12 | November | 2008 | MIND INVERSION

Archive for Wednesday, November 12, 2008

SPOTLIGHT ON! A Storm of Light

Posted in Music Reviews with tags a storm of light, battle for mice, neurosis, red sparowes, satanized, swans, tombs, unsane on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Ryan Buege

Ahhhhhhyessss….. Finally, two weeks of midterms are done with and I am free to write at the infamous mind inversion once again. So… “what should I write about this time?” – this is something that I often ask myself. With every one of these posts, I get to choose the topic; right now I feel like telling you about the best sludge metal band that I’ve heard of recently.

A Storm of Light is amazing. Blaze and listen in.

Josh Graham’s strikingly bleak outlook and unwavering artistic effort have always been the perfect visual complement to Neurosis’ likeminded visions of despair. With Red Sparowes debut release, we saw that he could translate the majestic beauty of his visual images into an aural soundtrack with ease. In A Storm of Light, we see Graham and his band of cronies charging the way in one the of the most innovative, engaging, and interesting doom metal bands in recent memory (..notice I said charging, and not plodding – this is music on a mission!). This is a band that draws influences from every aspect of life; I won’t even begin to drop band names, because that won’t even begin to do them justice. As I said, just blaze and listen in. I strongly recommend their album And We Wept the Black Ocean Within, and if you’re having a hard time finding it, hit me up privately and I’ll be glad to share.

If you aren’t convinced yet, I’ll just say that former members of Swans, Tombs, Satanized, and Unsane joined Graham to complete this band. From my point of view, ’nuff said’. This shit is massive…

…and now I’m off to see Gojira, In Flames, and 36 Crazyfists! Thank God midterms are done!

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Review: Q-Tip, The Renaissance

Posted in Music Reviews with tags A Tribe Called Quest, Hip-Hop, J Dilla, Q-Tip on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Tim Althaus

It’s been 9 long years since Q-Tip has put out a solo album (and even longer since we’ve heard something from Tribe except for Rock The Bells), and the last time he put out a solo album it had the beat crafting of J Dilla. If it weren’t for the label disagreement with Kamaal the Abstract we would have seen a Tip release sooner.

9 years later and The Renaissance is here, and boy is it one hell of an album. The first thing that I really want to stress about this album is that Q-Tip has some serious production skills on top of his already “all the time” “on point” rhymes. This album carries more of a funk/groove feel to it that creates a great vibe for the album as well as Tip’s rhymes. The album starts out with “Johnny Is Dead” which has a great guitar riff at the begininning and a mesmerizing beat throughout and Q-Tip’s flow is like liquid over the track (keeping in mind that he doesn’t sound half bad singing). “Won’t Trade” is another great beat with a spot on sample (“I wouldn’t trade it for nothin’!”) that compliments the piano in the background. “Gettin’ Up” which was the album’s lead single is one of the highlights on the album with a rolling thick bassline and great piano melody. Tip’s rhymes fit “Gettin’ Up” perfectly (as well as every single track on the album) and the track gives off a very groovy feel. I really like the track “Official” because the cuts are crazy and I love the beat as well as the sample, I can’t keep saying this enough as well but Q-Tip really flows well and sings great over this track. The Highlight of this album in my opinion is definitely “Move” which is the only track produced by someone else, and of course it’s Dilla. The first part of this track literally smacked me right in the face and gave me a great vibe, the Jackson 5 flip on this is amazing and the beat just makes me want to dance. I can see why Tip loved to work with Dilla because their chemistry together is great and always makes for an amazing track.

This album is very solid from front to back and there really aren’t any moments that I can say make this album drag at all. This album is going to be a serious contender for album of the year on a lot of people’s charts, and makes for a great late entry. You can bet that it’s going to make a great deal of top 10 lists without question.

8.5/10

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Review: DJ Babu, Duck Season, Vol. 3

Posted in Music Reviews with tags Beat Junkies, Dilated Peoples, DJ Babu, Evidence, Hip-Hop, Little Brother, MF Doom, Oh No, Sean Price on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Well what can I say? It definitely took me way too long for me to get a good review of this album up, partially because I have been terribly fucking busy with school and work. But suffice to say I found some time to give my view on this album.

First I want to say that Babu is one of the best DJ’s I’ve ever heard because his skill is unparalleled. He’s had an illustrious career with Dilated Peoples, gained fame with the World Famous Beat Junkies, and has been revered as one of the greatest battle DJ’s of all time. Babu is also a great beat maker (he put out The Beat Tape Vol. 1 last year) and this album truly shows that Babu is always in deep concentration.

Duck Season, Vol. 3 starts out the best way you could possibly start an album if you’re Babu, with the people you’ve been with your whole career. Evidence and Rakaa spit razor sharp verses on this track and the beat is crazy good. Keep in mind this is an intro and in my opinion at 1:47 long it could be my favorite on the album (I love the Looney Tunes sample at the end, as well as throughout the album). “Fan Mail” with Little Brother, Joe Scudda & Darrien Brockington is also another insane beat that Babu conjures up, and Big Pooh, Phonte & Scudda knock their verses out of the park like Sammy Sosa. Immediately after “Fan Mail” in my opinion is the best track on the album “The Unexpected” featuring MF DOOM & Sean Price. Doom and Sean Price compliment each other so well on this track and Babu’s canvas is spot on for these two to paint on. They pass the microphone back and forth like they are playing catch and their punchlines are great (Doom: we need to get a new beanie for Babu, the ones and twos genie”, Sean P: I always throw sixes, return an Ike Turner I always throw bitches”). Bishop Lamont makes a great mark on this album on the track “My Opinion” with on point rhymes and allusions the the current situation in the country. Evidence appears twice on the album (on the intro) and on the track “For Whatever It’s Worth” which is another great highlight on the album. The chemistry between EV and Babu is great and it makes for an amazing track. I was also really glad to see that Oh No (Madlib’s little brother) is starting to get some recognition (he’s on a track with Roc C entitled “Meant To Be”), he’s one of my favorite producers as well as emcees, and it’a about time more people gave him attention.

All in all this is an above average album, there are a lot of tracks that just don’t mesh with the rest of the album and tend to make it drag. This is however a great display of how good at beat making Babu really is, he can make some great soundscapes.

7.5/10