Labels: Ache
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Uh. So they sent me a hip hop 12″. Like I know anything about this genre. The only hip hop I have ever been exposed to other than Clouddead (great!) is the really shitty hip hop that kids listen to on their ‘pumping’ stereo in their souped up car. As they drive past I make that rap hand type thing, doing the ‘rap sign’. Yo. But my ability to actually tell you what makes a good hip hop record and what makes a bad one is pretty much non-existant, infact, if this was Dungeons & Dragons, now would be the time for me to make use of my +7 robe of hip-hop reviewing, just to give me that little boost. What I can say though is that this is a record I will enjoy listening to, popping on the stereo and making the rap hand thing to whilst JC and co bust some rhymes. Or something. There are also some non hip hop things on here that break things up, for example early on there is a really nice instrumental type thing, and there is a rock song to kick off side 2 (bizarre!), plus an awesome ambient instrumental that follows it. For the most part this is a dude rapping over beats and grooves about subjects that most definitely aren’t gangsta’s, bitches, the bling bling or ho’s – e.g. “Parasites” which is about military spending. He does say “mad whack principles” one time though, and could be giving props to Hot Water Music with the line “More Fuel For the Hate Game”, ha ha, actually, probably not. I like the song title “I Am Not Jarvis Cocker Though I Have the Same Initials”. The backing music is really varied, like the jazzy piano that splinters “Birds Life” in a rather freeform fashion, in fact quite a few of the tracks have a jazzy latterday Tortoise-esque feel to them at times. JC also make use of bongos, didgeridoo and hammond organ at other points on this album.
Well, I apologise for the fact that I have zero reference points and this is quite a shoddy review because these guys deserve better than that. I think this is a good record and I guess if you want to check out some hip hop with a ‘punk’ attitude on an independent label (though I understand there is quite a lot of that kind of stuff about if you’re into it) then this is worth getting. I would have no idea what I would buy next if I was looking to hear more of this stuff, but hey. I liked it, I’m not sure what else to say!