Month: January 2016

Bleeds by Roots Manuva

Justin Anastasio, Leave a comment

Roots Manuva - Bleeds

Rain pierces dark clouds above and spatters the cobblestone streets. You pull your hood up, and hang your head low to avoid the downpour. Is there a tinge of red in the flowing liquid? You trudge through oceanic puddles that soak your boots to their tender cores, and lift your head only to seek a sheltering alcove. You’re greeted with miles of solid concrete wall. Where did the doors go? A floating mouth descends from the sky, and speaks with a quickness . . .

After this past year, most of us were left asking ourselves, “where can hip-hop go from here?” The gamut was run, from the most hype-inducing trunk-rattlers to conceptual, cross-genre odysseys, and everything in between. Must we go backward? Nay, my good friends and listeners, there are undiscovered frontiers to explore still. Bleeds is the newest full-length from English rapper Rodney Smith, under the name Roots Manuva.

Smith has a unique way with words; a meticulous finesse that allows his lyrics to break free from the constrains of hyper-specificity, without sacrificing a drop of their potency. The charismatic MC dives in and out of varying hip-hop tempos, adorned with flavors of funk, classical, soul, and blues. Along with stellar production from disparate worlds of talent, these songs are stuffed with captivating ideas and earth-shaking energy.

It’s thrilling to witness the evolution of hip-hop, more so now than ever. The terminology is merely a vague descriptor of a certain vocal style now, but the heart of the word still thumps within all that have ever loved the genre. Bleeds slammed a cap on the stellar year of music we just had, and we should hold nothing but hope for the promising future ahead. If you’re seeking potent, expansive hip-hop, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Bleeds by Roots Manuva

Kila by Herva

Justin Anastasio, Leave a comment

Herva - Kila

You peer through jagged eye holes. A mask is firmly attached to your face, and doesn’t budge when you vigorously attempt to remove it. You stand up and stumble through a shadowy corridor, emerging into a chamber canvassed with machinery from floor to ceiling. The contraptions begin to whirr with life. The mask floats off of your face and flies around the room, dismantling and reconstructing the machines, as they emanate pulsing sound . . .

Does anybody care about genres anymore? The umbrella classifications have taken a backseat to the boundless imaginations and unbridled talents of those that refuse to be constrained by them. Technology has brought everything within reach, so the creator’s mind and unique persona are the only limits. Kila is the newest full-length from Hervè Atsè Corti, AKA Herva, a producer that defies traditional categorizations with his music.

Corti’s seclusion in the Italian countryside near Florence, along with his extramusical interests including electronics and engineering, are advantages for the artist because they allow him to approach production without overarching influences. These songs vaguely resemble the likes of house, drum & bass, techno, disco, and hip-hop, but their colors are smeared, chopped, and contorted into entirely original contraptions.

‘Kila’ is the Swahili word for ‘everything’, a term that perfectly encompasses this entrancing listening experience. It’s a journey through the mind of an artist holding a desire to craft the sounds of the future with the mechanisms of the past. “You hear my music, you get to see how my brain works” he says, and what a compelling process that is. If you’re seeking experimentally-tinged house/techno, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Kila by Herva

Balloon by Ruby My Dear

Justin Anastasio, Leave a comment

Balloon - Ruby My Dear

Year: 33XX. Your consciousness is implanted in a nano-fly, minuscule and imperceptible to the naked vision. You are released into a fog of your brood, and add to the swarm’s cacophony. Their rapid, seemingly random movements engulf everything, yet your meticulously honed senses allow you to make some sense of it all. As your “eyes” adjust further, your “ears” absorb the intricacies within the noise, and a tuneful voice rises from below . . .

Breakcore is known for its barraging beats and breakneck transitions at blistering speeds, making it one of the more daunting electronic genres to approach. A select few artists are contorting the style’s sonic palette, though, and subsequently ushering in a new breed of enthusiasm. Balloon is the newest release from Toulouse native Julien Chastagnol as Ruby My Dear, a producer at the helm of the genre’s innovation.

Within four tracks clocking in at 20 minutes, Chastagnol paints a mural of breakcore’s possibilities. The traditional, blindingly fast digital drums are present, although they carry none of the genre’s frequent harshness, but rather a graceful delicacy that makes each track sound like a symphony. Glowing melodies and vocal samples ride the intricate rhythms, adding deep layers of color that give the songs a rare emotive quality.

Chastagnol has an eye for dynamics and makes use of every inch across the spectrum, from soft passages of quiet loveliness to all-out bombast. It’s a beautiful listening experience, and each subsequent listening reveals new, entirely captivating discoveries. For anyone wishing to delve into the world of breakcore, there isn’t a better place to begin than Balloon. If you’re seeking dynamic, melodic breakcore, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Balloon by Ruby My Dear

Blackstar by David Bowie

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David Bowie - Blackstar

A flame splits the black clouds and plunges into the planet’s surface. A pillar of light emerges from the ground, extends up into the night sky, and steadily fades away. A man crawls out of the crater left behind from the impact. He walks until he sees a sign of civilized life, in the form of fluorescent twinkling in the distance. Many years pass; the man is old now, having loved and been loved by the planet deeply. It’s time to say goodbye to the starman . . .

Mortality; it’s the dark, looming door at the end of everything and everyone. There are those individuals that leave behind greatness, and then there are those with lifetimes worth of greatness to their name. These are the ones that take with them a shade of color from life in their passing. David Bowie was the embodiment of this type of individual, and Blackstar is his farewell to a world that was changed greatly by the artist.

Up till the very end, Bowie continued to conceive new ideas, and constantly innovate in his art to best communicate those ideas. The enigmatic artist dabbled in every genre, but the poignancy of the shadowy, electronic-tinged jazz compositions found on his final full-length record is astounding. The songs possess that irresistible “Bowie appeal,” but they contain new elements of bleak, improvisation-heavy experimentation.

This is a record created by a man who knew he was on his way out, and listening to it as such is overwhelming. David Bowie was a hero of mine, and the lives of pretty much everyone will forever be altered by his artistic contributions. We should consider ourselves blessed to have lived at the same time as him, and the Starman will be mourned deeply. If you’re seeking progressive, experimental jazz, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Blackstar by David Bowie