Aloan - Pretty Freaks

Aloan - Pretty Freaks

There aren't many artists these days that actually make me excited when I hear a new song or that there is a new album coming soon, maybe I'm too picky, maybe I'm jaded, I don't really know, but what I do know is this, one of the few bands that actually do make my excited, is the phenomenal Swedish fusion band Aloan. Many of you will remember back in the early days of Surreal Sounds, I bought you their album "Better In Springtime" which to this day I am still raving about, and having recently acquired the rest of their musical catalog, which i will share with all of you, I felt first I should share their most recent album, the not so long ago released "Pretty Freaks". Which as I'm sure you can guess is a magnum opus in the art of fusion. It stays true to Aloan's constant commitment to their many flavors, showcasing their soul, jazz, hip hop and trip hop sounds, and adding little elements of rock and metal in there just to average things out for the masses. Its an amazing trip through the worlds of sound and sight, and truly worth a listen too, and more so, its been truly worth the wait its taken for them to release this album, even if the wait seemed like more years then it was.

The album starts with "Liquid Girl", an upbeat and rather funky mix of pop and retro 1960s style pop, its abit different for Aloan, but I love when a group or artist takes themselves out of their comfort zone and tries something new, it shows care and dedication to their craft, you don't get that much these days its lovely to see, the song is pretty catchy too, which always helps. Next is "Swinger" the first single released off the album, it follows the same fast paced late 60s pop guitar with traditional trip hop beats over blues style vocals and rap, its a great big loud song thats just so incredible, the booming chorus is incredible and Granite's rap is just so damn onpoint is actually makes me wonder why he's not more respected among rappers, brilliant song. Next is the downtempo "Whitehair Child", which is a touching and beautiful soul style ballad about love and innocence lost, its alot deeper then most of the songs Aloan does, I was very pleased by this actually, I love when artists open up as they progress musically, its so amazing when it happens. Next is, "Invisible" a catchy beat driven funky blues style song that is just incredible, its a great hook, a great beat, vocals that are just flawless, its just so right and a great almost midway in the album point, most artists don't take care in stuff of that nature, the whole caring what point in each album a song is thing is normally the last thing on an artists mind, I love that its at the forfront here. Next is possibly the greatest song on the album, the incredible trip through sound called "Kabuki" continuing that thick retro guitar style, added with some soul and funk elements and enough catchy lyrics and backing beats to make this just the most perfect song I've ever heard from Aloan, Kabuki is a catchy fast passed song that I personally just love to play loud while I'm driving or just moving about the house, Granite's flow is again a clinic on how to use rap effectively outside of the genre, this is the track you'll be playing over and over, and singing along to the background hook on. Next is the surreal "Into A Werewolf" which is haunting, catchy and beautiful all at once, its a great blend of styles and metaphor, which has always been par for the course with Aloan, I've found over the years their imagery is just as impressive as their music and lyric content. After that is "Pain And Sky", another slow and eerily sexy ballad, thick booming guitar and bass drums, with just enough electronica style backing to make it unique and distinctly their own, its a beautiful song about how no one is truly pure and clean anymore, I seriously love when they do this style stuff. Following that is "Wanna Be A Rocker", takes them back again to the retro pop style that they've been trying to keep with on this disc, the music itself is amazing and the vocals and lyrics are catchy and just so perfect, I wished there was more of Granite in it though, we're almost done the disc and there hasn't been the feature track of his yet, normally there are one or two, also, I completely LOVE the reference to The Matrix in this song, its just so delightful, retro style with a modern reference, just awesome. Next is "I Slowly", which is a nice electronica mixed with rock and blues song, it at first felt slightly out of place, but once it gets going it fits right in with the rest of the disc, I completely love how Granite's using his laid back deep voiced flow on this song, it so fits the song perfectly, its just this booming, beautiful and sexy gritty track, its like a gangster movie in trip hop fusion form. Next up is "Beat Of The Black Heart" which starts out with this incredible bass beat that leads to a sublime soul and rap song, its almost like a battle song really, which I gotta admit I been fiending for sense the last album, its just a perfect blend, and its catchy as all hell, with also helps, the acapella in the middle, totally brilliant. This is followed up with "Dragons Are Frail", a rather sexy blues trip hop song that just makes me wanna listen to it over and over again, I love when they use imagery and metaphor for things, its so unique and brilliant when they do it, this is a love song hidden behind the metaphor of a dragon and the lady of the lake and other medieval imagery, its just so out there and yet so awesome at the same time. And finally the last new song on the album is "Try Not To Forget" which starts out alot different then most Aloan songs, it has a distinct and unlike anything else they've done sound to its start, in a sense the closest thing to a simple guitar and vocal song you'll find on an Aloan album, its a sad song about remembering one's self no matter what they go through in life, and the questioning of how far you have to go before you lose who you are and who you feel you are. The album ends with a reworking of Swinger, which I feel is a pretty good way to end the disc honestly.

Now the big question, is this album for everyone? Well, i like to think that as long as you aren't someone thats pigeonholed into one form of music and nothing else, that Aloan is a great band for everyone, but I guess that comes down to personal taste, I would like to think that there is something for everyone, some pop, some rap, some blues, some rock, some electronica, some jazz and rock too. I like to call Aloan one of those groups that takes you on a tour of the music spectrum in the course of their albums, and i'd like to think in the future more groups and artists would move in this direction, it keeps music from getting stagnent and overflowed with sound alikes and boardroom created and marketed bands. So if you want to try something different, and new, and unlike most of what I'm sure you've heard out there in the world, give this album and the band Aloan a try, Ill be posting their other albums soon to combine with this one and their earlier effort "Better In Springtime" soon.

And if you aren't convinced by my review, here is a look at the video for Swinger..




Artist: Aloan
Album: Pretty Freaks
Genre: trip hop, blues, funk, rock, jazz, hip hop
Homepage: Aloan.ch
Myspace: Aloan On Myspace
Download: Album download here

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BC

Jeanius - Jean Grae

As you all know, I'm very picky about my hip hop, growing up one of those kids with a notebook full of rhymes that traveled from cypher to cypher, to this extent, its made me very critical of my lyrical content when it comes to hip hop, and made me reject 95% of whats played on the radio and labeled hip hop. and though I am very vocal about the fact the better rappers and lyricists are out of the United States these days, I happily will admit when I find a great mc based here. I've known for many years of the legend that is Jean Grae, the female MC from New York City with a flow that I might actually have trouble finding a female or even male MC that can match it. Makes alot of sense really, Jean's musical pedigree is abit hard to touch, born in South Africa to two well known jazz musicians, and learning on her way up from artists like Talib Kweli, and The Roots (ironically the roots also started off the career of Jean's sound-a-like Eve also.) It seemed destiny for Jean to get into the business, and with 8 albums to her name (2 mixtapes, 5 albums and 1 album dropping in late sept.) its safe to say that Jean's reached her destiny.



I've decided to give you all the kind of controversial album "Jeanius", which saw its offical release in early 2008, but bootlegs have been available sense 2004, its an album she's done with production maven 9th Wonder, one of the greatest producers i've come across in many years, but then I do love his other work, so yeah.. as a whole "Jeanius" is a great disc, very easy flowing and enjoyable, the beats are tight and work perfectly with that lyrics which are as sharp and onpoint, as in the standard when it comes to Jean. Even from the intro, you hear how perfectly everything fits together, its followed up with "2-32's" a great banging track with rapper Daily Planet, the uptempo flow works amazingly well with the piano and bass guitar backing. That sets the flow and tone for the album, deep intellectual tracks, mixed with uptempo bangers that'll get play everywhere that people care about actual lyric content and not about who's shoes they're wearing.



Its hard to really go into detail with this album, its not that its not good or worthy of listening too, its just that you gotta really listen too it to fully get what Jean's saying with it, its a blueprint of who she is, kind of a hard to pick apart something of that nature, when really you must listen too it completely to understand it, its kind of akin to Marven Gaye's "Whats Goin On?" or any other classic soul album back in the day. She talks about her childhood, her teenage years, to her miscarriage, love, hate, life and such, its really a beautiful painting of who she is and the world around her. From drug tales to young girls selling themselves at early ages, to everything in between. Its really abit mindblowing as a whole, and you must listen, thats really all I can say.

Will everyone like it? I think if you're a fan of well constructed beats, and inanely good lyrics, then you'll love it, or if you're interested in seeing what real hip hop is about, instead of that on the radio crap, give her a listen. I know I didn't go into alot of description, but seriously its one of those discs you gotta just hear to understand.

here is a video sample....




Artist: Jean Grae
Homepage: http://www.ihiphop.com/jeangrae
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jeangrae
Album: Jeanius
Genre: Rap/New York Rap/Female Rappers/Intelligent Rap
Download: Here


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BC

Mira Craig - Tribal Dreams

I was excited to recently come into ownership of Mira Craig's second album, most of you recall my overly raving review of the Norwegian hotness in a can's debut album, and I was waiting for her second time around to see if the queen of do it yourself music could return with the same or better then she did the first time around, and I must tell you, she did not disappoint, as I assumed she wouldn't, she did infact, grow, there is alot of maturity and growth in this second release Tribal Dreams, and I assume that she will continue to grow. There are heavy influences of American hip hop, Eurodance, Drum and Bass, and like 5 different types of Latin music, obviously her time on tour with American and Spanish acts through out Europe has helped her... well more then that knee shattering stagedive did anyway.

Now lets get into the album itself shall we? It starts out with an introduction track as most albums do, I rather like this because its very dark and sinister (more sinister then Nathanial Essex even!) drum and bass meets horror movie score kind of thing with Mira's eerie upper range mixed in for a chorus of just the right feel. The first actual track on the album is "Dada", a very upbeat jazzy bass track thats very dance friendly, sure the track is about sex and the lyrics are very suggestive in their own unconventional way, but still, an awesome track. The second track is "Leo" the defining track of the album, don't get all wigged out, I just mean defining in this is the track that you'll be hearing for years in clubs nonstop, not that its the peak of the disc, Leo is your standard issue club dance track that is gonna get women all over the world up on the dancefloor shaking the junk in their trunks better then any song this year will, the track just drips pools of American hip hop and Latin dance all over the floor around your speakers. The next track is "Fatty Girl" another song thats gotten alot of air play through out the world, well the world thats not the US anyway, damn US radio and its blandness, this track is very American hip hop influenced, you can hear alot of her time touring with Snoop Dogg in this one, even over its thick guitar heavy dirty south style beat that blows the top of your head off, the heartbeat baseline ending is awesome as well. The next song is "Dream", a very nice acoustic guitar and bass track which has Mira proving again the differences in her range, she goes from her normal deep vocal to her higher church chorus vocal range as well, she runs the whole gambit in a very nice love song about her dreams of this guy who she's really into. Thats followed by "Look At Me Now" a very sexy song, akin to snake charmer off her first album, that sexy Turkish/Trinidad traditional meets club beat over a very sexy song thats also one of her more empowering and positive songs, I love how she can mix lyrics about being a strong woman and enough sexuality to remind you just how this song is ment to be danced too into one song so perfectly. Next is "I'm So Ghetto" the beat is something like a mix of dirty south American rap and something like Jill Scott, which might not sound right, but I have to tell you, this works, she also pays homage to her father's home of Baton Rouge Louisiana on this, the track might sound like a skip over or album filler to some, but I see it for what it is, an experiment and attempt to grow her style and grow as an artist, I love it just for that alone. Its followed up with "Run and Hide" which is kind of mix of tribal, call and response and angry American hip hop, the beat to this track is just so amazing, the chorus is as well, a definite favorite. This is followed by "What My Name" one of those tracks that is just booming high level blast out of your speakers awesome, very much in this new club meets hip hop and Latin and jamacian dancehall that Mira has created through out this disc, this is kind of the song you expect to see a fight scene or a boxing match between two women set too, its just complete booming bad ass kick you in the mouth and make you spit out teeth music, I love it! Next is "Tell Me", which is as close to a downtempo track as you'll get on this album, its very sexy and very seductive in its own way, this is the kind of song you see a very hot sex scene in one of those movies where the whole time you're waiting for the two main characters to get together, its almost to sexy for this album really, meaning that it almost doesn't fit the feel of the rest of it, if that makes sense. The last song is "My Lion King", another of the sexy bass heavy Turkish/Trinidad snake charmer style slow dance tracks mixed with bit of europian traditional guitar and African drums in there as well, and unfortunately, when you're all prepped up and ready for a second disc, it doesn't happen, the album ends on this track and you're left wanting more.

As a whole I believe Tribal Dreams is a big step forward for Mira as an artist, she's kept true to what made her stand out to me from the first album, built upon that and made it more polished as well as infused more international styles learned from those who she's worked with the world over, and added more drum and bass and club style tracks to her arsenal as well. My only complants about the album would be there is no slower side, last time around we had afew slow, almost diva style R&B tracks that show Mira's vocal range with out the booming and swelling backing music, i did miss that given that she really has an incredible range, I was also hoping for atleast one track with someone else, not saying that Mira needs help or anything because she most definitely does not, but it would be interesting at this point to see what Snoop Dogg or Wyclef or Timberland or one of the other musicians she's met and gained the respect of the world over could do side by side with her, I was almost fiending for maybe a middle eastern style dance track with Nancy Ajram or Ruby, or a reggatron track with Ivy Queen (sorry Tamara lol), or maybe a Japanese style dance track with Ayumi Hamasaki, or even one of them all girl hip hop remixes with maybe MC Trey, Mia Jupiter, Jean Grae, and afew other under respected and unknown to most female rappers.. but in any event, the album is still a great leap forward and an incredible listen.

Do I think this album is for everyone? Hell yes. Mira makes some of the best music in the modern era and has never been a let down for me, add to it that she's the best selling do it yourself artist, meaning she makes everything and records in her home all by herself, that just adds to the awesomeness that she has and shows just how dedicated to her craft she is. That alone deserves respect, if not atleast giving her your ear for alittle while. I said it before and I still say it now, I want and expect big things from her and many years of music as well, I don't think i'm gonna be let down. Give her a try if you haven't already.



Tribal Dreams by Mira Craig

Artist: Mira Craig
Album Tribal Dreams
Genre: Dancehall,Drum and Bass,Hip Hop,Latin House,Latin Dance,Reggatron,Eurodance,Turkish Dance,Trinidad Dance,Rap,DIY Music


By: BC

Redikuluz: A First Look

Afew years ago, all of us here at surreal soundz crossed paths with an up and coming rapper from out of the Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada area, a rapper who calls himself Redikuluz, and we've been lucky enough to watch his progression from a young man who had flow, to a young man who works day and night to make his craft something that though unorthodox compared to what we here in the states find in our underground, and isn't exactly like anything you'd find in the UK underground either, he is, in alot of ways, a musically created singularity in a the mostly untapped hip hop world of the great north.

The first thing you must understand when listening to a track by Redikuluz, or Redz for short, is that he has a delivery unlike anyone you have ever heard, its useless to try and figure out who influenced him or who he's based his flow off, there is no one. Second thing you need to understand is, his content is very similar to a Mos Def of Common Sense, everything from depressed children, to single parents, to suicidal thoughts to faith in god and enough freestyle to make things interesting when listening. I should also mention that afew of the 15 tracks in this are with his former crew SCA (Soul City Allstars), and alot have other local rappers and singers from around the greater Vancouver area.

Some stand out tracks for me personally, "A Story of Billy", one of his more recent tracks, but its a good starting point so you can see just how far Redz has come in a scant few years of recording, its the story of Billy (duh!), a lonely kid who's spent alot of time in his room writing lyrics and working on his flow and how it eventually paid off for him and how at the end, you can gain everything but still be empty inside, a sad but true fact. Another is "Sandy Lou" a track about a single mother where he's joined by the very vocally gifted Gina Yorston, Sandy Lou is the story of a woman who grows up the daughter of drug addicts and how she lives through her live that becomes sex and drugs, and then eventually becomes pregnant, as often in those cases, and how she takes a second chance to become so much better then the life she was raised into. Make no mistake Redz is in perfect form but so is Gina on this, I remember how I was blown away when i first heard how good it was, this is one of those early career defining tracks right here. "Still Ain't Happy" is a song which Redz does with fellow rapper H.Notik, who is also rather gifted, sounds abit like a southern style rapper, maybe one of the ones from Nappy Roots, can't place who exactly, the song is about how you have to stand tall through the struggles that we all go through everyday and the things one has to go through to get to where they want to be, I always loved the beats on the track, it fits so perfectly with their lyrics and delivery. "I'm A Warrior" is another favorite of mine, its a complete detour from Redz normal flow, its alot faster over a very fast blockparty breakdancing circle beat. Its your standard "Don't fuck with me" track, but like everything Redz does, there is more thought put into the lyrics and is far from your normal "fuck you nigga cause I can" fair you find normally in tracks of this nature in the modern hip hop world. I also included my favorite track of his, "Still Standing", this track for me, was the harbinger of what Redikuluz would grow to become, knowing his story behind it and knowing this song is, of sorts a rebirth for him and his craft, it speaks more about Redz and what he's gone through then anything else, though simplistic in compare to alot of his newer tracks, I still find it my favorite.

I included a very good mix of his work spanning from few year back to as recent as last week and afew freestyles he did just for fun, to give you a full idea of what kind of artist Redikuluz is, and the length that he's come even though he's not fully at his peak yet, i am infact putting this out because I believe that though there is still a long road for him before getting to where he will be by the time he matures as an MC, there is really no harm in giving a guy that lives for his music and works harder then most rappers selling millions, his first props.

So give Redz a try if you want something thats completely unlike any rapper you've heard, or if you want to remember what REAL hip hop is.

Redikuluz: A First Look

Artist: Redikuluz
Genre: Hip Hop,Breakbeat,Christian
Album: 15 Track Compilation


By: BC

Aloan - Better In Springtime

Aloan is a acid jazz trip hop band out of Geneva Switzerland, who after the release of their third album, "Better in Springtime" are starting to gain a following throughout Europe and making their way to the more enlightened ears through out the Americas and the Eastern world as well. They have a sort of unique mix of styles who makes them stand out from many of the others in their field. A delightfully refreshing mixture of blues, jazz, trip hop, rap, ambient, classical, and soul with small hints of atmosphere tossed in there where it just makes it gold. Its no wonder that "Better in Springtime" is being called the album which will get them noticed.

The album starts out with a beautiful acid jazz track called "One Dance for Destiny" a song that reminds me alot of Eryka Badu in both vocals and in music, a truly beautiful track about giving one last chance with someone she just can't give up, incredibly done, the right mix of old and new, great way to start off an album, and also the best way to set the tone that will carry through to entire disc, many times through out your musical journey you'll find yourself coming back to this, normally with some incredibly well done rap put in there too, from there we jump to two club ready disco tracks "Rise" and "The Good Day" both great in their own respects, though i would personally give the edge to "The Good Day" but thats just me. From there we go to "In Time" a very mellow downtempo acid bluestronica track, all the things you need for a good track are here, the beat, the perfectly done vocals, the right touches to the music at the right moments, just beautifully done. the next track bring us back to the style from the start of the disc again but with alittle more aggressive this time "I'm Your Tears" its called, the beat is hypnotic and the rap is dropped in at just the right spots, very well done. "I'll Never Be A Woman" is a very dark and smokey electronica song hidden as a blues song, I love the bridge of this, it just drives me insane with how great it is, this is the kind of song you would find as the background music in the sex scene of some indie movie, its just amazing. "Tonight I'll Kill You" is probably the harshest track on the album, and about as close to angry aggressive rap you'll find on here, which I like, not that I mind harsh hard rap, but well, this just makes the concept awesome, not bad for a song about not really believing in god I think, angry rap that makes you think, who knew that was possible in this day and age eh? From there we jump downtempo again with "Hopefully" a very lovely song that starts out with this great classical and piano bit, which highlights the vocals to a level thats almost acapella, which makes me wonder just how great it would have sounded that way, as the song progresses you find bits of crashing almost nightwish like guitars tossed in at the right spots, and an angry bit of rap tossed in, this is a song is a true adventure in sonic manipulation and I love it for that! "Get On Top" is a very awesome base heavy lowrider ready rap track thats just awesome and would get played on any rap station anywhere in the world and get tons of play, course that'll never happen, but hey, a guy can dream right? "Dreaming" is a nice contrast to the track before, a very lovely track that again brings us back to the flavor from the begining of the album, there are more hints of the trip hop and electronic in this one though, I love how they expand the sonic envelope abit, then come back to the feel at the start again, its such a great trip to be taken on. "Sick Little Doll" sounds alot like a soul song straight out of the 1970s golden age of soul, there are bits of Tammy Tarell and later career Diana Ross before she started doing horrible disco tracks in there, and little bits of Roberta Flack and Minnie Riperton in there too, very nice, I also love how it was run through a filter to give it that old scratchy record feel, it just adds to just how great this is. "We Got What You Want" is a really nice autobiographical track, its a very middle eastern infused laid back rap track that jumps between the bands history to political fuses to just plain boombastic hip hop. The album ends with "Better in Springtime", a lovely track that starts out like a blues song and ends up something akin to "Black Velvet" that great one hit wonder track by the underated and shouldn't be forgotten but is Alannah Myles, its a lovely end to an album that takes us all over the musical map and leaves us wanting more.

I'm not sure if everyone will like this, I know I did, and I would guess that most people would give it a chance, there is after all something for everyone in it, which is a rarity in the world of music these days, I would even go far enough to say its actually worth going and buying a copy of it, but to a sad end, most music shops probably wouldn't have something this obscure, shame too. Give it a try, see if you like it, they've got two other albums out there if you like this one.

Aloan - Better in Springtime

Artist: Aloan
Album: Better In Springtime
Genre: Trip Hop,Electrojazz,Jazz,Blues,Bluestronica,hip hop,Disco,Club


by: Just A Simple Poet

White Trash Beautiful by Everlast

Everlast might be well known in some respects to many of you, either from his days as the front man for the unforgettable hip hop group House of Pain, or from his amazing blues/hip hop/rock solo album "Whitey Ford Sings the Blues" in which is fused rock, old school hip hop and rock together and made amazing tracks like "What its like" and "The ends" both of which gained him a good amount of solo success in the summer of 2000 if I remember my times correctly. Now, what most people don't know is that after that album, and the failure of his follow up album do to lack of promotion or radio support, Everlast still kept on making music. And not just music, he kept making good music. Its very hard to understand the idea of a rapper fusing blues and rock and rap together, but I guess if Kid Rock can fuse all of those things and country together and make it work, I guess anything is possible in this day and age. Now, though Everlast has done afew albums in his time since his time in the spotlight for Whitey Ford Sings The Blues and the tracks off of it, I wanted to present to you all the album that just speaks to me the most, after all, isn't that really what this is blog is for?

White Trash Beautiful is a very down to earth grass roots look at life kind of album, songs about love, relationships and how they seem to go wrong, fear of death before your time, everyday hardships that cause people to do some horrible things, and just enough old school hip hop tossed in to make things worthwhile and remind us just where Everlast came from. Its a beautifully dark picture of his world and his vision of the rest of us, and I just love it! The first track off the album starts out with "Blinded by the Sun" a lovely track about some of the darker things he's heard as he travels around, its very much like "the ends" in lyrical style, but more upbeat, I like that. The next track is "broken" a sort of love song, where you can here Everlast's vocals straining in a way that seems very fitting for this song, giving it a very human quality to this song about how he wants to make up with his girlfriend, its a really beautiful song, you should give it a listen. The next is the title track "White Trash Beautiful", a love song about a woman pregnant woman who works at a dinner, and the man who tries to drive home to her as much as possible, and the love they have. Followed by "Sleeping Alone" a lovely blues style rap song trying to get this girlfriend to come back to him while she is dodging his calls, Everlast's flow is still one of the best I've ever heard, over 15 years after "Jump Around" he still has it. "The Warning" is a nice blues club style inspirational rap track, its very hypnotic actually, I rather enjoyed it personally. "Angel" brings us back to the blues rock with a nice hip hop beat flushed in, telling the tale of how he lost the perfect woman while describing the woman he desires in life. "This Kind of Lonely" is another of those tracks that reminds you just how human and emotional Everlast's lyrics are, its a very introspective song, you feel for him by the end of it. "Soul Music" is a very dark nod head low rider angry rap track with a very nice flow to it and pays respect to those who rocked the mic with him in the 80s and those who he wanted to be like. The last few tracks on the album are standard fair for this outing following the same concepts and formula of blues, rock and hip hop all together, "Lonely Road" is my favorite of the later tracks, a sort of uplifting coming to terms with the things he was dealing with all album sort of track, a light at the end of the tunnel if you will. A nice addition.

Do I think this album is something everyone could listen too? If they're up for a unquie mixture of various types of music that you hear mixed together alot these days, but done in a style thats not exactly what sells these days, then yeah, I think this would be for everyone, I can't see why it wouldn't be actually, there is atleast one or two songs on the disc that each person can take away and enjoy near as i figure. So give it a shot, see how it goes down, and show some love from a guy who shouldn't have dropped off.


Artist: Everlast
Album: White Trash Beautiful
Genre: Blues,Hip Hop,Rock,Indie Rock,Blues Rock,Blues Hop

Everlast - White Trash Beautiful

*Half of these tracks might actually be labled as the song after them, I noticed this after already uploading the album, be aware of that please.

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BC

Foreign Heights

Many years ago, I became bored with the hip hop scene here in the united states, its not that I lost my love for it, I shall never do that, I just felt that the scene had degraded to nothing more then a marketing tool filled with 3 to 5 minute adds that crammed as many high priced products into each video and each verse as possible, I felt that was insulting to the listener and to legacy of hip hop as a whole. I got tired of seeing "artists" like 50 Cent and Nelly who base their sales more on a faked image and songs about shoes and 5 minute songs that are a verse and a half of nonsense lyrics and a hook repeated over and over, become multi million seller wile countless artists who take the time to well craft each track lyrically and beatwise and try to make every album and experience that doesn't insult the listener, are starving. I don't get it, and thats why I turned outside of the United States for hip hop, I figured hip hop is global, there has to be some good stuff out there right? Boy was I right! You've all seen me post albums by artists from Denmark, Norway, Canada, Trinidad but living in Denmark, I got afew coming up soon from the UK and Sweden even, but when you think of Hip Hop, you don't normally think of the land down under (where women roll and men plunder!), but believe it or not, the Australian hip hop scene is blowing up and with the power of the internet and networking places like myspace and the like, is set to possibly take the world in a maelstrom that merges that well crafted underground american sound (living legends, ect) and the old school hip hop feel of beats that make you wanna blast them with the bass up, and enough aussie slang to make you know where they're from.

At the front of this charge are a group called Foreign Heights out of Sydney NSW, its a "supergroup" of sorts, all three members are solo artists in their own rights, Nick Toth is their DJ and sometimes male emcee, the beautiful Maya Jupiter and needing alittle more mic time MC Trey do most of the rapping, they're a sort of Salt'n'Pepa with a male DJ if I had to find something that most would know to describe them. And I must say, I do love them as a group, its very hard to find their solo work though, that kind of let me down because I was looking forward to it, but I shall endeavor to hunt and eventually bring to all of you whatever I find, I think they are that damn good both alone and as a group, thats a big thing from me, because I do hate the concept of most supergroups, for one, even a foreign one to grab me, trust me, its good.

The album itself, is self titled "Foreign Heights" and it kicks you in the face from the very start, the first track "It Goes On" (with Mr. Zux) though a normal crew flow track, blasts you out the box right at the first note and doesn't stop for a minute, flows beautifully into the second track "Get Yours" a track about how everyone needs to stand up on their own and get their own in life is a great guitar and scratch track that will keep your head nodding the whole time and singing along by the end, it flows right into "The Feelin" a great chill hip hop track that is great to just sit back and chill too the beats are light and relaxed and the lyrics are great too, it actually compliments the previous two tracks really well showing they can chill as well as bring the hard beats, excellently done, "Main Street" speeds things up abit more still a chill style but faster then the one before, its a track about where they each grew up, they all rap about what life is like and mention various things about the areas and life there, its really a nice track, the lyrics will miss most though if you can't listen fast or find a lyric sheet, still a great track. The next track "Mess with my Flow" is a nice crew freestyle track, featuring Maya, Trey and Eternia, I've heard of eternia before, I can't remember if she's Canadian or Australian, or maybe there is two, i'm not really sure, its still a great track with all three ladies they all flow rather tight and the beat is a great bass guitar driven track. The rest of the tracks on this 13 track disc are all rather great too, there are afew other guest shots from fellow aussie rappers of various sorts, all rather good on various levels, afew other stand out tracks near the end are "Journey On" which sounds almost like Timberland on Bubba Sparxxx first album, the song itself is a very deep track that seems very biographical and uplifting, a very nice addition and it was smartly placed near the middle of the album, "In His World" is a love song that reminds me of a mix of TLC (the Crazy Sexy Cool era) and Natile Ozborn and Urban Underground (notably their song "True Love"), and "LaLa" a very uplifting song about keeping your head up and not letting life get you down, I do love when they mix tracks of these sorts into albums that are mostly kick ass club ready hip hop, it shows just how well versed the artists are, a true joy to listen too.

As a whole, I was surprised at how great this album really is, I got it passed my way and was told to give it a listen, I wasn't expecting what I got, I love when that happens, when an album surprises me in a good way. Always a welcome surprise. I'd say give this a shot if you're a fan of REAL hip hop, stuff you don't hear on the radio and doesn't rely on gun and drug talk or degrading women to get noticed, if you're a fan of rappers that just wanna rap and flow and live for beats and lyrics that are real and honest and hard at the same time. Seriously give it a shot, it'll surprise you.


Artist: Foreign Heights
Album: Self Titles
Genre: Hip Hop, Aussie Hop Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Beats

Foreign Heights by Foreign Heights

By BC