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Review: Johnson & Jonson, Johnson & Jonson

Posted in Music Reviews with tags , , , on Friday, October 24, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Johnson & Jonson is a group that is comprised of Los Angeles emcee Blu and up-and-coming producer Mainframe. The first thing that I really want you to understand is that this cat Blu can tear apart bars like a prisoner on steroids. I had mentioned in a post that if you hadn’t heard the Blu & Exile project Below the Heavens you needed to. I have no problem with making that statement, it was easily one of the top albums of last year, and I haven’t heard an emcee/DJ duo like that in a long time. The one thing that you need to understand is that Blu is one of those emcees that you totally build tracks around. Blu is so versatile and can rhyme to almost any beat that you provide him with. That’s what I liked about Below the Heavens, you got some of those hard ass hitting beats, and then there were the super soulful beats that were much more calm. Blu is another one of the cats that you really have to watch for, he (along with Evidence, and coincidentally Blu is on the new Evidence EP) is one of the hardest working guys in the game right now. He put out the critically acclaimed Below The Heavens last year, then he put out an album as part of the collective C.R.A.C. Knuckles with Detroit native Ta’Raach, and is now dropping the J&J album.

Right out of the gate Blu has the rhyme thing going on. “J & J” is a great track, and it shows that Blu’s flow has the bite of a pit bull. He rhymes over a beat with thrashing cymbals, bleepy synths and a wicked ass bass line with such ferocity that you would think his next meal depended on it. “Up All Night” is a perfect example of what I mean with Blu switching up his flow. On “J&J” Blu is rapping pretty fast, and then on “Up All Night” Mainframe totally slows down the beat and puts in a nice bass line with some basic drums, but as I said before it sounds like Blu was meant for the beat. I have to say that “Mama Told Me” is one of my favorite highlights of the album. It has a feel good horn driven beat and Blu reminisces on his childhood and the lessons that he learned as a child. The great thing about Blu is that he can bring you the punchlines, similes and metaphors, but he can also tell one hell of a story at the same time.

Another thing that I really have to get into is Mainframe. I hadn’t really heard of him until this project came out, and I’m glad I was exposed to his style. He is one producer who can really switch up a style and still make it sound really good. Mainframe will be one of those producers you really want to look for in the near future. We are talking about a guy that as of right now only has just over 2,000 hits on his MySpace, after this album blows up Mainframe will start getting some bigger projects.

Something I want to point out is that the majority of the tracks on this album are three minutes or less. That means that a lot of these tracks are pretty brief. Shakespear once said “Brevity is the soul of wit”, I think this album might be an exact representation of that quote. Blu & Mainframe tend to keep it brief but boy this album definitely makes its mark. After hearing Johnson & Jonson I know you are going to want to hear more from both of these artists. The album makes for a great listen and the humorous additions to the Johnson family are an added plus (Mainframe rhyming as Jon Johnson, Miguel Jontel as Tell Johnson, Co$$ as Troy Johnson and Bobo Lamb as Jack Johnson).

8/10

Check the video for “J&J”

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Review: Yeasayer, All Hour Cymbals

Posted in Music Reviews with tags , on Thursday, October 16, 2008 by Ryan Buege

It’s already been a year since the release of this album, but it’s still worthy of my short review here. It’s rare that a modern rock band can breakthrough into my collection so effortlessly, but with All Hour Cymbals Yeasayer did it. Yeasayer has put together an album of effortless ethereal, psychedelic experimental rock that pulls you in at every twist and turn.

“Sunrise” is a brilliant introduction to an album that is packed tightly with with airy Middle Eastern and African influenced joyous rock. At times, the chants that permeate many of the tracks on the album provide an other-worldly ritualistic quality that is hard to place; while it feels like you could use the word gospel to describe it, you don’t want to because it never feels preachy. At the same time, the calming choral vocals are well-balanced by Chris Keating’s somber straight-ahead delivery throughout the rest of the album. “2080” and “Red Cave”, for example, propel that album forward with a confident groove after dwelling in psychedelia and off-kilter rhythms on songs such as “Germs”, “No Need to Worry”, and “Wait for the Wintertime”.

All Hour Cymbals is densely layered with a variety of instrumentation both new and old that unexpectedly coalesce into a sound that is concurrently futuristic and rustic. On this album, Yeasayer has achieved a balance that beautifully flows between a variety styles and allows its listeners to fully experience each. Powered by a combination of ethereal harmonies, polyrhythmic drumming, smoky ambience, and doomy marches, All Hour Cymbals is a perfect introduction to Yeasayer. This album was a perfect complement to last winter, transitioned amazingly into summer listening, and looks like it will still stay a relevant part of my playlist through another winter. The future holds great promises for these guys.

7.5/10

For now though, get excited, because Yeasayer is coming through the midwest this month in support of the album! Keep reading for the dates… Continue reading →

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Review: Elzhi The Preface

Posted in Music Reviews with tags , , , on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 by Tim Althaus

I must preface this post (no pun intended) with the fact that I was looking forward to this album so much before it dropped, and the fact that most people that listen to Hip-Hop sadly probably don’t even know who Elzhi is. Elzhi became a member of the Detroit collective Slum Village after Jay Dee left to seek solo endeavors. This might have been my most anticipated album of the year just because I had heard Europass (an Exclusive Tour CD) earlier in the year (which will easily also be in my top 10 for the year). On Europass, the majority of the beats are done by Detroit monster Black Milk (whom I’ve already had the pleasure of mentioning many times), and that trend continues here where Black does the majority of production, only two other tracks are produced by someone else (DJ Dez is one).

The album starts out with the Intro (The Preface), most people would normally just skip this, but I think it almost foreshadows how the rest of the album is going to be; great beats and a vicious liquid like flow “This is only the beginning, now everything I’ve been in is included though, it’ll be concluded in the ending/ I thank ya’ll for spendin’ your time, your nickel and dime or four quarters to get your pre-store orders.”. “The Leak” is the first track you hear and of course Elzhi comes out spitting razorblades “Everytime I drop something hot you hear the sirens peak/ It’ll make the water in the hose on the hydrants leak” to an incredible Black Milk beat featuring beautiful voice of Ayah. In a lot of the reviews that I’ve read no one seems to mention the song guessing game which puzzles me, because I think it’s one hell of a clever song. Elzhi spits pretty much the whole sentence and leaves a two syllable word unfinished open for interpretation, and then finishes the word with the opposite of what you thought it would be. Colors is one of the most vivid songs on this album and really shows where Elzhi can excel his rhyming and put a brush to the canvas. He uses an array of colors from the spectrum in every line of his rhyme “Now there’s some that’s dead from fightin’ over bread crumbs/Feedin’ head numb it’s a murder we call it RED rum/Got the boys in BLUE jackets lockin’ up the new youth/That sell PURPLES with BLACKberrys with the BLUE tooth.” Brag Swag might be the most lyrically inclined song I’ve ever heard, the first line sets the standard for the rest of the song: “The day that hell snows is the day that El folds/poetry’s well told/ entertainin’ keep niggas trainin’ like the rail road.”

The only problem that I have (if you even consider it one) is that they put the Fire remix on this official release. I think the original version of Fire that was on the Europass cd was actually better. The Fire remix is still very good and features an all-star Detroit cast (it features Black Milk, Guilty Simpson (who has collaborated with Madlib, J Dilla, and Black Milk), Fat Ray (Who already did a project with Black Milk earlier this year), Fatt Father & Danny Down) who spit catchy punchlines and metaphors.

All in all front to back this is an amazing album, I can guarantee that this album will be in my top 5 for the year, possibly even top 3. It is so refreshing for me to be able to hear about all of these guys in Detroit doing big things. I am very much looking forward to hearing more from Elzhi, he is quickly on his way to becoming the top lyricist in Hip-Hop and with a debut like this the top is just over the next ledge.

9/10

Take a listen to a couple tracks:

Brag Swag

Colors

Fire (Remix)

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Review: Jake One, White Van Music

Posted in Music Reviews with tags , , on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 by Tim Althaus

I was telling my friend Aaron the other day, there are very few times that I can listen to an album and be able to tell from the opening track that it’s going to be something special. The opening track I’m Comin’ on White Van Music is exactly that which features guest apprearances from Black Milk (one of my favorite artists right now) and Nottz (both of whom are producing emcees). This track hit me in the face like a baseball at ninety miles an hour from the first note, to the guitar riffs to the sped up vocal sample, this opening track is amazing. Not to mention that for a producer Black Milk spits fire that will torch any beat, he has a rhyme that really stands out to me on the song “The team’s here you see us we all comin/the axe flow I swing it like Paul Bunion.”

With the sleu of emcees Jake has on this album, it makes it pretty hard to pick out the favorites on this album but you know every track is going to be quality. I would have to say the Black Milk is a close favorite to two other songs. The Truth is track 3 on the album and it has Jake mixing the best of both worlds (main-stream and Underground Hip-Hop) with Brother Ali & Freeway on the same track. The Truth is another definite standout track on the album with heavy horn sounds and a great vocal sample in the background. Freeway comes out swinging on the microphone, and Ali comes out with his always thought provoking lyrics “The big music business I seldom get a mention/but the few that do zoom in respect me as a legend”. Oh Really is a track that puts De La Soul emcee Posdnous and Atmosphere‘s own Slug, and although it’s a pretty short track it’s a great one. I have to honestly say that Slug overpowers Posdnous on this track though with a huge metaphor comparing music to food and downloading music to safe sex. Kissin’ the Curb might be the grimiest beat on the entire album and it features artists Bishop Lamont & Busta Rhymes (coincidence that the grimiest cats are on the grimiest track?). The beat for Kissin’ the Curb reminds me of something that any of the producers from the Aftermath Crew (Dre, Shady, Mr. Porter) would do, which is also somewhat of a coincidence to me but this track really is great. Another one of my favorites on the album is called White Van and features super producer/emcee Alchemist, one of my favorite artists (producer/emcee as well) Evidence (also of Dilated Peoples) and Prodigy of Mobb Deep. White Van features a good emsemble of strings and guitar that makes for a great soundscape to rhyme over. I will give the most clever track on the album to Get ‘Er Done which features always interesting and legendary MF Doom. The opening rhyme on this song explains the entire album: “Make no mistake son it’s Jake One/He likes his beats well like I likes my steaks done”. Every beat on this album is top notch and every emcee on each beat accents the track perfectly. I saved the best track for last of course which is entitled Glow and it features my favorite emcee (at the moment) Elzhi from Detroit and Royce Da 5’9″ (also from Detroit). This might be the most lyrically engaging track on the album and one of the best beats as well. Elzhi decimates this track with his mind engaging lyrics and vicious animal-like flow: “Create an iller scene here’s what I really mean/I make the whole city glow like the video from Billie Jean”.

Overall I would say that Jake One has one of the most refreshing Hip-Hop albums I have heard so far this year. I must admit that I’m not a huge fan of any artists that are on the mainstream airwaves, but somehow Jake bridges the gap and makes it sound fantastic. With White Van Music Jake One really steps up his game as a “super-producer” and puts his name on the map. I am a huge fan of producers and I think it’s great to see them step from behind the boards and put out their own albums. You owe it to yourself to go pick up Jake One: White Van Music. If you love Hip-Hop then it would make sense to own one of the best Hip-Hop albums of 2008.

9/10

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