new arrivals, briefly
So not to distract from the fantastic Breathe Owl Breath and High Places, but thought I’d give a shout to some other new arrivals I’ve been enjoying.
Nicolay & Kay, Time Line Terrific boom-bap style hip-hop, fusing silky soul hooks with thumping rhythms and tautly constructed rhymes. The album cover is misdirection — it makes it look like Time Line is some new entry into the neo-soul category. The result of a partnership between North Carolina producer Nicolay and Houston rapper Kay, Time Line is the perfect marriage of old school attitude and new school soul. Highly recommended.
Chaundon, Carnage Another treat for the hip-hop fans. The production on Carnage consists mostly of soul snippets and grainy, grimy orchestra loops. It’s not quite as solid or consistent as Time Line — the rhymes, in spots, could be stronger, but there’s enough worthwhile here to make it worth a download.
The Cobraside Label I’m dealing with these all at once, because they’re all worthy of mention. I don’t know much about the Cobraside label — Google is turning up a bunch of curious links — but all of these titles are gorgeous, dank, classic reggae by four masters of the genre. They all seem to come from ‘79/’80, just a few years before the Sleng Teng riddim turned the tide toward digital reggae. Horace Andy’s voice is gorgeous and craggy as ever, the Johnny Clarke is sweet and soulful and the Tubby…well…sounds like Tubby.
“They all seem to come from ‘79/’80, just a few years before the Sleng Teng riddim turned the tide toward digital reggae.”
I just can’t warm to digital reggae (e.g., dancehall). I’ve got that Dubstep to Download comp from Greensleeves, but I rarely return to it. Somehow the turn toward harder-edged, meaner, more narcissistic themes — not to mention horrible homophobia and misogyny — irritated me far more with Jamaican music than with U.S. hip-hop/rap.
Dubstep is great, tho. We need more dubstep.
I saved the first two in my Save for Later list. Thanks for the tip!
Another new arrival that’s caught my attention is the debut disc from The Epochs. It’s a little like last year’s disc by Strategy (Future Rock), only in the sense that it combines electronics and rock and dance-y elements in a somewhat similar way. But The Epochs features nice, hazy harmonies and tighter melodies. So far, it’s a very good listen.
You can sample some songs on the band’s MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/theepochs
I’m hunting for diamonds in the rough of this new year. Atlas Sound and The Mountain Goats discs are coming soon, tho, so help is on the way.
Qwynwyn - go for Nicolay & Kay first — it’s definitely the stronger of the two.
Daniel: I hear you — though for me those other aspects didn’t really kick in until dancehall got into full swing. I have to say, I really love that Dubplate to Dancehall comp. There used to be this great reggae night in NYC, and the party was never fully on until the DJ dropped “Wa Do Dem.”
I grabbed the Sly & Robbie Meet King Tubby as soon as I saw it. Great stuff. If you need convincing, check out track 7 ‘Conflict Dub’ http://www.emusic.com/samples/m3u/song/11160323/16376082.m3u