Why?-Oaklandazulasylum

Ever since discovering a little gem in the form of Hymie's basement some time ago, and instantly falling in love with it, I began to deig a little deeper into anticon, the genre-defining record label. Established in 98' by a few art-school rejects, the label started to slowly carve a niche out for itself in the hip-hop world, ultimately creating a new genre, more commonly known as "anticon".

Excellent record from the band of one of the shareholders of this wonderful label , Yoni Wolf.

here

Double post: The Roots (Dilla Joints) + Bastard (No Hope In Here)

This is going to be a quick double feature since I'm leaving for New York in a couple of days and have a bunch of things to take care of. Let's get started.

First off, we have one of my favourite hip-hop acts covering songs by one of my favourite producers in the same genre. ?uestlove and co. have been covering the late J. Dilla's tracks for a while now and this right here is a compilation of the best ones. Absolutely sublime and very relaxing.

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P.S. If you like this, you should definitely buy the new Roots album. Real hip-hop is hard to come by in 2010 so it's really quite special.

On the other end of the spectrum we have BASTARD (so good it has to be written in block capitals), a Japanese hardcore band. I don't know if hardcore fans out there are familiar with the awesome power of Japanese hardcore but if you're not, BASTARD will be happy to provide a great introduction. Aggressive hardcore/crust for the most part, at times morphing into thrash and sometimes even catchy (le gasp). Cop this, you know you want to.

Download|Buy

King Geedorah - Take Me To Your Leader

Take Me To Your Leader by King Geedorah is an incredible example of hip-hop. King Geedorah is one of the many alter-egos of Daniel Dumile a.k.a. MF DOOM. Regarding the album, Dumile says:

"You should listen to the album for what it is and not expect it to be like the average "rap" stuff you’re probably used to. Geedorah is a space monster. He's not from the Earth. I made it different on purpose. A blend of ill lyrics and instrumentals. To me its way iller than any of the wack shit out now... This whole album is Geedorah's alien perspective on humans. This is done intentionally to show the listener a mirror image of his/herself and the way we see each other. On the album we cover different subjects ranging from race issues to the neglect of children. Some might find the word "Nigger" offensive, or the line about the young girl not being able to read maybe considered a "bad taste" joke. All these insecurities are within us."

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Lipslide - Look On The Bright Side

Let me take this opportunity to promote one of my favourite bands from the Dubai scene. Lipslide are a bunch 4 hard-working, fun loving guys who make some good ol' hardcore for people to throw down and kick ass to. The link below contains their unfortunately short, 3 track EP entitled Look On The Bright Side and it's just great to listen to.

Download | Myspace | Facebook page

And check out other bands on their label here

Queen Elephantine - Yatra

Queen Elephantine is a predominantly doom/psychedelic band formed in Hong Kong, which is where I first heard of them and watched them perform, and are now operating out of New York. Their music is incredibly layered and almost trance inducing throughout, consisting of stoner/sludge riffs, parts with classical Indian music (one would've thought that the inclusion of the sitar in psychedelic music was an obvious choice but we don't see that very often, do we?), amazing atmosphere, somewhat creepy spoken word passages and more. You'd think a mix of all this would come across as messy but it isn't in the least. Yatra has 2 songs, both of generous length and very enjoyable. Just play and enjoy.

Download | Official Website

P.S. I was going to include their split with Sons of Otis (a very good split, btw) but the MF uploader is taking a while so it'll have to wait. Watch this space.

Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein

I'm posting in [relatively] quick succession because I'm listening to Cannibal Ox again after a long time and was overcome by the sudden urge to share my experience. Cannibal Ox is about as gritty a hip-hop act as you can get, in terms of lyrical content. This shit is depressing. You have the regular "street" themes going on but the imagery is just incredibly creative and abstract throughout most of the record and the flow(s) is/are just magical. This is all topped off by El-P's production (a talented MC in his own right) whose grinding, just-the-right-amount-of-repetitive beats capture the atmosphere created by the lyrics perfectly. Symbiosis, is what I would call this.

In conclusion, it doesn't matter if you are or aren't a hip-hop fan, I would recommend this album to anyone who can appreciate creativity of lyrical content.

download

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Infanticide - Sonic Punishment EP

Being on a hardcore/fastcore/punk kick almost always, without fail, leads me back to grindcore.

Scandinavian grindcore caught everyone by surprise (well, maybe not everyone but it definitely got me) with bands like Nasum, Afgrund, Rotten Sound and the like. It's about time we add Infanticide on the list of the S.A.G. (Scandinavian Ambassadors for Grindcore) because they're, simply put, fucking awesome. Relentless, ferocious and fast, I find the EP to be aptly titled (in a good way).

Mediafire

Buy it

Punch - S/T LP

The term "female fronted genre X band" has become somewhat of a trend these days, what with the predominantly male metal/hardcore scene suddenly finding itself welcoming bands whose harsh, shouty vocals are being performed by a female. I'm starting to resent that term because in many cases, the fact that the band is female fronted doesn't make even the slightest difference (unless it's clean vocals we're talking about). Case in point: Punch, a straight edge hardcore/powerviolence band from San Francisco (not surprisingly) who also happen to be vegan (fun fact). Their aptly named LP, released in 2009, delivers pretty much everything a hardcore/powerviolence/thrashcore fan looks for (not that there's a very long checklist or anything). It's fast, it's pissed off, it's vegan and the vocalist is just too damn cute. Check these guys out. Oh, did I mention I'm seeing them this summer? =D

Mediafire

Buy & Support

Dessa (taster)

Dessa (some of you may recognize that name from Doomtree) is, in a nutshell, unique underground hip-hop. Mixing some great rhymes as an emcee with expressive harmonies as a singer, the result is, as bipolar as it may seem, wonderful. Full album link coming soon. Meanwhile, here's a taster:

Electric Wire Hustle - Every Waking Hour

Some excellent neo-soul (?) from...New Zealand of all places! I can't get over how good this is, especially the track "Perception".

smooth like melted chocolate

buy & support

dj danger mouse- grey

I was going to write a nice little review here, I really was, but now I find that I have neither the time nor the inclination (not that there's much to review here). Jay-Z's Black Album and the Beatles The Beatles LP, also known as the White Album, all cleverly mashed-up. do enjoy

The First Year - What Happens Next?

What Happens Next? is a quintessential thrashcore/hardcore band from the Frisco Bay Area.

LIYL: Scholastic Deth, Betercore

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