Beat Pharmacy’s Brendon Moeller has learned from digital dub’s past indiscretions by severely limiting his output (one album and three singles precede this release) and expertly mixing his sonic cocktail. Constant Pressure sounds unlike other established (and often mundane) digital dub acts. Rhythm & Sound vocalist Paul St. Hillaire appears on “Hot Spot Splash,” which rumbles like a classic ’70s Wackies stepper cut, rather than a Burial Mix tech-dub rip off. 4/4 rhythms punctuate Pressure, as house, jazz, and ambient influences share equal hits off the chalice. Dub poet Mutabaruka’s throaty pronouncements haunt the minimal “Wata,” while “Slow Down” and “Rat Race” are swirling, somnolent dubs for mental magic carpet rides. Fill your prescription at this Pharmacy and you’ll forget all the digital dung your ears previously absorbed.
Bombay Dub Orchestra Bombay Dub Orchestra
Two Brits (Andrew Mackay and Gary Hughes) jet to India and, according to Six Degrees’ publicity proclamations, “do something that hadn’t been tried before-make the ultimate chill-out album by using an Indian orchestra and soloists.” Um, tell that to Talvin Singh, Bally Sagoo, and Nitin Sawhney, producers who’ve utilized Indian strings and classical musicians throughout their multi-album careers. That grievance aside, there’s always room for more electronic/Dub/Asian efforts, especially fine two-disc sets like BDO. Disc one features misty melodic numbers with fluttering bansuri (flute) riffs like “Mumtaz,” ideal for cinematic love scenes. The second piece takes eight songs from the first disc and adds languid beats and saturated echoes. BDO occasionally overreaches with grandiose engineering and chocolate-truffle-sweet arrangements-peak-time ambient, anyone?
Up Hygh The Venus Album
Swedish production duo Up Hygh may swing like galactic soul stirrers Sa-Ra, PPP, and the tragically departed J Dilla, but these Northern cats ain’t no cheap Wal-Mart knock-offs; they’re competent hip-hop heads having intimate relations with fat analog basslines. Like a ride on a potholed Brooklyn parkway after ingesting a fifth of Henny, Hygh’s beats swerve, skid, and weave but never stray from their harmonic asphalt. “Get Out My Face” features singer Melo invoking Stevie Wonder as robust, layered vocals compliment funky, topsy-turvy drum patterns. Bas-1, Planet Asia, and friends fill in the gaps with energetic raps over clipped synths and handclap-saturated beats that sound like Rick James and Zapp records thrown in a concrete mixer.
Soul Position Things Go Better With RJ and AL
Contrary to Sade, sometimes it truly is as good as the first time-which is a smartass way of saying that the RJD2 and Blueprint team-up known as Soul Position is paying off quick-style. Blueprint’s riotous rap on “I Need My Minutes” will provoke laughter in remembrance of the equally hilarious but truth-speaking “Fuckajob” (off their last effort, 8 Million Stories), and RJ’s production is as diverse and head-bob-inducing as ever. Like Blueprint explains on the release’s second track, “No Gimmicks,” Soul Position is invested in beating the shit out of mediocre hip-hop.
Eulorhythmics Extended Play
Rap duo Eulorhythmics (Adad and Kenny Keys) creeps up on listeners, sneaking up like a beam of sunlight peeking over the windowsill on a weekend morning. But that isn’t to say they’re pussyfooting around on Extended Play; Adad kicks verses over Keys’ soul-slathered, slow-starting beats, which gradually percolate, sounding funky and like a less-symphonic Foreign Exchange. Adad’s lyrics can sometimes sound like he’s rubbing the sleep out of his eyes-his flow is buoyant, bouncing over standard-issue beats, but it’s also filled with standard-issue wordplay. With tighter lyrics, this disc could really make a mark.
Ms. John Soda Notes and the Like
During the beginning of “No. One,” Ms. John Soda singer Stefanie Böhm tediously counts off as Micha Acher strums textbook bass riffs, sounding more clinically depressed than catchy. It’s one of many examples of the colder, drier mood that swirls around the duo’s sophomore full-length album. On their 2002 debut, this tag-team knocked out glitchy pop, trimming the sound of labelmates like The Notwist into angular, occasionally aggressive hooks augmented by Böhm’s alternately monotone and cooing vocals. The familiar but more sparse Notes and the Like boils things down even further, dulling down the duo’s edge. Unfortunately, the new tunes lack the necessary spark to stick in your head.
The Coup Pick A Bigger Weapon
Though he’s a fiery and uncompromising political rapper, Coup frontman Boots Riley’s modus operandi includes more than just polemics.
That’s not to say that Pick a Bigger Weapon is missing any governmental slams; while Kanye captured the media’s attention with his post-Katrina criticism of the President, Boots sets up metaphorical suggestions that put Dubya and Saddam Hussein into bed on the aptly named “Head (Of State).” The Bay Area revolutionary can also wax poetic about everyday problems better than most of his so-called conscious contemporaries, analyzing with detail and wit how shit in a capitalist society always runs downhill. Factor in his formidable storytelling ability, best demonstrated on the already-classic track “Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada Last Night,” and it’s clear that Riley isn’t just a skilled sloganeer; he’s an all-around MC who happens to be passionate about revolution.
Pick a Bigger Weapon, Boots’ and his partner Pam the Funkstress’ fifth album in their 14-year career, finds The Coup moving towards an all-encompassing sound, attempting to create a set of classic, intersecting grooves. Their first album since 2001’s Party Music (and first for punk stalwart Epitaph), Weapon was inspired by politics, but not in the way you’d expect. In 2003, The Coup went on the Bush-bashing “Tell Us the Truth” tour with artists like punk-folk icon Billy Bragg and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello; the diverse lineup proved to be a big sonic influence. Morello, guitarist Dwayne Wiggins, and others lend their talents to the more eclectic Pick a Bigger Weapon, which builds on the Parliament/Funkadelic-inspired beats that formed the backbone of Party Music.
The Coup’s newly expanded sound-minus a few songs with a slightly oddball tone-works for the most part; they add many interesting elements to the mix instead of revamping old beats. The solid opener, “Bullets and Love,” filled with swirling synths and showy guitar riffs, has an Outkast flavor to it, while “MindFuck” flirts with Carlos Santana-style solos. The handclaps and harmonica strains floating over Boots’ silky paean to spending all morning banging the headboards (“I Just Wanna Lay Around All Day in Bed With You”) gradually builds to a string-laden conclusion. But as surprising as Riley’s roguish R&B turn is, the track aimed squarely (though with tongue in cheek) at blue-staters making babies is the soulful “BabyLet’sHaveABabyBeforeBushDoesSomethingCrazy,” a collaboration with rapper Silk E. It’s an over-the-top dose of humor with a cameo by Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra.
Boots maintains his usual lyrical edge, though he surprisingly spends little time referencing recent events like Iraq and Katrina. “We Are the Ones,” which he delivers in a foppish tone, could be interpreted as a realistic look at the crack era that’s been glamorized by many recent rappers. But most of the other tracks-like the anti-Uncle Tom “Ass-Breath Killers” and “MindFuck,” a dark look at being dependent and following orders-find him again digging into the politics of everyday. “I’m here to laugh, love, fuck, and drink liquor/And help the damn revolution come quicker,” he raps on “Laugh/Love/Fuck.” It‘s not his edgiest statement, nor is the album the group’s best work, but Weapon still sounds a powerful rallying cry.
Mono You Are There
On several previous albums, Japanese instrumental quartet Mono (not to be confused with the trip-hoppy London duo of the same name) laid to tape caustic howls straining against mercurial shimmers. 2003’s Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined balanced nuanced bursts of resolute catharsis and pensive stretches. Now the group has recorded alkaline pleas for clemency that both froth and sob. The tape hiss captured by Steve Albini in the more contemplative passages conjures an intense intimacy, like the downy rustling of eyelids batting like butterfly wings in an auditorium, and You Are There lives up to the name. Like Isis and Neurosis, Mono captures a voluminous immediacy, an affirming, searing air.
Spank Rock YoYoYoYoYo
Like a Pixar skin flick narrated by Q-Tip, Spank Rock is concurrently cartoonish and commanding. There’s just something unrelentingly bulbous about YoYoYoYoYo, the debut full-length by the BMore-meets-Illadelph-founded, New York-grounded duo of MC Naeem “Spank Rock” Juwan and producer Alex “Armani” XXXchange (augmented at times by Chris Rockswell and Amanda Blank). At a nasal, pneumatic clip, Juwan gets Philthy, dropping that Bootymore-spitting raunch from the haunch over 8-bit-meets-808 beats and Speak ‘N Spell cut-ups that border on grimy breakstep. YoYoYoYoYo is yayo for those who want to simultaneously articulate, palpitate, and salivate.
Johannes Heil Freaks R Us
When it comes to techno knowledge and execution, German producer Johannes Heil is a man with a towering IQ. Or maybe that should be Eye Q, having collaborated with Eye Q label owner Sven Väth. Heil’s aesthetic from his work with producers like Väth and DJ Hell (and his tracks on Harthouse, a label known for meticulously orchestrated prog-tech) is obvious on Freaks R Us, a survey of styles. Braided and abraded bass burrows throughout-such as on “Warrior of Light” and the latter half of the title track-drawing parallels to both Tiefschwarz/Black Strobe and Dave Clarke/Robert Armani. “Rescue Me” and “Tree of Life,” especially, feature unsettled narratives, the likes of which will leave Green Velvet fans quivering. Whether the drums are straitjacketed or jacking, the cleanly edited momentum is unforgiving. Undoubtedly, there‘s something for everyone to enjoy on Freaks R Us, whether you’re into Laibach or LFO, Detroit or Chicago, micro-goth or Minus.
