Freestyle Fellowship: The Promise (Decon, 10/18/11)

Freestyle Fellowship: "Step 2 the Side"

After two decades and three LPs under its belt, the Freestyle Fellowship has turned into one of the longest-running hip-hop crews with the release of its latest record, The Promise. Previously the vision of innovative new-school rhyming in what seems like the old Wild West of hip hop, the Fellowship embodies the progressive early-'90s West Coast movement when hip-hop culture wasn't an international trend, and when nation-conscious raps imbibed a certain sense of freedom and lyrical style reigned supreme.

But it’s been quite some time since those open-mic nights at the Good Life Café in South Central Los Angeles, where the Freestyle Fellowship, like many others (Chali 2na, Cut Chemist), got their start. Comprised of Aceyalone, Myka 9, PEACE, Self Jupiter, and producer J Sumbi, the Fellowship maintains a relevant influence as one of the initiators of jazz-rooted hip hop, aimed to challenge the art form with new approaches to rhyme, rhythm, and meter. Along with East Coast counterparts such as A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, and Gang Starr, the Freestyle Fellowship filled a niche between commercialized radio rap and hardcore gangster rap, elevating the game with highly intellectual and esoteric prose.

The Promise marks the longest period between Fellowship records, longer than the eight-year hike between the 2001 return Temptations and the 1993 landmark classic Innercity Griots, and it serves as a continuum in more ways than others. Lyrically, one can expect the same kind of off-beat rhyme parlaying that the crew has mastered. It’s essential to realize that the group’s style dynamics were founded on the ability to improvise, and it translates into its studio albums, so you won’t hear each emcee finishing each other’s sentences, a la the Treacherous Three or more recently the Jurassic 5. Instead, the Fellowship is a collective of four diverse emcees each with his own style and attack, usually delivered at a mind-bending pace.

Musically, the Freestyle Fellowship is showing a new level of concentration. Along with the record’s set of diverse samples and boom-bap beats, chunky synthesizers and electro-thinking production nods make for an overall sound never heard before from the group. “Government Lies” is powerful and commanding, beginning a cappella like an old-school cypher session before launching into a heavy electronic backbeat equipped with dirty synth lines. “We Are” shows each emcee’s creative dexterity over a slick drum-and-bass rhythm. The Exile-produced “Step 2 the Side” is an album standout that locks in a choice India-flavored sample and a deep double-kick groove. Each emcee takes a turn lashing out his verbal gymnastics, sending a simple old-school message to any sucker emcees or would-be DJs who haven’t a clue what they’re doing.

Cuts like “Candy,” and “Know the Truth” will touch a nerve with old-school hip-hop-heads in both beat production and feeling. Yet it’s clear that the Fellowship isn’t trying to resurrect anything that it has done in the past. The group continues to rap with intelligence and meaning, dropping knowledge on everything from popular culture to politics and sharing wisdom on tracks like “Daddies,” which stands up to a broadly ignored subject in hip hop: fatherhood (or step-fatherhood). As a proper return to style and grace, The Promise provides evidence that substance in hip hop still exists — perhaps best put by Aceyalone on the record’s closing title track: “and all the hours spent rhyming for a good intent / is to invent and therefore represent.”

The Books: The Way Out (Temporary Residence)

Employing a peculiar mix of acoustic instruments, electronics, samples, and splicing, The Books has managed to sound quite like nothing else while drawing upon sound collage, folk, glitch, and more.

The Way Out, the duo's first album in five years, is heavily influenced by humor and a self-help/new-age theme.  Some moments are almost completely organic, whereas others are as cut-and-pasted as a Matmos track.

At times, The Way Out is polyrhythmic; at others, it's greatly minimalistic yet effective.  There's a well-balanced approach to the vocals, as the duo's singing and spoken-word moments appear between harmonious guest vocals and the abstract/chopped samples.

"A Cold Freezin' Night" is one of the best tracks and an early favorite for many, with twisted yet comedic clips of kids talking about murdering each other.  In concert, this song (and all of the duo's others) takes a life of its own, complemented by a video pastiche that's as varied as the music.

The live show is such a fantastic complement, in fact, that listening to the music after seeing the associated video clips leaves a sensation that half of the product is missing.  It's ironic that an originally recording-based duo has become inseparable from its live presentation, but it's a testament to the cleverness and creative prowess of The Books.

The Books: "Beautiful People"
The Books: \"Beautiful People\"

Mose Giganticus: Gift Horse (Relapse)

Begun as an electronic project more than 10 years ago, Mose Giganticus is the sonic alter-ego of Matt Garfield, a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter who has since assembled a metal/hardcore band around his creations.

Gift Horse is Garfield's debut on Relapse.  Only two albums precede it, but Gift Horse is the heaviest Mose Giganticus album to date, with down-tuned guitar grooves pounding alongside synth harmonies and calculated drum punishments.

Garfield's vocoder makes a few appearances, and the electronics remain pivotal, but the kraut/prog-rock sound is bulked up substantially.  Gift Horse is first and foremost a metal album — making a strong first impression on the Relapse roster.

Mose Giganticus: "White Horse"
white_horse

Rakaa: Crown of Thorns (Decon)

As one of the two MCs in Dilated Peoples, Rakaa Iriscience has bordered on mainstream success while maintaining an independent appeal.

With the Peoples doing their own things these days, Rakaa has delivered his first solo album — a straightforward, original disc of hip-hop jams with a diversity of samples and sounds, whether they're hard-hitting, funky, or jazzy.

Rakaa's hand-picked group of producers — including Evidence and DJ Babu of the Peoples — provides a good balance throughout Crown of Thorns, and each track fits Rakaa's deliberate delivery in its own way.  Other high-profile guests bring their own contributions, including those from KRS-One, Chali 2na, and Fashawn.

Rakaa: "Crown of Thorns" f. Aloe Blacc
crown_of_thorns

Kacey Johansing: Many Seasons (Porto Franco)

Listeners may notice Kacey Johansing's name — or lilting, dulcet vocals — from independent folk groups such as Honey.Moon.Tree and Honeycomb, or in collaboration with artists such as Vera Gogh, The Blank Tapes, and Sleepy Todd.

Either way, fans of the softer stuff will soon take note of Johansing outside the context of others, as Many Seasons, her solo debut, presents an artist who is well versed in melody, harmony, and heart-stirring vocalizations.

Johansing holds at least a basic proficiency in keyboard, drums, guitar, and bass, allowing her to build full pieces — in her words, "indie/soul with strong roots in folk" — before adding guest spots of strings, vibraphone, and more.  Many Seasons will make others start paying attention.

Kacey Johansing: "Many Seasons"
Kacey Johansing: \"Many Seasons\"

Lloyd Miller & The Heliocentrics: s/t (Strut)

A noted ethnomusicologist and incredibly gifted multi-instrumentalist, Lloyd Miller is a gem of the pre-digital age, a crate-digger's favorite who infused traditional jazz with Persian and Asian influences — a result of time spent abroad in his youth and again in adulthood.

Thanks to the digital age and reissue labels such as Jazzman, younger listeners are discovering — and older folks are rediscovering — the immense talents of Miller.

Now, on the heels of its acclaimed collaboration between Ethiopian bandleader Mulatu Astatke and funk/jazz/psych collective The Heliocentrics, Strut Records has issued another great pairing.  The Heliocentrics is a key player once more, partnering with Miller to craft throwback jazz with instrumental and harmonic accents from around the globe.

The resultant material is accessible but doesn't skimp on virtuosity.  Jazz fans shouldn't miss this.

Lloyd Miller & The Heliocentrics: "Pari Ruu"
pari_ruu

Honorable Mentions

Billy Bang: Prayer for Peace (TUM Records)

Cochemea Gastelum: The Electric Sound Of Johnny Arrow (MOWO! Inc.)

East of the Wall: Ressentiment (Translation Loss)

The High Confessions: Turning Lead Into Gold With The High Confessions (Relapse)

Hillstomp: Darker the Night (In Music We Trust)

Shawn Lee: Sing a Song (Ubiquity)

Mahjongg: The Long Shadow of the Paper Tiger (K)

Mochipet: Cowgirls Gets the Pets (Automation)

Nero Order: The Tower

Portland Cello Project: Thousand Words

Raga Bop Trio: s/t (Abstract Logix)

Secret Cities: Pink Graffiti (Western Vinyl)

Walter Gibbons: Jungle Music: Essential & Unreleased Remixes, 1976-1986 (Strut)

Trentemøller: Into the Great Wide Yonder (In My Room)

Anders Trentemøller has built his name in the Danish electronic scene since 2003. After remixing some high-profile artists (Röyksopp, The Knife, Robyn, and Moby to name a few), he decided to expand his production talents to a full-length album.

The year 2006 saw the release of The Last Resort, an ambitious double-disc collection that showed off his ability to split the difference between headphone-friendly grooves and dance-floor burners.

His new album, Into the Great Wide Yonder, is a dramatic departure from his previous work. The songs are more complex and heavier, with layer upon layer of robust orchestration that includes mandolins, Theremins, vibraphones, strings, synths, and acoustic and electronic drums playing a game of king of the hill.

But those instruments, most of which are performed by Trentemøller, fall to the wayside when confronted by the tremolo-swollen and overdriven guitar riffs. The guitar work, again performed by Trentemøller, sounds like surf rock during a hurricane, dark and immensely powerful, with the shudder of the whammy bar sending trembles through the music.

Tracks grow and mutate in a much less sequenced manner than his previous material. Additionally, the album is much more vocal-centric than The Last Resort, which featured a few distorted and chopped vocal tracks and used them more rhythmically than melodically.

On “Sycamore Feeling,” the new album’s first single, Trentemøller lets guest vocalist Marie Fisker’s smoky voice run free across his placid guitar strumming. The track marries the heartbeat of minimal techno with the meditations of an acoustic guitarist, creating a full band sound that hasn’t been heard in his music before.

English singer Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots) and Danish singers Josephine Philip (Darkness Falls) and Solveig Sandnes also add enrapturing vocals on a few other tracks, and the result is no less stunning.

Trentemøller: "The Mash and the Fury"
Trentemoller: \"The Mash and the Fury\"

Trash Talk: Eyes & Nines (Trash Talk Collective)

With its sophomore "full-length" album — just more than 22 minutes — Sacramento quartet Trash Talk has come into its own as a hardcore powerhouse.

An assailing 2008 full-length, recorded by Steve Albini, put the band on the map after jumping ship from Deathwish Inc. And though that self-titled disc churned out potent thrash riffs, push beats, gruff vocals, breakdowns, and the occasional sludge part, Eyes & Nines is a much stronger exercise in songwriting.

Stoner riffs make a few appearances, most notably in the four-minute, Christianity-assailing "Hash Wednesday," but most durations are cut in the classic punk/HC mold — with one track ("I Do") clocking in at 40 seconds. Over a few passages, guitar effects provide a new-found psychedelic aspect as well as a full-blown rock-and-roll aesthetic.

The style isn't groundbreaking, but the band executes it powerfully. Trash Talk will make you fall in love with hardcore all over again.

Trash Talk: "Explode"
Trash Talk: \"Explode\"

The Waitiki 7: New Sounds of Exotica (Pass Out)

As an offshoot of lounge music, exotica gained mainstream appeal in the 1950s as a romanticized soundtrack to Hawaiian and Oceanic life.

Though devoid of the ukuleles and slack-key guitars that may be most commonly associated with Hawaiian music, The Waitiki 7 — based on the island of Oahu — excel in capturing the "exotic" sounds that Martin Denny helped popularize.

The septet's gorgeous melodies, however, do more than renew a bygone genre. Its radiant brand of exotica crosses into Latin jazz with just as much poise and dexterity, often melding the two with a lineup of vibraphone and xylophone, upright bass, flute, piano, violin, saxophone, vocal and bird calls, drums, and assorted percussion.

The Waitiki 7: "Similau"
The Waitiki 7: \"Similau\"

Integrity: The Blackest Curse (Deathwish Inc.)

Integrity is one of the forebears of the "metal-core" sub-genre, but the band's sound might be best recognized for its vocals — the hellish, pained screams of Dwid Hellion.

And Dwid, after all, has been the one fixed piece in Integrity, which hadn't issued a full album since To Die For in 2003. Five years in the making, The Blackest Curse is another return to form, albeit with another new lineup.

As usual, there are loads of shredding, speed metal, and chugging to go with wailing, runaway rock solos and Dwid's monotone intensity. A few tracks, as on albums past, offer sullen acoustic-guitar melodies, this time accompanied by a few lone cello notes and dark, whispered words from Dwid.

Fans will love The Blackest Curse, and younger metal-core addicts will discover a band that has influenced many of their contemporary favorites.

Integrity: "Simulacra"
Integrity: \"Simulacra\"

Konono No. 1: Assume Crash Position (Crammed)

Founded by Mawangu Mingiedi in the 1970s, Konono No. 1 is a dance-inspiring group from Kinshana, Democratic Republic of the Congo that had all but disappeared until the sudden exposure of Congotronics 1 in 2005 brought global recognition.

Its eclectic array of instruments, heard again this summer with Assume Crash Position, centers on the likembe, a small wooden box with metal tines that are plucked with the musician’s thumbs in order to mimic the region’s traditional horn polyphony.

Konono uses several in its lineup — each one handmade by Mingiedi — that weave back and forth, helping transition call-and-response choruses into electronic jams and filling out the band’s style of "Bazombo trance" music that garnered it a spot on Björk’s Volta and Herbie Hancock’s upcoming The Imagine Project. (Also known as Zombo, the Bazombo are an ethnic group with roots near the Angola border.)

Assume Crash Position is another fine collection of cross-cultural dance tunes. More importantly, it's a testament to the band's longstanding and international appeal.

Konono No. 1: "Mama Na Bana"
Konono No. 1: \"Mama Na Bana\"

Honorable Mentions

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Before Today (4AD)

Ólafur Arnalds: …And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness (Erased Tapes)

Chali 2na: Fish Market Part 2 (Decon)

Fela! Original Broadway Cast Recording (Knitting Factory)

The Funeral Pyre: Vultures at Dawn (Prosthetic)

Kingdom Of Sorrow: Behind The Blackest Tears (Relapse)

Leng Tch'e: Hypomanic (Season of Mist)

Light Pollution: Apparitions (Carpark)

Nachtmystium: Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. 2 (Century Media)

Nina Nastasia: Outlaster (Fat Cat)

Shining (Norway)

Thursday, October 23

Pillars and Tongues, Remindring @ The Hideout

Somber vocal harmonies emanate from aptly named Pillars and Tongues, an experimental trio whose creations exhibit mystical influences. As Remindring, multi-talented bassist Josh Abrams (Town & Country, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble) lays out looped soundscapes with Emmett Kelly and Frank Rosaly.

Fucked Up @ Reggie's Rock Club

Punk-rock misdirection artists Fucked Up hit Chicago two weeks after the release of The Chemistry of Common Life, the group's follow-up full-length to Hidden World. This time around, Fucked Up's material moves through more variety of atmosphere than your standard punk/hardcore, with peaceful, otherworldly intros and layers and layers of guitar. There's less stop-start fury than Hidden World-more sheets of sound-so it will be interesting to see how this vigorous live act performs.

Coliseum starts North American and Japanese tour dates

Louisville hardcore staples Coliseum begin five weeks of performances today, hitting many cities in the USA as well as a few in Canada and Japan. The group doesn't hit Chicago until Nov. 15, but there's a good chance that it will be your city in the near future.

Friday, October 24

Ears & Eyes Festival @ The Hideout

With three outstanding weekend shows at The Hideout, independent jazz/avant-garde label Ears & Eyes Records celebrates its third annual Ears & Eyes Festival. The performances feature groups on the Ears & Eyes roster as well as other local standouts and friends of the label, and one such outside artist, Brooklyn's Parts & Labor, headlines this first night with a catchy mix of indie rock and electronics.

The six-artist, six-hour show also includes bass-and-drums rock duo Black Ladies and free-rock guitarist Tobin Summerfield, but the biggest highlight might be the collaboration between Sunfish Ensemble guitarist David Daniell and Tortoise cofounder/bassist Doug McCombs.

Voodoo Experience begins @ New Orleans' City Park

With a massive three-day lineup that can only really be explored at thetenthritual.com, New Orleans' Voodoo Experience celebrates its 10^th anniversary. If you're in the Big Easy on Friday, the fest's first day, be sure to catch DeVotchKa, Reverend Horton Heat, The Gutter Twins, Man Man, Extra Action Marching Band, and Andre Williams.

Shining (and other picks) at CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival

There are hundreds of bands playing at the dozens of CMJ venues on Friday, the festival's second-to-last day, but we had to single out Norway's Shining at Cake Shop (and again at Knitting Factor on Saturday). The post-prog jazz-rock experimentalists return to New York, one of three cities on their first US tour earlier this year, and it might be a while before they return. If you're in NYC, do yourself a favor and check them out (and pick up Grindstone on Rune Grammofon).

The night's other highlights include sBACH, An Albatross, Akimbo, Phosphorescent, Sole and the Skyrider Band, and Broken Social Scene.

Keep reading…