to offering free music, and we respect that. With our reviews and feature posts we hope that we can build and maintain the kinds of relationships with the artists we love that amount to indifference at the very worst. We don't want to contribute to any hungry children or get any angry messages from hardworking musicians who feel like they're losing out over UGF. I've seen artists go apeshit on blogs and it's not pretty. Trylemma's got skills at finding the rarest OOP fossils and we just wanted to share those with the world.

Finally, a reminder that requests should be submitted via the cbox or the contact form only. Comments on posts should only be discussions about the post.

All that said, we got a request that definitely fit those parameters from foobar, and it's one that I personally looked for for a long while before finding it. It's funny that it's so different from the Boxguts album I reviewed on Wednesday, making my point that good hip hop comes in all forms.

Univac is a folk rap artist from Texas (?) who has collaborated with some of my favorite weirdos including Babelfishh and AbSUrd. His music has a definite alt rock indie feel to it, and he has a great singing voice to go with his melodic production. That's about the sum of what I know about him. He's got a second album available on Bandcamp that I really enjoyed from 2009. A bit Ceschi, a bit Otem Rellik. Definitely for fans of either one or other folkish rappers such as Astronautalis (the older stuff especially) and Filkoe.

Enjoy Snocap, Univac's debut (?) album, and consider picking up These Moments We Shared here from his Bandcamp. It's good stuff. Until next time...

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Brad B - Brad B-Sides: Mixed by Pickster One (2008)

Well, I wasn't sure I'd get to write a review this week so I uploaded this dope offering, but I cranked out that Coolzey on the quick. So as a reward for not punching any of your coworkers this week (oh really... I’m sure they deserved it), here's a great mixtape from Drunken Immortal's / The Insects' / Blow-Up Co-Op's own Brad B mixed with style and grace by Pickster One (as it says in giant yellow letters above).

As far as I know this was released in anticipation of Drunken Immortal's last album to date, The Artist Lives. What I know without a doubt is that Brad B is an excellent rapper and his voice has a versatility that lends itself well to the genre bending aspects of many of his projects.

Brad B-Sides contains a trove of unreleased / rare material featuring many of his common collaborators, and also includes some of Pickster One's trademark mashups that are always superb. For fans of the rapper (I have everything he's put out that I know of and there're quite a few songs on here I'd never heard before) or new listeners, this mixtape is a great collection start to finish.

Check out Brad B-Sides: Mixed by Pickster One!

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RIP Wake Self

Such a talented artist. Check out his amazing album "Malala" (via Name Your Price) below. RIP Wake Self. 

MALALA

Babel Fishh - Fathers First Musket (2008)

For today I've got something I believe hasn't been seen around the internet much, if ever. Fathers First Musket is Babel Fishh (Babelfishh)'s EP from 2008, released on picture disc by Ooh! That's Heavy in an edition of only 220 copies (of which I own 2, more on that later). This album is an interesting work in the Texan horrorcore / folk hop artist's catalogue given that it seems to mark his transition from acoustic based punk folk rap (a sound reminiscent of Dose One x Astronautalis) to the more doom metal sludge rap style found on his tape releases beginning with 2011's Eyeless Terror.

The production found here (with contributions from Papervehicle's own Edison and Univac) is distorted, discordant and unsettling. His topics usually cover the life of the working class, with a healthy dose of Texas history along with a world weary cynicism. His voice as I mentioned above is not dissimilar to Dose one, but I find the worlds that Babel Fishh builds to be more interesting to listen to, they're more immersive and have much less tendency to veer off into irritating singing. This is one for the fans of the weird stuff, but it might well be an enjoyable listen for punk and metal fans as well.

Note: The following is mostly a story about making this rip. Skip to the download link if you don't care, I won't take it personal!

Now, creating this particular rip was something of a challenge. I'm fairly new at ripping vinyl, and what I understand from this experience is that the grooves on these picture discs are fairly shallow, which means if the counterweight is not correctly set they WILL skip. This also means that to get a steady play you wind up with very heavy drum sounds, the potential for distortion, and a disc that won't last very long with repeated listens (anyone who knows if this information is wrong please comment, I'm a self taught vinyl person and would welcome any corrections in my understanding. The above is my personal conjecture).

My first copy had been rendered virtually unlistenable by the previous owner, so after years I found a second one that was "mint". To get a rip without skipping took several hours (this is a 10 min album), and while I really like Babel Fishh, listening to pieces of his songs over and over again was not something I'd have wished on anyone I had any affection for at all.

But it was worth it, to get a clean sounding rendition (as clean as it was meant to sound, it's still Fishh) and to be able to share it with all of you. Cheers!

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I just noticed we reached 5,000 views today! Trylemma and I want to thank all of you for your interest, this project has been a lot of fun and knowing people are seeing it makes it even better. See you next week!

Drunken Immortals - Live (2002)

Happy February! This marks the end of the first month of UGF, we hope you’ve enjoyed being a part of it so far, and that you know we appreciate any and all support. So with that...

It's another Friday at Underground Fossils! This week we're excited to bring you "Live" by Arizona hip hop band Drunken Immortals. I can personally say I sought this album out for years before Trylemma hooked me up. It seemed like nobody had it, and I know others were looking for it on blogs and forums all over the place.

So "Live" is not a live album per se, but contains mostly original tracks and some alternate versions of songs found on the Drunken Poetry EP and Soul Revolution albums. It is probably one of my favorite releases from Brad B; the songs are deep, intelligent and dope as hell. The beats and musicianship really prove the amazing talent this group has at creating evocative soundscapes to elevate the consciousness over.

This rip is not ours, and has no tags to let us know who's behind it, but it is high bitrate and sounds great so props to whoever. Enjoy!

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