17 June 2012

CunninLynguists - Oneirology 2CD [2011]


CD1

01 Predormitum (Prologue)
02 Darkness (Dream On) Ft Anna Wise
03 Phantasmata
04 Hard As They Come (Act I) Ft Freddie Gibbs
05 Murder (Act II) Ft Big K.R.I.T.
06 My Habit (I Havent Changed)
07 Get Ignorant
08 Shattered Dreams
09 Stars Shine Brightest (In The Darkest Of Night)
10 So As Not To Wake You (Interlude)
11 Enemies With Benefits Ft Tonedeff
12 Looking Back Ft Anna Wise
13 Dreams Ft Tunji and BJ The Chicago Kid
14 Hypnopomp (Epilogue) Ft Bianca Spriggs
15 Embers

CD2

01 Predormitum (Prologue) (Instrumental)
02 Darkness (Dream On) (Instrumental)
03 Hard As They Come (Act I) (Instrumental)
04 Murder (Act II) (Instrumental)
05 My Habit (I Havent Changed) (Instrumental)
06 Get Ignorant (Instrumental)
07 Shattered Dreams (Instrumental)
08 Stars Shine Brightest (In The Darkest Of Night) (Instrumental)
09 Enemies With Benefits (Instrumental)
10 Looking Back (Instrumental)
11 Dreams (Instrumental)
12 Embers (Instrumental)











Another banger from cunninlynguists, support the artist buy their music.
For Oneirology listeners, the cinematic special effects come in the form of Kno’s skillful production. Even for fans of lyricism, Kno’s beats sometimes overshadow the rhymes and his instrumentals sometimes drown the vocals out. Still, Kno creates a perfect ambiance for an album about dreams, using a mixture of dark, melancholy tones with whimsical pieces that work together to make this album worthy of listens on the strength of the production alone. He utilizes samples well, sequencing cuts almost seamlessly. For an example of this, listen to the first two songs, where Notorious B.I.G.’s vocals mix with the next song’s sample to complete a sentence that works with the theme. “It was all…It was all…Darkness.” Whether creating the perfect soundscape to spit over or showing off on an instrumental interlude, Kno is able to bring forth intriguing beats, as usual.

For an album with so much going for it, there are still some glaring issues here. Kno’s production, as addressed, sometimes takes over and drowns even his own rhymes out. At other points, it seems the album can get repetitive, stretching the concept out further than necessary. For instance, “Enemies with Benefits” seems like a throw-in and it almost hurts the emcees to have Tonedeff stealing the show on the track with that scene jacking verse. Sure, this may be nitpicking, but that may also be a testament to how high they’ve raised the bar for themselves.

In the end, Oneirology is an album that may serve as an alarm to those still unaware of Cunnin’s talent. This project combines creative sounds with inventive rhymes and stands as an example of how a great group can come together to craft a well-made album worthy of praise. Using their attention to detail on this release, they’ve managed to build on an already impressive catalog of music and it will not disappoint too many longtime supporters of the crew.

Kendrick Lamar - Kendrick Lamar EP (Bootleg) [2011]


1. Is It Love (ft Angela McCluskey)
2. Celebration
3. P & P (ft Ab Soul)
4. She Needs Me (ft Javonte)
5. I Am (Interlude)
6. Wanna Be Heard
7. I Do This (ft Jay Rock)
8. Uncle Bobby & Jason Keaton (ft Javonte)
9. Faith (ft BJ The Chicago Kid & Punch)
10. Trip
11. Vanity Slave
12. Far From Here (ft Schoolboy Q)
13. Thanksgiving (ft Big Pooh)
14. Let Me Be Me
15. Determined (ft Ash Riser)










This is the Kendrick Lamar Experience : the beginning of the story, of the good kid, that just wants to rap.
http://twitter.com/#!/kendricklamar

Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting [2011]



1.Night Air
2.Street
3.Lady Luck
4.Shoulda
5.Middle
6.Spirits
7.Echoes
8.Spiral
9.TMRW
10.Secondbreath
11.Gravity
12.Waterfront









Incredible album, crunchy drums infused with raunchy synts/samples akin to noah 40. Don't sleep on this and support the artist who provide good material.

Stood next to Blake and The xx, Mirrorwriting sounds like Katy Perrycovering Walking on Sunshine: which is to say that he’s both much more accessible and a lot less gloomy than his contemporaries, even if his music is equally enigmatic and enchanting. There is still plenty of electronic smoke-and-mirrors activity on tracks like Gravity, but despite ultra-modern tricks he’s less sonic explorer than classic songwriter. Even the more experimental tracks like Shoulda follow a melodic verse-chorus-verse format, and although the shadows lengthen from the offset with lead single Night Air, Woon’s lyrics are largely simple stories of romantic woe instead of evocations of nebulous melancholy, delivered in richly quavering tones reminiscent of Ben Westbeech.

It’s a comparison that also suggests Woon’s timing might not be so far off, after all. Now that Westbeech is departing the jazz and blues of Welcome to the Best Years of Your Life for more upbeat house territory, there’s clearly a vacant space for another underground UK soulboy. Woon might be thinking about such vicissitudes of fortune when he sings "It ain’t something that you can synthesise" on Lady Luck, but when it comes to creating a new compound from the timeless spirit of the blues, he’s done exactly that.

Eric Roberson - Mister Nice Guy [2011]


1. Mr. Nice Guy
2. Strangers
3. Summertime Anthem feat. Chubb Rock
4. Beautiful Place feat. The Ones
5. Picture Perfect feat. Phonte
6. Fall
7. Shake Her Hand
8. The Magician
9. Love's Withdrawal feat. Omari Hardwick
10. How Would I Feel feat. Jean Baylor
11. Talking Reckless
12. At the Same Time
13. Male Ego feat. Hezekiah
14. Try Love
15. All For Me









Definitely one of the best soul music albums I've listened to, top notch stuff. Support the artist, buy their music.

There is little obvious about Eric Roberson on his eighth album, which delights given the anxiety that bleeds into far too many artists’ creative processes at this stage of a 17-plus year career. Everything on Mister Nice Guy feels true and sure, giving listeners a ride so smooth and easy that it’s over before you know it. While there are no “stop the presses” showstoppers, there are also no clunkers in an album of 15 consistently morsel delicious tracks, a monumental achievement in a man whose storied career has more than an enviable share. After repeated listens, it’s not a stretch to state that overall, pound for pound, this may be Erro’s most complete work to-date. Bravo! Highly recommended.
http://www.ericrobersonmusic.com/ 


The Streets - Computers And Blues [2011]



01. Outside Inside
02. Going Through Hell
03. met Robert Harvey
04. Roof of Your Car
05. Puzzled by People
06. Without a Blink
07. Blip on a Screen
08. Those That Don’t Know
09. Soldiers
10. We Can Never Be Friends
11. ABC
12. OMG
13. Trying to Kill M.E.
14. Trust Me
15. Lock the Locks








Support the artist, support good music.
Still, nothing on Computers and Blues rivals even the weakest moments of Skinner's first two albums, and it comes out at the same time of something much more encouraging: a mixtape called Cyberspace and Reds, which Skinner claims is all music he's made since he finished this album. Cyberspace and Reds dips deeper into British rap than Skinner has ever allowed himself to go, with old grime comrades like Wiley and Kano and Jammer stopping by to talk shit. It's fun, for a change of pace, and it offers no indication that Skinner's trying to make an important piece of work. If he can lighten up enough to make something like that, there could be hope for him yet.


Etta James - The Dreamer [2011]




01. Groove Me
02. Champagne & Wine
03. Dreamer
04. Welcome To The Jungle
05. Misty Blue
06. Boondocks
07. Cigarettes & Coffee
08. In The Evening
09. Too Tired
10. That's The Chance You Take
11. Let Me Down Easy









Support the artist, purchase their music.
There aren’t many artists who get to officially make a retirement statement. Most stars just gradually fade away, or sometimes go supernova in a suitably spectacular fashion. Perhaps David Bowie has retired. Or is he merely taking a Miles Davis-styled sabbatical? For health reasons, the veteran Cape Verdean singer Cesária Évora has recently announced her final bow, and now the same situation has arrived with Etta James. This is a highly unusual circumstance in music, offering the opportunity to make a pre-meditated closing statement.

The production might be slick, but James relaxes into this framework, providing the necessary lived-in looseness. The songs get slower and slower, as James heads off into the golden distance. The closing Let Me Down Easy is a particular highlight. It's the longest song, with an extended climax that showers potent guitar-work around her lines, as the horns push steadily higher.

Slakah The Beatchild - Soul Movement Vol.1 [2009]


1. Intro 
2. Enjoy Ya Self 
3. Share (Feat. Drake & Hazel) 
4. Get Down Right (Feat. Divine Brown & D.O.)
5. What's This Feeling 
6. The Answer (Feat. Melanie Durrant)
7. Crate Love (By Your Side)(Feat. Ray Robinson & Divine Brown)
8. It's All Good (Feat. Jason Simmons)
9. A Way (Feat. Mystic & Miranda)
10. Feel The Music
11. B-Boy Beef 
12. I'll Be Alright (Feat. Ebrahim)
13. State Of The Game (Feat. Ayah)
14. Some Beats
15. Can U See It? (Feat. Tona)
16. Now A Daze (Feat. Shad)
17. Bad Meaning Good (Feat. Drake)
18. Butta Fat Vibes (Feat. D10)
19. Ain't Nothing Like HipHop




Support The artist, purchase their music to show gratitude to the art and receive more material in return.
Even if the Toronto-based producer/singer Slakah the Beatchild does little that people like Dwele and Jay Dee haven't done before, it's all in the execution. His debut album, Soul Movement, Vol. 1, is a warm, positive, forward-thinking, and often dreamy effort, prime for slinking around a tasteful loft or for chilling out without coming down. The old-school spirit is all over the album with the key track, "Enjoy Ya Self," dropping a steady stream of throwback references while "B-Boy Beef" declares "all my people lace up" before turning the story of an attention hogging breakdancer into a parable that illustrates how to win with humility. Friends like Ayah and Drake help Slakah with the vocals, and for every song that makes a pro-human, pro-unity statement, there's an acceptably empty set of lyrics designed to be elegant and tasteful background music. The hodge-podge called "Some Beats" could be source material for a number of underground hip-hop hits, but its odd placement three-quarters of the way through speaks to the album's biggest problem. Soul Movement, Vol. 1 comes off as Slakah's high grade vault simply turned over, so take the title to heart and approach as an attractive sampler of the neo-soul man's work, rather than a definitive, carefully constructed album.