New Music: Serious Thugs

Enter Serious Thugs: the latest and greatest contribution to the discussion on the low/high art distinction. Possibly. The group, which consists of William E. Wright (aka Yung Willuminati), Alis Pelleschi (aka 3D Slut) and DJ Warlord, have released two tracks thus far in "Link Ting (Other Girls)" and "Ur Not a Baller". An initial glance may indicate that Serious Thugs merely appropriate "chav" culture, just as Sadboys and Gravity Boys have aped the fashion of their favourite rappers. Much like their Swedish contemporaries, however, there's more to ST than meets the eye; this isn't so much appropriation as it is fetishisation, and while it would be easy to dismiss as mere irony/click-bait fodder, there appears to be a genuine appreciation of so-called low culture at work here: fake Air Max, chains, Rubicon and Burberry lingerie all feature in the video for "Ur Not a Baller".

The comparison to the y[o]ung Swedes could be further extended to the music itself; Serious Thugs are to grime and UK bass/funky what Sadboys/Gravity Boys are to cloud rap, with a sound that captures the strange saccharine urbanness of 3 Of A Kind, and more recently Sophie's anthem "Bipp" (one of my favourite tracks of last year, I should add). Whether it was their intention or otherwise, Serious Thugs have crafted a potent mixture of yesteryear's [un]fashion and hypermodern, ultra-slick pop, and I cannot wait to see what they come up with next. Watch "Link Ting (Other Girls)" and "Ur Not a Baller" below, and keep an eye out for ICE ARENA, their forthcoming album.

Mixtape Roundup, Volume 1

After the success of Joe Sherwood's 'Cassette Roundup' series, I figured that I had also better host a set of reviews for my own series that is based on my primarily-rap-orientated personal taste, because let's be honest, who doesn't like a mixtape or two?

The way in which hip-hop has functioned as a genre has transformed dramatically over recent years due to the introduction of the internet and the wider advertisement that artists are able to get as a consequence of this, and although mixtapes have been knockin' about since the 70s, the birth of the internet mixtape was a pivotal point for the music industry due to its easy accessibility. I am here to make this an even easier journey for you by bringing the hottest mixtapes straight to your screens on a regular basis, and I've even thrown in a couple of links and what not because I'm just that nice a guy.

Enjoy.


Big Narstie What's The Story? Brixton Glory (Dice Recordings, 2014)

Whether it's his vibrant vocabulary of London slang or his comically nonchalant approach to slating the week's latest singles for FACT magazine, there has always been something undeniably lovable about MC and founder of the Base Defence League, Big Narstie, and his latest EP, What's The Story? Brixton Glory, is testament to his charming presence in the UK grime scene. Sure the beats aren't exceptional, and there are some more than questionable sample choices such as 'Clocks' by Coldplay and of course '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?' by Oasis, the track by which the entire mixtape is based around, but Uncle Pain continues to have no difficulty in persuading avid grime enthusiasts nationwide that he is in fact one of the founding fathers of this generation of grime; his energetic vibes and tongue-in-cheek bars are qualities to be admired by any emerging young rapper. A word of advice: make sure that you take as much as possible from the experience of listening to Big Narstie, and whatever you do, do not fuck up the base.




CyHi The Prynce Black Hystori Project (G.O.O.D. Music, 2014)

In a recent interview with Complex, Cydel Young revealed that his inspiration for Black Hystori Project was actually his nephew's school teacher who claimed that he wasn't 'monumental' enough to be considered for a report in black history month at the school. So, to retaliate to this claim, CyHi got on the phone to his close friend Kanye West and began to work on his own project that would cover historic milestones that changed the way in which blacks were seen in society with an inevitable G.O.O.D. Music spin on things. Not a bad way to prove a point, huh?

Of course, the influence of West is almost inescapably obvious, especially on tracks such as 'Mandela' whereby CyHi refers to himself as being "Muhammad to the rap game", similar to Kanye's God complex personality that shines through particularly strongly on his controversially titled Yeezus. However, this powerful lyricism is more than fitting considering the strong nature of the thematic imagery as Young schools the listener about the uprising of black community figures such as Desmond Tutu (the first black Archbishop of Cape Town) that contributed to the resolution of apartheid in South Africa, all over TEC BEATZ and Sekou Muhammed's hard-hitting drum loops.

Black Hystori Project is easily CyHi The Prynce's greatest work as of yet, and with Hardway Musical scheduled to be released later this year, I shall be eagerly waiting to see whether it lives up to the high expectations set by his latest tape.

Cassette Roundup, Volume 2

C L E A N E R S Real Raga Shit Vol. 1 (Bootleg Tapes, 2014)

A triumph of style and substance. Despite making it into our favourite albums of 2014's first quarter list a few days ago, I don't think either of us has really managed to attest to the brilliance of Real Raga Shit Vol. 1. It's an interesting proposition from the outset, with what its release on Bootleg Tapes (quite possibly my favourite label around right now), two intriguingly named side-long tracks, and some fancy artwork to boot, but the music contained within is the real star attraction here. In a similar vein to much of Bootleg's catalogue, the C L E A N E R S tape is a haphazard meeting of samples from entirely disparate sources, from Coltrane's "I Love You" to the most obvious Casablanca quote, with an undercurrent of tape hiss and analogue noise throughout. This approach to sound really shouldn't work, but by sheer dexterity and intuition, C L E A N E R S pulls it off with a very large degree of panache, connecting the dots between the least likely of entities and making it sound fantastic in the process. 

EQ Why ChiTokyo Mixtape (Orange Milk, 2014)

Footworking is resolutely a location-centric genre, with many of its finest practitioners hailing from Chicago, but outsider contributions to the movement are not only preventing footwork from falling into an easily- replicable template, but they are also providing some of the most worthwhile contributions to it. This calendar year has already seen a few shining examples, such as Thug Entrancer's Death After Life and Foodman's hamakko EP, but one of the best "outsider" efforts thus far comes from an actual Chicagoan. EQ Why - a cheeky dig at RP Boo? - merges the malleable styling of Chi-town footwork/juke with the weird and wonderful Japanese take on the scene, and appropriately calls it the ChiTokyo Mixtape. Essentially, the tape is an hour of primo footworking, which bridges the gap between two rather different modi operandi, and thankfully never takes itself too seriously. If you've ever found yourself enjoying the likes of DJ Rashad or DJ Spinn, as well as the warped worlds of Paisley Parks and Foodman, then ChiTokyo Mixtape might just be your calling.
 

Magic Eye Babylon (Not Not Fun, 2014)

Reverb and distortion have been getting a bad press as of late, and it's totally understandable; it's the go-to method of distraction to mask lazy songwriting, or to obscure lyricists who have nothing worthwhile to say (I'm looking squarely at YOU, Perfect Pussy). Thankfully, Magic Eye utilise these effects to a particularly artful degree on their latest release, Babylon. The album came about after a distasteful experience at an "overly pro studio", which left the resulting recording "grit-less and dried out"; mercifully, upon hearing the opener "Japan" it would appear that the grit and earthiness has been well-and-truly reinstated, and the tape retains this beautifully lo-fi aesthetic throughout. It amounts to an exploration of the limits and boundaries of the humble cassette tape, in all of its noisy, scorched glory.

2014: Favourites of Q1

We're just about 3 months into 2014, and the year is already shaping up tremendously well. As such, myself and Joe have decided to offload our favourites of this first quarter (as well as a couple of last-ditch efforts from December), with the second and third to follow before the overall year-end list. It's never easy to mash each of our respective tastes into one comprehensive guide, but at least it makes for an interesting list; it's actually quite heartening to see the likes of C L E A N E R S slot alongside Real Estate, or for Sicko Mobb to cosy up next to Have a Nice Life. As ever, there are a few honorable mentions to be made: Live at the Cairo High Cinema Institute (EEK), 37 Minute Workout (Russell Haswell), What's The Story? Brixton Glory (Big Narstie), Divine Ecstasy (Supreme Cuts), Beyoncé (Beyoncé), Lay-By Lullaby (Janek Schaefer) and Oxymoron (ScHoolboy Q). So, in no particular order, here is a rough idea of where we're at with 2014...

New Music: disrupt

I wouldn't count myself as an avid listener of dub, but then again, Dub Matrix with Stereo Sound is hardly your average dub release. Constructed primarily out of the bleeps and bloops from disrupt's "Gamebwoy" - a modified Gameboy system capable of providing "maximum bass weight" - Dub Matrix is a wonderful diversion which introduces the sonics of 8-bit chiptune to the tried-and-tested dub sound. If it sounds a little gimmicky, think again: according to Jahtari's website, "this mini LP is not a joke ting", so take their word for it and stream "Babylon Wavetables" above (also, consider downloading this thing from Boomkat).

BRITs 2014: The //APEX Winners

Following on from yesterday's hypothetical //APEX nominations for this year's BRIT Awards, we would now like to reveal our winners (sponsored by MasterCard of course). Some difficult decisions had to be made, but myself and Mr Gilbey are confident that our ruthlessly democratic method of selection - some 10 minutes deliberating on a Facebook chat - has returned the correct results for the blog's widely-flung taste.

BRITs 2014: //APEX's Shortlist

Almost a year has passed since the 2013 BRIT Awards whereby Emeli Sande and Ben Howard surprisingly picked up two awards each over the night, and so we can only speculate what this year will give us considering the nature of the nominees. Household names such as David Bowie, Ellie Goulding and Arctic Monkeys have all been shortlisted for various categories including British Group and the "prestigious" British Album of the Year award, but are these nominations testament to the greatest pieces of musical art that have been released in the UK over the past year? With Jake Bugg losing that original novelty that shone through in his eponymous debut album through his latest release, Shangri La, and Tom Odell receiving a hefty 0/10 from Mark Beaumont of NME who then went on to say "I wish I could say there’s a place in Hell reserved for Tom Odell", it can be quite easily argued that the British Male Solo Artist, and all of the other categories for that matter, are severely flawed. For this reason, Joe Sherwood and I have decided to collaborate in order to create an alternative set of nominations for each BRITs category for those who we feel are most deserving of the title.