This is a quick adaptation of a review that I did for KTRU. The rating system is something like this:

• /- go back to the drawing board. This song blows.
• / it's barely passable as music goes.
• /+ or //- solid effort. decent track, but doesn't stand out.
• // this shit is pretty good.
• //+ permanently blaze this into your head.

Artist: Push Button Objects
Title: Ghetto Blaster
Label: Chocolate Industries
Genre: hip-hop/electronica

1. //- (2:43) Hustlin - crispy metallic breakbeat. dark. the machines are gettin' down.
2. // (3:41) 360 Degrees feat. Del, Mr. Lif, and DJ Craze - the first single. some fine rhymin' from Del and Mr. Lif; wicked cuts by Craze.
3. //- (4:45) Fly feat. Vast Aire, Akrobatik, and Maintain - funky, sparse beat. some nice battle rhymes here.
4. // (3:43) Interlude - Arabic sounds with a crispy breakbeat underneath
5. // (4:37) 3 Doctors (feat. Philco, Illustrate, and Verb, I think) - futuristic sound, crispy synthetic hi-hat, abstract rhymes reminiscent of work from the Anticon crew
6. /+ (5:00) Breakers Delight - pretty mediocre breakbeat.
7. //- (6:01) Air feat. Dose One - long gradual buildup, ethereal feel, classic abstract Dose
8. /+ (4:18) Sleep - slow, plodding instrumental
9. // (4:43) Shut Down feat. Aesop Rock - slow, jazzy beat, nice rhymes
10. /+ (1:13) Interlude - short beat
11. // (6:58) Washington Ave. - beautiful chilled out groove

Push Button Objects (Edgar Farinas) is part of the new breed of hip-hop producers, along with Rjd2 and Prefuse 73, bringing in a lot more synthetic sounds with a vastly more electronic, cut-up slant toward the sound. It's not better or worse, it's just different. It's interesting to see the same MCs work with both sides of the spectrum of producers. Just goes to show that the sound of underground hip-hop is expanding, I guess.

Anyway, this is a solid album on an up and coming label (seems like all the best hip-hop is on brand new labels these days...). PBO has been in the game for a little while, with some releases on Skam and Schematic as well as this label; his core sound is hip-hop but has ventured into jungle and electro. Rumor has it that this might be his only album on Chocolate; supposedly there's some beef between him and the label boss, Seven. He's definitely someone to watch, though.