Ryan Hemsworth - "Still Awake" EP

Every body seems to be following the herd by generating simple Trap beats and giving them out for free download. Even I must admit I’m guilty of copping some of the newest tunes. With all the different sub genres of Trap music (including festival trap and trill) emerging there is still room for artists to stand out. Even though using 808s and hip hop beats alongside soft synth pads isn’t necessarily new, it always feels fresh. Unique producer and beat composer, Ryan Hemsworth appears to have mastered the art of chilled out yet fresh symphonies. It sound as if the drums in his songs have been tuned down to hit the right spot in your subs. His music can be described as the soundtrack to hip-hop’s dreams. Definitely not asleep, he is getting more and more recognition after each release.

Of the previous tracks he has released, the bootleg of Frank Ocean’s Thinkin’ Bout You really caught my attention. He transformed the song’s atmosphere into a more majestic bass influenced tune. After hearing the way he fixed it up I knew he had great musical potential. Listening to the remix of Genesis by Grimes you get the idea that Ryan Hemsworth is capable of putting fat beats together. He does justice to the already wonderful song. Half way through, you hear what sounds like a Lil Wayne quote and it completely adds the right amount of charisma to the track. It is put together very well!

Now releasing his 7 Track EP entitled “Still Awake” he is able to depict the direction of where he plans to take his music. Ryan uses mellow pads to carry the chords along with crystal clear synths causing your ears to involuntarily perk. This is very prominent at the ending of Track 1, “Empty Thoughts Over A Shallow Ocean”. The occasional vocal chops are also a beautiful addition to the music’s landscape. “Perfectly” is probably one of the best and most distinct songs on the EP.

For the most part, the songs embedded in the track list are all at about the same energy level. Slow and mellow, with the 808 percussions filling in the background. Each song carries gently into the next causing the listener to go with the flow. There’s a lot of great material within, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think this EP will go into my iTunes library. It’s almost too airy for my taste. I do hope to hear more from Hemsworth as I know he has great taste for remixes.

If I end up going to HARD Summer (August 3 & 4) I will still do my best to catch his set. I’m hoping for a little bit more from his HARD Summer mix compared to the Boiler Room set he did. The mixing wasn’t up to par but the song choices were great! I would suggest checking out the Losing You (Remix) originally by Mike Din. Also, if you dig the deep vocal edits, Slurring (Baauer Remix) might be a good one to listen to.  Keep an eye for this guy as his 15 minutes of fame is still to come.

-DeadEyesRandy.

Gilbere Forte- Pray Review

While everyone in the hip hop world is going gaga over Kanye West right now and Chance The Rapper's Acid Rap hype is dying down a bit, the hip hop world is a little slow at the moment. Although due to drought, there is still lots of good stuff coming out obviously.

Gilbere Forte is a new one for me. I haven't heard of him and it turns out this is his third mixtape. I checked it out due to having nothing new to listen to and I was pleasantly surprised with this mixtape.

Gilbere Forte's sound production wise is very interesting and quite refreshing in way, this is not to say this hasn't been done before but its just nice to hear really good electronic sample filled production once in awhile. Most of the track produced by Raak can be made into instruments and could be a hit as electronic based hip hop beats. The sound is layered, sample filled, electronic, and mainstream.

The sound of the album was great but that didn't really surprise me. Before listening to this mixtape, for some reason I had the thought that I would not like the rapper because of the mainstream type of production but Gilbere Forte is quite good. What I like about him is even though being fairly young, 25, he comes off as a bit matured in his voice. Even though the subject matter is typical for the age (mainly drinking, drugs, and women), it didn't really bother me. Sure he spends a lot of the mixtape rapping about women like in the song, Double Cupped, he does it in a way that is enjoyable to me. How? Well like great rappers who sometimes rap about women or love, they do it with great lyrics and storytelling. Gilbere Forte is not talking about "hoes" or anything like that, he comes off a little more like Drake I guess.

As a rapper Gilbere Forte is good. Hes got the lyrics and flow. Although he does come off as having an influence to Kanye West. Even though I am not a Kanye fan there is no denying that in 2013, his influence on many upcoming rappers is prevalent. Gilbere Forte might sound like Kanye at times but thats not a flaw. In 2013 if you sound like another rapper, its find with me but don't try to be a copycat and Gilbere Forte is successful in not being a copycat. While yes, he may sound like him I personally think hes got his own style going for him. His flow is pretty good also. Polariods features his multi-flows quite well. In the song he changes his flow while the beat changes along with him. Its quite fun to listen to.

Although you gotta understand, the guy is 25 and has only had like four project release and those four projects have been good so far. So its not a huge flaw that you can compare him since to be honest hes good at what he is doing and it doesn't really come off as forced as well. What makes the mixtape good is mainly the production and Gilbere Forte confidence in his music.

With that all said, the mixtape is good in my eyes and I wouldn't be surprised if Kanye would co-sign him in the future. Take a listen for yourself http://gilbereforte.com/

Danny Brown Concert

 

 Last year I had the option to watch Danny Brown live but the band Converge was also coming on the same day. I had to choose between the two and chose Converge due to the fact that I don't get many chance to see Converge since Danny Brown seems to tour a lot.

But this Monday I saw Danny Brown live. and this Monday I got crazy. That Monday was a workout. This Monday was one of the best live performance Ive been to. To say it was wild is an understatement.


Ive loved Danny Brown for a couple years now ever since I heard XXX and The Hybrid. It's so awesome to see Danny get the love he deserves. The whole crowed was getting hyped as hell and was getting a little impatient but once Danny came on the stage the whole crowd seem to just rush forward causing a wave of body slams. During the beginning of the show I was in the front, then ended up in the middle, then the front, and then the back. I still don't know how I was moved around so much. The whole crowed was getting crazy during each track. EVERYONE went crazy, even me which is rare but like Danny Brown said "Yo you can't be at a Danny Brown show if you ain't getting turnt up!". Along with the beats by SKYWLKR, which sound great live, the whole crowd was just wild.

Danny Brown live was surprising, even though I knew it would be awesome it turned out to be greater. What really impressed me was how insane Danny Brown is onstage running around, jumping, and grinding on girls and he can still rap without missing a beat. I was just out of breath in the crowd and was like "How the hell can he still rap so hard while doing all the jumping and running". The highlights have to be the whole crowd rapping along to Monopoly, I Will, Lie 4, and all the new songs off Old (his new album due out this year)
. My personal favor was when he played Blunt After Blunt. Even though I was dying of thirst from sweating and being out of breath I felt obligated to join the chorus by yelling BLUNT AFTER BLUNT AFTER BLUNT AFTER BLUNT AFTER BLUNT AFTER BLUNT AFTER BLUNT AFTER BLUNT. It seemed endless but oh man was it fun and awesome.

If Danny Brown comes to your town, do yourself a favor and go and have a great time. But be sure to get wild, cause you don't then you ain't really at a Danny Brown show.

NOTE: Baauer, the guy who made the Harlem Shake song, played on this tour and was the headliner but I didn't stick around for him. Was strictly there for Danny Brown.

Action Bronson live concert this Thursday as well, Ill make sure to post my thoughts.

Low- The Invisible Way Review

Low has been a favorite of mine for many years. Their music is extremely interesting to me even though it can be very simple. Labels such as ''slowcore'' or ''sadcore'' have been used to describe the band but they seem to be very silly labels. Yes, Low is slow and yes, Low has a sort of melancholic feel to it but there is much more complexity to Low's music then what you hear on the surface. Low seems to cause listening to become emotionally connected to their music by playing minimalistic yet beautiful sounding music at most times a slow pace that takes some getting used to.

If you listen to Low's discography you can see a sort of evolution. The first three albums had the slow, haunting melodic beauty that is still present today in their music. Once Low teamed up with legendary producer Steve Albini they seemed to take a more experimental side by adding new instrumentation along with Albini's sparse yet wide open sounding production to create some very interesting music. Their most diverse album, The Great Destroyer, has them laying back on the sort of slow stuff and adding some surprising rockin tunes in the mix, its weird to say but Low made a summer album type album with that record. With Drums and Guns, Low went back to the experimental side and create a sort of political statement with the record with lyrics about war and new experimentation with electronics that has an eerie and powerful feel throughout the album.

After 20 years of music Low has become a band that is truly unique and has a sound that is fully evolved. With the new album, The Invisible Way, Low has come back with the same Low sound adding a lot more piano and acoustic guitars to the mix and having Jeff Tweedy of Wilco fame producing. The acoustic and piano give the album a very natural feel along with Tweedy's production. The whole sound of the album is complete and consistent.

What makes Low so powerful emotionally is not only the soft sparse music, its the vocals between guitarist Alan Sparhawk and drummer Mimi Parker (husband and wife). Alan Sparhawk voice is soft but filled with emotion. When you hear him sing you can hear sadness and anger as well. Along with Sparhawks brutally honest lyrics the listener begins feel as if he is hearing someones inner thoughts that are all too personal. But this is balanced by Mimi Parker wonderful vocal harmony that sounds beautiful. She is one of the greatest voice in indie rock.

The music on this album is very nice and has moments of sadness as well as uplifting tracks. Plastic Cup, Amethyst, Waiting and Clarence White are three standout tracks that really capture what Low. Songs like So Blue, Holy Ghost and Just Make It Stop displays Mimi Parker beautiful front and center. On My Own features a great break from the acoustic to have a noisy guitar in the background for the last 3 minutes. The whole album has lot of mixture of sounds that is truly pleasing to a Low fan such as myself. There is some new elements mixed with the old elements which cause for a great pleasing listen. While many new listeners may not pick up on such subtleties I feel that The Invisible Way has something for everybody regardless of your music taste. This is a great Low album and one of the best Ive heard this year.

Cannibal Ox- New EP Gotham Review

When I first heard about a possible Cannibal Ox Reunion, I immediately got extremely excited. If you don't already know who Cannibal Ox is do yourself a favor and listen to the classic album The Cold Vein. The Cold Vein was a decade defining and genre breaking hip hop album that sounded like nothing else at the time, and still. This is partly due to EL-P's fantastic futuristic dystopian beats and producing and Vast Aire's and Vordul Mega's skillful wordplay about abstract concepts. The album is futuristic yet gritty and a unique listening experience.

Since then Cannibal Ox was no more after The Cold Vein. El-P went on to a solo career that has been very successful, he is a producer/rapper that has created his own sound and he is still as fresh today than he was then (his 3rd album Cancer for Cure was in my top 5 for 2012). Vast Aire and Vordul Mega have let out a couple solo album as well. The gap between The Cold Vein and this EP seems to prove the opinion Ive had for years, Vordul Mega is way better than Vast Aire. Most of Vast Aire solo ablums, I believe he has about 4, were not up to par while I found Vordul Mega to be a more skillful rapper. As a duo, they work great.

So Vordul Mega and Vast Aire are back but there is one thing missing. EL-P PRODUCTION! El-P has stated that he will NOT be a part of the new Cannibal Ox output which was a huge disappointment for me but I understood where he came from and from listening to the new EP I can sorta understand why. While the EP is good and still has that 'sound', I think what made The Cold Vein so interesting was that it was the first of its kind. It sounded different and strange but very interesting. It really is something of its time and can not be duplicated.

So what about the new EP? Well the sound is still there on the song 'Gotham' which features a great Vordul Mega and a sorta abrasive Vast Aire. Overall a nice sounding Cannibal Ox.

The next song Gases in Hell seems to be a Vast Aire song since not once did I hear Vordul Mega. It has a really cheesy chorus and has everything I find annoying Vast Aire. He seems to throw words that rhyme, just cause they rhyme although they don't make sense and sound stupid and in my opinion very try hard. "My style is fat, reminiscent of a whale" ???? WHAT?? I mean its clever in a way but it just comes out awkward and silly.

The last song, Pslam 82, sounds like a Wu Tang song and features the gritty lyrics of Vordul Mega. Vordul Mega flow on this is so awesome, he just seems to ride his flow and you can hear the skill behind it. His stream of conscience flow comes off as calculated and very calm. Vast Aire verse seems to just be Sean Price like punchlines during the end the song, which is something Vast Aire is somewhat good at.

Overall, the whole thing sounds like a Vast Aire EP featuring Vordul Mega. Now I now I am biased by liking Vordul Mega way more but the The Cold Vein sounded like a duo and this doesn't. Even though I find Vast Aire a bit lack luster, there is no denying that without him it isn't Cannibal Ox. Yes, I do find him annoying at times but sometimes he comes up with the best lines. Vast Aire seems to be the more abstract punchline type rapper and Vordul Mega seems to be the more introspective and lyrical, together they make a great duo that provides two different sides making Cannibal Ox a compelling listen. Although they don't really show it on this EP, I won't hold it against them since its an EP. Hopefully the LP features an improvement.

Take a listen the the new EP here:
http://belowsystem.bandcamp.com/ 

ANTHM- Handful of Dust Review

I just recently heard of this dude and I was pleasantly surprised. I will admit I did check this out mainly due cause of Blu. Even though Blu has sorta fell off with his lo fi and in my opinion uninspired and boring project lately I still love the dude and his production style. Maybe he should just stick to production.

Anyways, when I hit play on this thing I thought I was hearing Blu and said "oh man Blu is back on top!" but then I realized that it wasnt Blu and it was the rapper Anthm. Anthm sounds a lot like Blu, but that's not a problem since he can rap just as well as Blu. From what I've read this is the guys third release and get this he was a Wall Street trader but decided to pursue a rap career instead. He is a smart dude indeed and his rhymes show it. His flow is nice and smooth. The production is well suited for this New Yorker. You really got to respect his love for hip hop by decided to make music over money. Anthm lets you know that he loves the music because you can hear it in his flow and lyrics.

At time he sounds a little naive but he is fairly young so I let it slide. He raps about what he knows and doesn't act to be something else. Songs like Debbie, which is dedicated to his sister, are nice to hear as a sweet gesture of love. Nina sort of tell his life story and the struggle he had to overcome. The whole EP is filled with his past and his talent/skill is the future.

As for the production, its typical Blu production in the vein of the J-Dilla style. Its smooth, sample based, nice/cleaning sounding, very New York and chill.

I've been checking out all this guys projects and he sounds very promising and in a way is in the same lane as Blu, and at the moment he is a little better than Blu.

Check out his music here

Atoms For Peace- AMOK Review

Now this is a hard one for me to review due to me being a huge Radiohead/Thom Yorke fan since Radiohead has been my favorite band since I was like 11. So Ill try not to come off as a total fanboy.

Now a little back story on this project. When Thom Yorke released his solo album The Eraser, which is hugely underrated, he enlisted Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers, his producer Nigel Godrich, and Mauro Refosco and Joey Waronker to play live with him on his solo tour. Well according to Thom, the results from the tour were so great that they knew that they wanted to create new music together. So after Radiohead released King of Limbs, Thom Yorke had enough off time to finally get started on this project.

The results are what you would expect. A lot of electronics, great production, and Thom's voice floating around in the mix. And that really is what the album comes to.

With the first listen, I was not very impressed and even said "its pretty forgettable but it might grow on me". I liked some songs and those songs started to come into my head after each listen and I listened to it again and again and again. After the 7th listen or so I felt I was ready to give my complete review of it. Now the first listen reaction was due in part to me thinking I knew what I was expecting, and why I did expect lots of electronics and Thom Yorke's voice floating about in the mix I started to pick up more on the production.

The production on the album, much like all Radiohead albums, by Nigel Godrich have been rich, complex, subtle, and just completely well balanced. But yet again it is an electronic album. The instrumentation is excellent. All the guitar, bass, and drums on the album are well placed and add to the groove of the whole thing.

I am not a big electronic music fan. Much of my knowledge of electronic music does come from Thom Yorke. When I read that Kid A was influenced a lot by Aphex Twin, I quickly become an Aphex Twin. Thom Yorke's collab with Burial and Four Tet made me a Burial fan and made me check out Four Tet. While I do like those artist, I am not all about it but I still like it a ton. With this album, Thom Yorke gets the chance to play DJ and create beats and sounds that are inspired from his favorite electronic music. The whole project is just an artistic freedom to him in every sense of the word. The beats are dancey, simple, catchy, and a perfect vehicle for Thom Yorke to have fun with. Every track on the album is upbeat compared to his moody solo album.

To me the album could have featured more sort of instrumentation from the band themselves, although I feel that the live versions of these song feature more of a band than the album. Another complaint is, surprisingly, Thom Yorke himself. Well now that I think about this is not a complaint. This is why my first initial reaction was so underwhelming. I expected this to be Thom Yorke filled. And it is but this is a different Thom Yorke. Gone is the moody Yorke from The Eraser. Here is a Yorke that is free and does not take the spotlight. He is just there and he is having fun with it, creating something he loves to do. This is a more laid back Yorke which at first may come off as a lazy frontman but the music is not meant to just be Yorke driven. You can feel Thom Yorke wanted this album to be just a full length electronic album but he even jokily said  in an interview that "no one would care for it if it was". Which is true. So this might be the reason why Yorke sounds like he is just there and why the vocal performance and lyrics seem just sort of bland and phoned in. But you can't blame Yorke for just want to lay back and just dance his ass off and have fun since he is the frontman of one of the most popular bands in the world, very hard work indeed. And with being a husband and a father, I understand wanting to just kick band and jam.

Still, now that I understand the means of the album, it does seem sort of forgettable in a sense. Its still fun to listen to if I'm in the mood. But maybe I just can't get into a happier Thom Yorke. I feel this music transfers extremely better live and can't wait to see if they tour. Overall all some of the songs are enjoyable, without sounding like it could be a Radiohead song, and some songs are just there but still enjoyable.

The album gets a good 6/10 from me, without any fanboy bump because its Thom Yorke.