Two quick reviews of hip-hop cds that I did for KTRU:

E Da Boss, Catchin' A Buzz, Slept On Records

This is a nice little EP of breakbeats; it's a good showcase of where sample-based music in hip-hop is heading, while still keeping some old school flavor. All tracks are clean, all tracks are good.

1. (3:15) Intro + Nt#2 - short intro rap by Gift of Gab on the telephone, beautiful, ethereal, syncopated instrumental breakbeat
2. (4:30) Bop T Bop (DJ Platurn remix) - chunky beat with a far eastern tinge, some spoken samples, lots of scratches.
3. (3:57) Sucka DJs - female MC (Dimple D?) kicks it over an old school breakbeat with a lot of reverb
4. (2:50) E's House Party - soulful, slow, sad instrumental. crispy hi-hat in the breakbeat. some female background vox.
5. (3:05) 50¢ Breaks - conjures up the old school R&B jam. some scratches and juggling.
6. (6:00) Sooth Your Soul (Montags Dust Remix) - shuffling triplet pattern on top of the 4/4, laid back groove driven by the walking bass line. some minor harmonies woven in...

Various artists, Plug Tunes vol. 1, Metatronix

I like the vibe here; it's pretty good progressive hip-hop. However, these are mostly instrumentals, and I know for a fact that some of these songs have vocal parts. As a result, a lot of these tunes drag on way too long. It's one thing to have a five minute song composed of 16-bar loops if people are rhyming over them, but to just have the loops can be a bit repetitive and dull. It's a nice look into a particularly underrepresented aesthetic in hip-hop, though.

1. (4:46) Supersoul - Almighty Dub (feat. Juliet) - dubby breakbeat, lots of reverb. some chopped up/distorted female vox
2. (5:30) Calamalka - Ten-9 Volts - synthesized flute-like intro. fuzzed out bass with crispy top end. this beat goes nowhere.
3. (2:42) Eternal Golden Void - Witch Finder - slow spooky feel
4. (5:40) Digital K - Coming Dub - nice breakbeat with a dubby feel - almost feels like it's going to break doubletime but it doesn't. short vocal samples embedded.
5. (3:52) Brimstone127 - Espionage - tense beat with building samples leads into that dark unknown corner...
6. (4:47) Mike Pre-Amp - Calaloo - heh. clever name for the artist. erratic, circus on downers sort of feel to this instrumental break.
7. (3:48) Supersoul - Sound Clash [Fat Jon remix inst.] - this is a beautiful track. Nice piano line. Fat Jon is the man.
8. (4:20) Jake Mandell - Die Kleine Hexe [Supersoul remix] - spaced out, soundtracky. sweeping synth resembles wind blowing
9. (4:58) Supersoul - Klinga [Push Button Objects remix] - plodding pace, but has a very nice progression to the loops.
10. (4:41) Stratagy - Splinters In The Mind's Eye - some scratching over an orchestral beat in some minor tonality
11. (4:41) Supersoul - Feel The Cold [illicit version] - bleepy intro, picks up the pace with spaced out sounds throughout; some vocal samples.
12. (5:59) Supersoul - Sleepwalker [DJ Vadim remix] - vocal intro. Vadim flips this one into a spectacular exploration of texture and mood. Breakbeat feels almost extraneous, though.