True to his name, Motion Man refuses to stand still. He’s not nearly the chameleon on the mic that his longtime collaborator Kool Keith is, but there’s something to be said about an MC that sounds equally comfortable trading verses with the original rapping pimp Too $hort or super-lyricist Gift of Gab. With his new album, the animated Motion Man reaffirms his natural versatility, rhyming about the importance of having confidence one moment and his appreciation for big booties the next. But at 20 tracks deep, this album could have benefited from a quick trim.
Myka Nyne Citrus Sessions Vol. 1
When Myka Nyne was coming up with the Freestyle Fellowship in the early ‘90s, he was able to stand out in one of L.A.’s all-time best hip-hop crews with his multihued flow, which gradually became as intriguing as his bold poetics. Over a decade later, on the new, jazz-centric project Citrus Sessions, he continues to tweak his voice, often coolly crooning over a host of laid-back beats. While his new vocal style is commendable, it’s hard not to yearn for a Fellowship reunion when Myka stunningly raps in a double-time flow alongside his old crewmate P.E.A.C.E. on “Viles.”
D-Tension Contacts and Contracts II
With hip-hop producer albums a dime a dozen these days, even a seasoned beatsmith like D-Tension may have a hard time standing out in the crowd. But instead of trying outlandish concepts for his own sake, he sticks to the basics on Contacts and Contracts II. As on Contacts and Contracts I, D-Tension again brings together a respectable lineup of indie MCs (i.e. Slug, Akrobatik, and Wordsworth) to rhyme over his hard-hitting, East Coast-centric productions, and the overall experience is satisfactory. Surprisingly, though, it‘s D-Tension’s hilarious bonus solo album, Rap Music Sucks-included here-that’s the real selling point.
Alice Russell Under the Munka Moon II
For this installment of vocalist Alice Russell’s ongoing collection of collaborations, remixes, and other bits, the pomo-jazz Batgirl employs every weapon in her arsenal: From Bugz in the Attic’s bloop-funk on dancefloor killer “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This” to the White Stripes (whose “Seven Nation Army” gets devastated, Etta James-style) to the dance-jazz, tailor-made remix of her own “Mirror Mirror on the Wolf.” But maybe Russell‘s boldest, most incendiary moment is the “one-take” straight jazz reading “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know,” on which the queen bee stretches her lungs and stirs the tears right into your Scotch.
Love Trio in Dub feat. U-Roy Love Trio in Dub feat. U-Roy
U-Roy’s inherent sense of rhythmic playfulness and dub-scat lyrics aren‘t just the centerpiece of Love Trio’s album, but the very genesis of it: Ilhan Ersahin heard U-Roy, the dub riddim-rider champion and unquestioned king of DJs, as a child, and it shaped the bandleader’s entire musical future. Love Trio in Dub makes great use of U-Roy, but in a 21st-century, downtown New York setting, with Ersahin’s sterling synthesizer waves, Tom Waits aficionado Kenny Wolleson’s dubbed-out drums, and Brazilian Girls bassist Jesse Murphy’s backbone thump morphing into a Turntables on the Hudson-style, post-world-music vibe.
Apparat Organ Quartet Apparat Organ Quartet
Imagine Kraftwerk if they were born under Iceland’s aurora borealis, beside its dormant volcanos, and amongst its close-knit communities, rather than on the faceless rush of the Autobahn. Reykjavik’s Apparat Organ Quartet is such an outfit. With organs, vocoders, and boxes of tools, the band creates dignified music that could be a hot springs-warmed, zombie-movie soundtrack, or a retro-futurist rendering of Sigur Rós. The brainchild of film/theater/pop-music composer and all-around musical genius Jóhann Jóhannsson, AOQ’s debut album is sometimes scary, and always cinematic, but without the background blandness such music can require: These are the sounds of kinship between audience and performer.
Wale Oyejide Africa Hot! The Afrofuture Sessions
Nigerian-born producer Wale Oyejide’s stated purpose with Africa Hot! is a mash-up of funky Lagos Afrobeat sounds, London broken beat riddims (with assistance from Daz-I-Kue), and Brooklyn underground hip-hop production. And he’s got it down, musically, as stuttering beats and space-age retro-future synths swirl under fat horn and percussion sections. But while Oyejide hero Fela Kuti’s vocal approach was always simple and direct, it was also lyrical in its fiercely political motivation-somehow, the likes of “Wear a condom/When you pull it out” seems a good message, but naive in its delivery. Mostly great, but with room to grow.
Azam Ali Elysium For The Brave
From her work in the duo Vas to the groundbreaking Persian electronic outfit Niyaz, Iranian vocalist Azam Ali somehow digs deeper with each effort. Singing predominantly in English, with occasional flourishes of Urdu and Farsi poetry, Ali beautifully combines organic rhythmic sections-King Crimson’s Trey Gunn and Pat Mastellotto back her up-with producer Carmen Rizzo’s masterful digital touch. Ali‘s voice shines atop Loga Ramin Torkian‘s brilliant lute playing on “Spring Arrives,” and downright slays the ear on the haunting “The Tryst.” Ali’s timeless voice will ring down through the ages, and this is her finest hour.
Iswhat? The Life We Choose
While Cincinnati may not be first place you‘d mine for avant-jazz or hip-hop, Napoleon MC and tenor saxophonist Jack Walker began to flip that script with 2004’s You Figure It Out. This follow-up continues with a slew of guest musicians contributing to richly diverse performances from Walker (like his interpretation of Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”) and the poignant lyrical brew of Napoleon. Track by track, the momentum builds; the quick-witted poetic landscape of “Casket” and cool slide of “Ill Biz” prove strongest. Alas, the constant switching between live performance and studio techniques is the album’s only hindrance.
Marc Houle Bay of Figs
If any electronic style should earn the adjective “intelligent,” it‘s Richie Hawtin’s acquisitions for Minus: music that, for most people, is enjoyed with the head, not the heart. Protégé Marc Houle’s second full-length is an exercise in negative space, threaded with intentionally (it seems) irritating textures that are more suited to helping you finish the Sunday NY Times crossword than start a party. Bay of Figs‘ clinical minimalism is upset by the warm handclaps and funky bounce of “Thirds In Trees,” which would sound sublime in any techno set. Houle’s sense of melodic humor could leave you pleasantly perplexed.
