Flying Lotus-Los Angeles (2008)

"Okay, we might as well get this out of the way, because every review of Los Angeles mentions one key reference point: Flying Lotus––née Steven Ellison––is the grandnephew of Alice Coltrane. It's a convenient and eye-catching association that will follow Ellison's career each step of the way. In fact, it was the extraordinary jazz musician's gentle nudging that pushed Ellison's career ambitions from filmmaking into music. And for that matter, Ellison shares Coltrane’s use of pulsing, breathy textures. His materials may be those of the Nintendo generation rather than the acoustic-based instrumentation of the 60s, but the importance of atmosphere and resonance––so crucial to Coltrane's blend of spiritual free jazz and cerebral modal music––are certainly not lost on Ellison.

But just how does one recreate the sense of room and tonal development in a world of digital samplers and sequencers? In this aspect, Ellison learns from his contemporary peers. His Warp full-length debut contains sonic elements akin to many like-minded Los Angeles musicians––Madlib, Ammoncontact, Daedelus, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Nobody, Dntel, Koushik and Exile––and it’s also clear that Ellison has been influenced by the cream of the left-field instrumental hip-hop crowd––Jay Dee, Prefuse 73, Dabrye and Jnerio Jarel. All of these musicians/producers have mastered the process of stringing samples together fluidly in a haze of noise byproduct (static, fuzz, pops, crackle, etc). Likewise, Ellison’s work features few discernable loop breaks, while acoustic drums and live synthesizers work to disguise rigidity with layers of lapping sound. Somewhere along the way, Pete Rock's stiff but soulful rap productions crossed paths with Aphex Twin's avant-garde electronica and Rob Mazurek's 21st century psychedelic fusion to birth Flying Lotus, a headphone producer who bridges the world of beat, blip and bop.

Thankfully, Ellison doesn't stray too far from the framework he established on 1983, his Plug Research debut. There is a coherent sound throughout the album––psychedelic electro-hop perhaps––while each song develops fruitfully without ever being dragged out. In fact, about sixty percent of the tracks on Los Angeles fall in the two-and-a-half to four-minute range––just enough time to establish a groove and expound upon it without a sense of redundancy setting in. It's less jerkingly sporadic than Donuts (however brilliant), but more varied than a Sa-Ra produced record. And in that sense, Ellison––much like his great-aunt––has the ability to entrance. Trippy synth chords progress subtly; sparse boom-bap backdrops pronounce the meat of each song; jazz, funk, psych and worldly samples weave colorful melodies; and 8-bit video game sound effects keep each track continuously textured.

In a recent interview with XLR8R TV, Ellison divulged his love for the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, a series he helped to score early in his career. The episodes of schizophrenic late-night comedy are relatively short in comparison to television's typical half-hour fare––the humor may be beyond ridiculous, but it rarely takes a toll on your patience because it's finished in a third of the usual time. Ellison's productions may not have the severity of Adult Swim, but he certainly takes a few cues from their structural patterns. Los Angeles doesn't rely on elaborate set-ups or complicated narratives: A beat drops, the mood's established, a groove sets in, and Ellison tweaks it into a climax before quickly moving onto the next.

Thanks to the deeply saturated production, just minutes into Los Angeles you are already lost among the ebb and flow of the mercurial synths and adroit beats. A headphone listen is like sticking your head in a fish tank of blunted haze and aural psychedelics. The music may not be quite as spiritual as that of Ellison’s great-aunt, but it is no less ethereal, atmospheric and hypnotic––impressive for what is essentially an instrumental hip-hop record."

Wow. There are a few Hip-Hop luminaries that really blow my mind (Cannibal Ox, Dilla, Madlib, MF Doom, El-P, Dalek...etc) and Flying Lotus joined the club. I didn't really know what to make of it at first but multiple listens reveals a deep appreciation for Dub, House/Techno, Breakbeat, and all that other shit that I'm really not that familiar with. Point is, this album effortlessly blends it all together into a very spaced out enjoyable whole. High recommendation for this little ditty.

Melt!

Bullion presents The Beach Boys vs. J Dilla-Pet Sounds: in the Key of Dee

"Bullion is a UK producer who has taken J. Dilla's vaults a step further by working samples from The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds into the music. It is not a mash up or a remix album, but a conceptual extension to his illustrious catalogue. Bullion does not attempt to place his green thumb on Dilla’s work, but extends his aesthetic into a posthumous tribute.

He’s clearly a student of the J. Dilla technique because his style does not get in the way of the previous works. He employs similar chopping techniques, toying with the harmonies and using the vocal snippets as instruments in the body of work.

It would be easy to get pissed about this record and the excessive fiddling and pillaging the Jay Dee catalogue has suddenly received. It would be easy to write this off as another Jay Dee band-wagoner, capitalizing on everyone suddenly wanting to appreciate a producer who flew under all our radars until his illness became public. But this is a fitting tribute to an influential figure. Even if Bullion only recently discovered Jay Dee, (I doubt that), there is no doubt that his inspiration has changed his life. He has paid attention to Dilla for the right reasons and it shows in his ability to take the genius a step further without stepping on a legend’s toes.

He does not forget what is informing this piece. He maintains a cohesion in style that is not even his own, but an influence, and makes it sound so effortless, as though our hero Dilla actually had the idea.

Crowning achievements are the marrying of “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” with Jay Dee in a mix I'd like to think both Brian Wilson and Jay Dee would approve of. It maintains its psychedelic lament, but earns a soulful bounce. Compared to trendsetting Grey Album from Dangermouse, this will probably not inspire copycats as it lacks that project's conceptual bombast.

It’s a bizarre ride on the Sloop Jay D."

Before anyone dismisses this as some bullshit pop artist A vs. pop artist B "mash-up," let me please assuage your fears and tell you that this fucking rules. Bullion has done a wonderful and, most importantly, respectful job combining these two heavyweights into a great album. "You Still Believe in Dee" is a particular high point. I will try to get a vinyl rip of this up here in the near future.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not be surprised if this gets yanked. It has been a common occurrence lately.

You still believe in Dee

Cannibal Ox-The Cold Vein (2001)

"I’m young, and relatively new to the music-junkie scene, so I never had the opportunity to experience a revolutionary album until it had already been recognized, co-opted, and enshrined in the musical canon. This didn’t bother me in the least: I could still buy, listen to, and enjoy these albums at my leisure, and since they were new to me, I could still be surprised and excited. However, I was missing something as an eternal history student. I was missing the exhilaration that hits when you put on something brand new and know that it will change everything. You know the album will affect what you hear for years to come, and you can only guess at the ways its influence will be incorporated. It’s an emotional experience, one of the most exciting for any music listener. Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein hit me in this way.

The first thing every critic wants to do is compare The Cold Vein to the Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers. It’s easy to see why. Both groups hail from New York. Both blend revolutionary (the word ‘innovative’ doesn’t go far enough) lo-fi production with dark, pessimistic rhymes. Both bring their own lexicon to dense flows. And Cannibal Ox’s stunning debut must remind many of Wu-Tang’s similar strike from nowhere. But the most important similarity is each group’s uncompromising originality, a quality that ranges from refreshing to downright stunning.

Not to disparage Can Ox’s gifted MCs Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah, but the production is what really sets The Cold Vein apart from the pack. El-P (of the influential indie hip hop crew Company Flow) masterminds the entire project with gritty, evocative beats whose lo-fi crackle almost obscures the lush texture of the music. El-P keeps the instrument fragments – pieces of piano melodies and horn licks – of his Company Flow work, but constructs layers of analog synths and fuzzy atmospheric textures around the percussion. The entire album sounds like it was recorded in a basement on a four-track (even the vocals have a metallic echo) creating music that perfectly matches the theme and feeling of the rhymes. And the feelings wrapped up in The Cold Vein are complex – Vast and Vordul alternate between depression, aggression, and anger. These emotions stem from their surroundings in the bleak ghettos of the Big Apple. “New York is evil at its core” spits Vast on the opener, “Iron Galaxy,” amid burbling synth arpeggios, chiming background textures, and scratchy horn samples.

“Atom” delves further into El-P’s street-side psychedelia, using dirty analog buzzes and aggressive turntable scratching to obscure sonorous horns and guitars. The instruments never fully emerge from the cacophony, but nevertheless shine through hopefully, much like Can Ox’s tortured MCs.

“B-Boy Alpha” is a storming tour-de-force, hurling synth squelches and electric guitar solos against haunting piano twinkling (a nod to RZA perhaps). Vast and Vordul storm the mic, constructing elaborate rhymes around how they escaped the violence of the streets through their music. This contrasts sharply with the next track, the sparse, spacey “Raspberry Fields,” which features stuttering drum kicks and synths that whine like tiny dive-bombing planes.

Vast easily tackles the album’s centerpiece, “The F-Word.” It’s an unrequited love song, a definite rarity in street hip hop, but Vast pulls it off with deft wordplay. “She was in a love triangle / But it’s not like my feelings weren’t there / To make it a square,” he recalls. The ‘f’ in “f-word” stands for “friend”: Vast holds the much-maligned position of “just-friend” with the object of his affection. Later, he laments “I was supposed to be the friend / But I’m getting fried in the end.” This couplet sees Cannibal Ox’s poetry at its most complex – combining the words ‘fried’ and ‘end’ make the word ‘friend.’ Moments like these show not only the skill of Can Ox’s MCs, but the potential for hip hop lyrics to work on as many levels as the finest English poetry.

If The Cold Vein has one weakness, it is in its length: at 75 minutes, it can be exhausting. However, more often than not, it’s simply enthralling, and an epic like this calls for not one, but two album closers. First, “Pigeon,” an uncompromising piece of ghetto-verite, assisted by El-P’s epic production. The flows roll by effortlessly, detailing the ghetto almost cinematically. Vordul comes in with a particularly disturbing verse: “Cats who pop flows shot heavy through the nostril / Brain sizzle grab the pistol and get hostile / He caught you alone fuse blown / Unemployed screaming ‘That's why I robbed you!’” However, the album’s bonus track provides a needed epilogue to The Cold Vein’s intensity. Vordul and Vast construct another atypical lyrical stew, involving the metaphor of the pigeon as the disenchanted ghetto-dweller from the previous track. Against the refrain of “Scream phoenix,” they extort their fellow pigeons to elevate themselves through art. The goal never comes across as preachy – merely helpful advice from a couple of “street peasants” who managed not only to advance themselves, but advance music in the process."

One of the best Hip-Hop albums ever, bar none. Probably the finest Hip-Hop production job ever. It's really hard to talk about an album that pretty much redefines what "rap" is capable of doing. Those are some creepy fucking beats! Jesus. If you haven't had the pleasure/horror, than by all means. Grabs its.

Ox out the cage

KMD-Black Bastards (1993/2001)

"My friend Josh and I can’t agree on anything. Oh, we can agree on generalities. We both like The Beatles. We both like to read. We both like girls. But it’s the specifics that get in the way, he with his Abbey Road, stacks of books and classy dames and me with my Rubber Soul, three paragraph short stories and women of questionable character. Because of this historical precedent, it absolutely confounds me that we are able to reach a consensus on K.M.D.’s much-slept on Black Bastards. He and I not only think that it’s a great album, we each consider it one of our favorite albums of any genre. The shock probably won’t resonate unless you’ve been on the receiving end of an hours-long Mac-beats-PC lecture.

“Like the maniacal villain that I am.” Though Black Bastards never saw the light of day in the 1990s, it is a quintessential 90s release, building on the jazz and soul-laced production styles mastered by Pete Rock and Q-Tip. The late DJ Subroc is in top form here, layering dusty kicks with the inimitable flow of Zev Love X. Who is Zev? You may not recognize his voice here, but it is the “maniacal villain” Daniel Dumile before the years of alcohol and drug abuse that would ravage his voice. It’s Zev, in particular, Josh and I are able to find common ground on. His tangled rhymes can be playful (“Like Ebeneezer Scrooge I'm rude / My batting average is huge”) and his often dizzying pace invites repeated listens. Unlike the straight-forward deliveries of many of his then contemporaries, Zev Love X speaks more cryptically. Buried under deep bass tones, half the fun of Black Bastards is deciphering lines from the seemingly endless supply of now-famous Dumile wit. There’s something about hearing “Plumskinzz (Loose Hoe, God & Cupid)” months after your first listen and finally hearing “Don't drool with all the juice you dribble / Scribble the beeper code, so the X can gets a nibble” without question.

“I never overdose on my diet of codeine and OE.” Though the subject matter does veer into black nationalism, a river of booze and drugs runs through this land. Counting the number of times O.E. and St. Ides are name checked would require more than fingers and toes. Songs drift by in a buzzed stupor, like the warbling hook of title track and the free jazz drum segues in “Suspended Animation” and into Subroc’s foray into emceeing on “It Sounded Like A Rock!” With “Sweet Premium Wine”, Subroc slips in a Bomb Squad-like siren of a squeal over the floor-rumbling bass groove. There’s enough dust on these cuts to dirty a dining table.

The roughness of the production only adds to the mystique on the Black Bastards saga. The album was shelved indefinitely and its mishandling, coupled with the untimely demise of his brother, sends Zev Love X into the underground, only to emerge years later as a masked supervillain. This is a story you tell grandkids. If current rumors are any indication, Black Bastards may not, in fact, be the last we see of K.M.D, with Dumile rejoining early K.M.D. member Onyx and Black Bastards guest-rapper MF Grimm. But for all intents and purposes, this feels like a swan song. The sped-up sample of Gil Scott-Heron’s “Pieces of a Man” on “What A Nigga Know? (Remix)” sounds like a begrudging epilogue to a career sacrificed at the altar of practical business decisions. If released by Elektra without pause, there is little doubt in my mind (and Josh’s) that Black Bastards holds its own against undisputed classics of its time. Obscurity is the only thing now keeping it from joining the upper echelon of hip-hop."

Dude, I mean come on. MF Doom, pre-mask? How could you not want this lost Hip-Hop classic? Amazing 2nd generation beats, production values and rhyme style. People who like A Tribe Called Quest will especially dig this. But if you're sick of hearing that utter shit rap at almost any party you go, see if you can sneak this on the sound system and watch it wreak havoc. Kause Much Damage indeed.

Smokin' that shit

Zoltar's Playlist...Vol. II

1. Rafflesia-Boris and Michio Kurihara (A wall of blissed out sound)

2. Side B-Aluk Todolo (Kraut/Black madness...incredible drumming)

3. Saturday Night Rub-Big Bill Broonzy (Good ole fashioned ragtime with amazing melodies)

4. Cuttooth-Radiohead (Their best B-side in my opinion...those are some lyrics)

5. Soul Vibrations-Dorothy Ashby (Harp Jazz...why she's not more recognized, I'll never know)

6. Kassie Jones part II-Furry Lewis (Great blues for a hazy summer day...droney)

7. Lazy Comet-Polvo (Bad ass dissonant guitar work but very listenable indeed)

8. You're No Dub Baby-Niney the Observer (More dubbin' from Niney babeh)

9. Maui Wow Wow-Reeks and the Wrecks (funeral doom jazz, basement style? Who knows. But amazing)

10. I Love You-Spacemen 3 (psych masters...despite the lame drum machine, this song rules)

11. Content to Play Villain-Dalek (abrasive hip hop...blows my freaking mind)

12. As it Was-Melvins (perhaps my favorite Melvins song ever...but that's a tough one)

13. Dance of the Inhabitats of the Palace of King Phillip XIV of Spain-John Fahey (dude, that slide lick!)

14. Night of the Assassins-Les Rallizes Denudes (Japanese psych typhoon...must listen)

15. Dry the Rain-Beta Band (kinda out of place on here but just a damn good song)

16. The Stag Parts I & II-Mountainhood (very enjoyable psych folk)

17. Neon Lights-Kraftwerk (Man, they were so ahead of the curve it's not even funny)


Hope ya'll like this one...lemme know if any song catches your fancy and I'll toss ya the full link

Your leader awaits!

MF Doom-Operation Doomsday (1999)

HIP HOP CLASSIC ALERT-I don't listen to tons of hip hop or anything but if you don't either or think you hate rap, this guy is the man regardless. What!?

"I was browsing for some new emcees to check out and I came across a man named MF Doom. Rhapsody claimed his sound included elements of Ghostface and RJD2, two of my favorites in the Hip Hop genre, but that wasn’t what appealed to me most. It was MF Doom’s face or rather lack of a face. You see, he wears a Doctor Doom mask, fellow comic book subscribers (or people who went to the movie to see Jessica Alba in a skintight super hero outfit) will know that Doctor Doom is the main villain in the Fantastic Four series. Well, I listened to a couple tracks and was instantly in love with Doom’s mellow, fast raps and relaxing beats and samples. Needless to say I went out and picked up his debut, Operation Doomsday and you are now reading what I think of it.

Operation introduced a fraction of the world to MF Doom’s clever lyricism and classic sounding beats. Unfortunately a large of fraction of the world has not been properly introduced to Doom. That is one of the main goals of this review.

Doom’s voice is one of the best parts about his sound. His voice soothes the soul while it blasts rhymes at about 100 words a minute. Second track Rhymes Like Dimes is a perfect example of this. A soft psychedelic organ sample is looped throughout the song over a fairly standard drum beat. Rhymes like Dimes features some great lyrics.[i] Joker rhymes, like the "Is you just happy to see me?" trick/Classical slap-stick rappers need Chap stick/A lot of 'em sound like they in a talent show/So I give 'em something to remember, like the Alamo.[i] The vocal production sounds like Doom is a DJ on a radio, this seems cool at first but soon begins to get quite annoying. If you can overlook that (or like it) then this is a great song.

One of my biggest problems with Operation Doomsday is the similarities between some tracks. A good portion of the album the beats in these songs always consists of bass, a Fender Rhoades style organ riff and a fairly standard drum beat. The first few songs that fit this mold, Doomsday, Go With the Flow, etc are refreshing and awesome but the formula gets a little annoying when you are listening to the entire record. One good part about similarities between some tracks is the other tracks sound so refreshing Tick, Tick is a great example of this. Tick, Tick’s beat features a fairly sinister wouldn’t be out of place in an late 20’s movie string sample and a drum part that changes tempo every once in a while. Doom’s rapping is great. He isn’t exactly rapping 100 words a minute like Twista but his slower raps get the job done. My only problem with the song is the slowing down/speeding up of the beat can get annoying, but Doom’s clever lyrics save the track. My mind is Heaven's gate so enter me (enter me)/ My mind is the gate ta Hell so try ta flee (try ta flee)/Both gates look da same, which will it be.
Noise, reduced, MF thinks in Dolby/Chop that *** in half like Obi Wan Kenobi/Greatest of all time, God straight up told me/Greatest of all time, the Devil even told me.

Don’t get me wrong even the tracks with slightly samey beats can be amazing. Doomsday features samples of a 60’s electric piano, a girl singing light melodies and of course the obligatory bass and drums. None of these samples are the main focus of this song though. Doom’s rapping is stellar, as close to perfect as I have come upon in my short career as a Hip-Hop fan. Fiddy, Luda and The Game should be ashamed to call what they do rapping after hearing this. Something about Doom’s voice is so appealing, like he’s whispering the rhymes in your ears. An incredible song even if the beat sounds like about a third of this CD.

Every metal album back in the 80’s had to have the ballad. This album features it’s own ballad as well. Red & Gold holds up the ballad spot in this LP. Possibly the most complex beat on the album, R&G’s beat features multiple string samples, bass, electric piano, huge sounding drums, female vocals and even some Indian musical instruments. Doom’s vocals are amazing on this track. He uses his perfect rap voice to bring you lines like No science-fiction to no theater near you, coming soon to/**** with you frequently like how phases of the moon would do/You could gather 'round like it was an eclipse/Just don't look directly to the bitch, you may be blinded by the crips. Quite possibly the best song on the CD.

Operation is full of odd little “Skits”. These skits feature a man talking about a person named Doom in a voice not out of place in an early 40’s movie. The beats that accompany these skits are great. Unlike Eminem’s skits Doom actually creates fairly cool electronica breaks in between his raps. Unfortunately the album features 4 or 5 of these bits which can get quite annoying.

Possibly the most amazing thing about this album is that Doom writes, raps and produces his own stuff. So when you listen to this you don’t hear Doom’s voice over 5 producer’s beats rapping 8 other writer’s songs. All you hear is MF Doom. He’s great at everything too, unlike other rappers who attempt to do everything late in their career cougheminemcough and fail. Doom is great at everything.

Not only is MF Doom a great producer/rapper/lyricist plain and simple, he also is one of the best collaborators in the rap biz. He has collaborated with everyone from Gorillaz (His rap on November Has Come [Demon Days] turned me onto Doom in the first place) to his most recent collaboration, with DJ Danger Mouse (Producer of Demon Days and The Grey Album) under the name DangerDoom. Doom also collaborates on this album, on tracks Who You Think I Am? A barrage of guest MCs throw down over a Doom created beat featuring a flute.

The album ends as it begins on a high note. During the last streak of 5 or so real tracks there isn’t a bad song. Of course there is hardly a bad song on the album."

DOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM

Zoltar's Playlist...Vol. I

No real theme here, just either songs I have been listening to lately or songs I always like showing/playing for people. There will surely be more of these to come. I threw the playlist file in there so hopefully you all can listen to it in the order I intended on Itunes or even some other Nazi music program (it's the disc jockey/playlist nerd in me). But nevertheless, these are some choice tunes for certain and I'll throw a little note next to each one. It's the disc jockey playlist...wait...

Title Artist

1. The Peppermint Tree-The Amorphous Androgynous (cool psych tune, 60s like Pink Floyd vs Flaming Lips)

2. Nowhere to Run-Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (good ole fashioned soul music)

3. Aquarian Time-Wooden Shjips (doing what they do...always awesome garage/psych)

4. Mr. Grieves-The Pixies (classicly demented)

5. Red Tuesday-Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve (so blissful and warm...)

6. Liquid Memoryman-The Oscillation (GROOVE)

7. Canned Happiness-MV/EE & the Bummer Road (hazy, squinty eyed rock music...good thing)

8. Echohead-Big Blood (they are incredible...almost a Pixies-like lead)

9. America's Most Blunted-Madvillain ft. Quasimoto (such an awesom beat)

10. Wanyama Na Mapambazuko-Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalo (those riffs!)

11. Ashes Round the Skull-The Blue Angel Lounge (mind blowing VU styled rock)

12. Juggernaut-Black Pus (the drummer from Lightning Bolt...madness)

13. Trouble Everywhere I Go (Alt version)-Mississippi Fred McDowell (masterful)

14. Gimme Some Truth-John Lennon (money for dope! money for rope!)

15. Ant 10-Boredoms (indescribable, a ryhthmic psych techno monster thing type song ma jig)

16. Ride My High (Joakim Edit)-JJ Cale (tasteful sleaziness? more groooooove)

17. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere-Neil Young & Crazy Horse (come on, it's Neil Young!)

18. Friends-Ducktails (summer drones, very nice and peaceful)

19. Sweet Premium Wine-KMD (sadly underappreciated early 90s group)

20. Turtles Have Short Legs (B Side)-Can (so happy! great beat as always)

Tell me if you like this format better than whole albums. Or if you like whole albums. Or both. Whichever the minions prefer eh? And if you guys wanna comment, I promise I'll answer (since I discovered some unanswered comments from March today....). I would love the feedback, requests, etc. You know, the whole shindig. It's good to know more and more people come here. So let's keep it up? I'll post as long as ya'll listen. Thanks again to you all.

Playlist Vol. 1