Review: Mosh

Mosh Empire (Self-released, 2013)

Since the release of his debut album, Monarchy, in late November 2012, Adam Bignell (A.K.A Mosh) has become a well-established name on many sites such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp. With tens of thousands of hits within a few months and much positive feedback on social networking sites, the release boded well for the future, and for this reason Empire was born.

Empire is an ingenious blend of various genres, predominantly those of electro/punk persuasion, which have been slightly lacking this year due to the primary focus on a more soft-edged finish, and so it has been interesting to hear Mosh's personal take on the evolution of electronica. The foremost track, 'Empress', perfectly exemplifies the tone of the rest of the album due to the tranquil stringed Oriental instrumentals that open and close the track, and also underlie a powerful and imposing electronic bassline throughout; although it isn't a particularly abrasive listen, it isn't an album to be taken lightly.

My favourite track on Empire was one of the longer pieces, 'Zodiac Overdrive',which brings the album to a mid-point climax through the use of formidable overdriven electric guitars and indignant vocals from Melanie K.A. The controlled distortion of the various musical implements really emphasises the quality of Mosh's level of production which can be seen from start to finish on the album, and for this reason Empire is a definite must-listen.

Cassette Roundup, Volume 1

Independent record labels have really harnessed the potential of the internet through mediums such as Bandcamp and Soundcloud, and it means that whatever the label puts out can be heard by more people than a limited-run release would allow. Sure, it sacrifices the exclusivity of owning one of 50 copies of a tape, but as the major labels continue to stagnate, we need these boutique and web-based labels more than ever for exciting, challenging and new music. A few releases I've reviewed this year (JCCG, LAMPGOD and**Ł_RD//$M$) have been tapes, so to reflect the wealth of cassette releases out there in 2013 I have decided to launch this new series: Cassette Roundup. Every so often, I'll tackle a few tapes which I feel are worth a few words and include a sample/stream for good measure.

Diamond Black Hearted Boy Father, Protect me. (Steak Au Zoo, 2013)

There's outsider hip-hop, and then there's this. Chino Amobi's Diamond Black Hearted Boy project has been going since 2008, but it hasn't seen many proper full-length releases; instead, his Bandcamp mainly features single tracks, all of them strange in their own right. Father, Protect me. is a continuation of his oddball approach to beat-making and soundscaping, and it may be one of the most singular hip-hop albums I've heard this year (possibly probably ever).

The title track is an exhilarating experience in and of itself, featuring broken drum loops, digital abrasion and a stuttering verse which is repeated throughout. Amobi has an almost Burial-esque approach to vocal samples on tracks such as "I just wanna be a r#97C57CE", wherein soulful voices are pitched up and looped ad infinitum. There are some rather strange samples across the album - I think I can hear the gravity hammer from the Halo games on "I don't need protection (You)", and I'm sure there'll be hidden pop-culture nuggets aplenty buried beneath the murky beats and noisy manipulation. That's all I can really muster up about Father, Protect me.: albums like this have to be heard to be believed.

Free Weed On the Moon / Get It 2Nite (Exo Tapes, 2013)

Erik Gage's releases as Free Weed carry the drug-induced hypnagogia one would expect from such a name: his previous releases feature whacked-out pop songs comprised of drum machines, distorted guitars, pianos and sloppy vocals, all veiled beneath a kush cloak. His cassette for Exo Tapes, released earlier this year, sees him clean up his sound a little bit for On the Moon, before retreating back into the clouds on Get It 2Nite.

The On the Moon side is probably his most immediate set yet, with upfront drum machines opening the proceedings. The lyrics are, rather predictably, stoner fare, with lines such as "I wanna have drugs for friends" and "You won't get high if you don't get high, if you won't get high"; it's not big, and it's not clever, but it's infectiously good fun. The Get It 2Nite side is more abstract, with the case in point being "I'm a Mermaid", in all its sub-aquatic glory. All in all, this tape is a pleasure to listen to, and you'll be sure to return for your Free Weed fix.
 

Street Thunder Bonfire Gecko Hex (Reckno, 2013)

Street Thunder doesn't do "releases" or "albums"; he/she/they/it instead operates in "transmission[s]", and the latest is Bonfire Gecko Hex, released in Reckno's October batch. Gibberish name aside, Bonfire Gecko Hex feels like some sort of spiritual rite. There's a certain earthiness and elemental quality suggested by the artwork, and it's carried into the recording itself - Street Thunder manages to shift the stasis with swelling, layered drones and subtle movements in sound, in a way that reflects a forest ecosystem.

Side A's "Dragon Bong" starts out with pulsating, melancholic strings, as if one was exploring a dark undergrowth or wading through a murky river, but just as it seems to slip into a groove the mood is suddenly altered by a shimmering loop, akin to the awakening of an ancient beast. Side B's "Chrome Swisher" begins as side A ended, with a twinkling loop underpinned by slowly-developing (but never threatening) noise. Towards the end of the track, a chasm is opened and the noise envelops all, before fading back into the darkness. Bonfire Gecko Hex, then, is a rather minimal, hallucinatory experience, but a gripping one nonetheless.

Review: Friendzone

Friendzone DX (Self-released, 2013)

The duo of James Laurence and Dylan Reznick, aka Friendzone, initially came into prominence in 2011, having made waves in the blogosphere with production for Bay Area cloud rappers Main Attrakionz - these two tracks, "Perfect Skies" and "Chuch", would later be released as instrumentals on Collection 1 (one of my favourite mixtapes of 2012). 2013 has proved to be another stellar year for Friendzone, with production credits for the likes of A$AP Rocky and Mykki Blanco and their own Kuchiburi Network 3 mix, and they've capped it off fantastically with DX, their first proper "album".

The day-glo cover art sets the tone rather nicely; DX creates an intimate headspace almost immediately with opener "Taswell", wherein a string sample is chopped, looped and paired with a booming beat, before heavy synths and fragmented vocals are bought to the fold. Such is the energy of Friendzone's sound that they can morph an Aphex Twin ambient work into an upbeat, dynamic banger on "RetailXtal" and fuse melancholic piano loops with cloud beats on "8AM", all while retaining their own distinctive style. In an increasingly homogenised world of hip-hop producers, the density of DX's production carries a lot of weight, and in a way, this is Friendzone's Donuts or Cosmogramma; it acknowledges its hip-hop and rap roots, but it never needs an MC to carry itself forward.

Friendzone are quick to distance themselves from their memetic namesake, as the oft-cited post on the group's Facebook goes:

"our name doesnt mean that sexist bullshit regarding girls putting "nice guys" in the friendzone. it's always meant your inner circle....

2013 is the year we take friendzone back from the bros"

If this was their mission statement for the calendar year, DX signifies the accomplishment of said mission. It's not only a love letter to the cloud rap scene they heavily contributed to, but it's also an indicator of where they're at this juncture and where they're going to take their sound in the future, and as such they've transcended the unfortunate connotations of their chosen moniker to become a powerful force in their own right.

//APEX Playlists: UK Represent

It is in mine and Joe Sherwood's best interests to bring as wide a selection of music as possible to the ears of the readers of //APEX, 'from the esoteric to the well-known'. For this reason, we have put together a 14 track playlist, containing pieces by underground UK artists that we feel to be highly underrated. Enjoy.

Review: John Butcher / Thomas Lehn / John Tilbury

John Butcher / Thomas Lehn / John Tilbury Exta (Fataka, 2013)

British upstarts Fataka have already amassed an impressive-looking catalogue of experimental musicians, boasting names such as Okkyung Lee, Matthew Shipp and Eddie Prévost, among others. Despite the prominence of these figures, Exta surely has to stand as the label's biggest release yet, in what is a meeting between three of the most celebrated artists in the world of free improvisation.

According to the label's website, 'exta were the organs of a sacrificed animal offered up to the gods - the lungs, heart, liver and gall bladder', and the five tracks here are named accordingly, albeit in Latin. It's difficult to find the musical connection to sacrificial rite on Exta, but perhaps it lies in the almost surgical precision of every sound that these musicians make. Precise improvisation may sound like an oxymoronic term, but in this case it's fully justified: Butcher, Lehn and Tilbury play off of each other so very well that the end result is frighteningly good.

There's a tension that runs throughout Exta, in a delicate balancing act between Butcher's writhing saxophone, Lehn's dry synthesizers and Tilbury's haunting piano. It's quite a spare assortment, but the recordings are never without occurrence, as the trio jump between eerie ambience, beautiful minimalism and unhinged chaos. As expected, the sonic palette of this album is fairly broad; the raspy slurping of Butcher's sax in "Cor", the trenchant piano in "Pulmo II" and the analogue bubbling of "Iecur" are just a few of the many intriguing sounds that are bought to the fold. The dynamism of Exta results in an ever-shifting, unpredictable experience, and as such it's a powerful, vital display from three of the very best in their field.
 

Review: Vic Mensa

Vic Mensa INNANETAPE (Self-released, 2013)

Following the split of Vic Mensa's rap group, Kids These Days, the future of the 19 year old was uncertain, so it was only natural for there to be much speculation as to whether his proposed debut mixtape would be a success or a complete flop. However, ever since he turned critics' heads after his stellar verse in Chance's "Cocoa Butter Kisses", Mensa has been quietly priming himself to break out of being a member of a not-so-successful rap group in order to shock the world with yet another Chi-town masterpiece, INNANETAPE.

There are various up-and-coming artists that feature on the tape including Chance The Rapper, Lili K and BJ The Chicago Kid, who recently attained new-found-fame through the incredibly successful release of Chance's second mixtape, Acid Rap, despite the fact that it wasn't released through a record label; an impressive achievement by any means. Ab-Soul (of Black Hippy) features on the track "Holy Holy", which shows off the strong flows of both himself and Mensa as they rap over a minimalistic underlying drum beat throughout the song, and with powerful vocals from BJ The Chicago Kid that emulate an early Frank Ocean, it is probably one of my favourite hip-hop tracks of the year. Other featuring artists include British singer-songwriter Eliza Doolittle and the multi-genre bassist Thundercat, who is most famous for his work with none other than Flying Lotus. Not a bad bunch of friends, eh?

I see INNANETAPE as being Vic Mensa's own version of 10 Day by Chance The Rapper. This of course isn't an offensive claim by any stretch of the imagination, but it just lacks a certain something, and although we hear moments of musical genius coming through on the tape, Mensa hasn't quite produced the finished product that we were oh so eagerly waiting to hear. Is it his flow? No. Is it his lyrics? Certainly not. Is it his choice of beat production? He's got Thundercat producing his tracks, are you fucking kidding me?! The only thing that Vic Mensa lacks, in my opinion, is direction; the tracks jump around too much for my liking, but considering that this is his second recognised solo release that definitely isn't something to worry about. This tongue-twisting teenager is definitely one to listen out for, and seems set to follow in Chance's footsteps by highlighting the dexterous and thoughtful side of Chi-Town rap.