MACHINEDRUM [U.S.]
$$legs mp3
mltply mp3
i’m new to these guys, but the ever-helpful (and wallet-loosening) bleep.com describes their last album (‘now you know’) as a release “that helped define the digital/cutup hip hop sound”. and there’s infinite shades of early funkstorung in there – i adore the germans’ ‘additional productions’ release from way back, it was a genuine eye-opener for me, in that i’d never heard anything quite like it. micro-editing matched with dust + scratches taken to the extreme, all the while retaining an all important sense of ryhtym and melody. their mixes for both wu tang clan and bjork still remain classics of their genre. but we’re talking about machinedrum here – and it would be unfair to wholly associate them with another artist. the two tracks above are taken from their forthcoming merck release ‘bizness’. ‘$$legs’ is all dirt and beats and absolutely delicious, whereas ‘mltply’ is built around a great flute loop and a head-nodding 4-4, with what sounds like spliced guitar dropping in halfway through. the last minute disintegrates the track completely, furious editing taking the song to the edge of destruction – ouch! now that funkstorung have moved onto much more accessible territory with their latest album, maybe it’s left to machinedrum to carry the torch for the glitch hip hop genre? [merck site] + check out an older free mp3 release from monotonik.
OMZO [SENEGAL]
missalu aduna mp3
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SLAM REVOLUTION [SENEGAL]
wax degg mp3
more african hip-hop thanks to our friends at nomadic wax. both tracks are taken from their new release “african underground vol. 1 hip-hop senegal” which aims to provide a contemporary snap-shot from what is arguably africa’s home of hip hop. unlike many compilations claiming to be the ‘real deal’, this is actually the genuine article – recorded on location in dakar, calling on artists that you’re unlikely to hear anywhere else any time soon. omzo (pictured) takes a less agressive musical approach than many of his american counterparts, but his lyrics are (apparently) no less incisive. his 2000 release ‘kunu abal a beut’ (trans: ‘the hand that leads is the hand that rules’) is cited as having a direct effect on the elections of the time, when the standing government was ousted. slam revolution‘s ‘wax degg’ is my favourite of the two, mostly due to the production skills on display and i love listening to on-going rhymes in a seemingly impenetrable language – especially when the only english you’ll hear is the occasional “fucker!” dropped into the mix. slam revolution are one of the dakar’s original crews, founded by shaffai (see recent post) and who have since gone their separate ways. according to info from nomadic wax: “the crew recently suffered a devastating loss when fellow mc and longtime friend mohammed ba (aka tipse) was murdered while on a religious pilgrimage to touba (senegalís religious center) and is still an unsolved mystery”. purchase ‘african undergound volume one’ here.
CYNE [U.S.]
steady mp3
a miami-based hip hop crew who have been releasing tunes on must!delicious / rice and beans and are expected to drop a new album on the excellent city center offices label in 2005. i don’t know how many other hip hop artists appear on the cco label, but my knowledge of them extends mostly to deep, lush electronica – their 2000 compilation ‘cashier escape route’ (an essential purchase) featured artists such as skanform, solvent, to rococo rot, pole and isan. which suggests interesting potential from cyne and possibly a critical release when the album drops. the above mp3 is taken from their early e.p. ‘movement’ and is a hard polemic built around a beautiful, wistful vocal sample. check out their full range of releases on forced exposure.
+ a quick thanks to woebot for their recent heads-up to fat planet. their critique of mp3 blogs is stop-on and it’s well worth checking out some of their other suggested destinations.