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/