The Very Good Agency

Lyrics Born – Everywhere at Once

Callin’ Out to all fans, that tireless tourer Lyrics Born (who averages 150 shows a year!) is once again gracing Australian shores with his own brand of infectious, funky fun. The road to hip-hop success has obviously not always been an easy one for LB, how many other half Japanese- American, half Italian-American rappers do you know of? But it is this unique perspective that has allowed Lyrics, born Tom Shimura, to come up with the genre-splicing, energy jolt that is his latest solo submission ‘Everywhere at Once.’

The doubters and nay-sayers have only fueled the fires on an album that is well, everywhere at once. Seemlessly shifting from our favourite dance floor bangers such as the opening track ‘Differences’ and the first single ‘I Like It, I Love It,’ to the Rick Jamesish ‘I’m A Phreak,’ to the reggae inspired ‘Top Shelf,’ with sprinklings of sultry R’n’B thrown in for good measure. Here is an album where the production finally lives up to the energy of his stage shows through the use of a live funk band as opposed to his heavily sampled earlier offerings such as his first solo album ‘Later That Day,’ that had glimpses of brilliance but not enough to carry the whole album.

Lyrics Born – I like it, I love it

Lyrics Born is at his best laying his husky growl over smooth, soulful grooves, hence ‘Is It The Skin I’m In,’ and ‘Whispers,’ are major highlights for me. With subject material ranging from his dealings with racism, the grief of losing his best friend to staying true to yourself as in ‘Don’t Change,’ the albums themes are as diverse as the sounds it makes. The album is also well served with back-up vocal talent with appearances from his wife Joyo Velarde and everyone’s favourite cameo man, Chali 2na also supplying the deepest voice in town on the track ‘Hott 2 Deff.’ My only real criticism is the inclusion of a couple of skits that I always find a little self-indulgent and only serve to disrupt what is an otherwise awesome offering. Nevertheless this album is sure to get plenty of air-time at summer social events and will be enjoyed by male and female fans alike.

With shows starting in Byron Bay on the 3rd of August, on to Hobart, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne then wrapping up in Sydney on the 9th, there is ample opportunity to catch Lyrics Born in full-flight, and with tickets around $40 it should be an affordable blast.

For more information on Lyrics Born and official tour dates check out:

www.lyricsborn.com

www.oztix.com.au

Alesha…

Tags: Funk, hip hop

Beck – Modern Guilt

I have a sneaking suspicion that Danger Mouse (if that is his real name) is more than one actual person, possibly many fictitious people. I base this wild accusation on the amount of music produced lately with the name attached. Apparently he has produced at least four albums released this year (not counting the latest Gnarls Barkley effort) including the recent Black Keys ‘Attack in release’ and more to the point the new Beck record ‘Modern Guilt’, released 8th of July.                                                  Beck and Dangermouse

Beck’s tenth studio album released on his 38th birthday, will go down in the long line of experimental yet consistent Beck projects, that mostly slip past commercial attention, each time as they change theme and styles, being reborn as a different musical creature. This time the chameleon returns with the definite influence of the also prolific and talented mister Danger Mouse, who adds some of his own finesse and a more than few hand claps.

Opening tracks like “Gamma Ray” and “Orphans” are sure to get a few shoes tapping, and the general modern-jazz-noir artwork should an association with many sophisticated occasions. By the sound of Becks official publicity blurb, he must have had a great time or been a little tired: “and so, 120 nights of no sleep and seeing the dawn try not make an impression, there was some hollow hewn thing there that seemed a little basic”.

Beck Modern Guilt promo

Both artists suit this modern take on 60’s Brit-Rock creating a well rounded effort that should be liked by most fans and as usual gain a few converts to the cause.\

You can check out more of Beck at:

www.myspace.com/beck

www.modernguilt.com

… Yosarrian

Tags: Collaborations, DJ, folk, hip hop

Revive Da Live Crew – Jazz + Hip Hop

Infamous rapper, singer, actor, and rights activist Mos Def played Carnegie Hall last Saturday with his very own big band. www.okayplayer.com reported the highlight of the night however, to be an afterparty he played with Robert Glasper Experiment. Being involved with so many projects over his already accomplished career, it is wonder how he continually re-invents himself in various experimental art forms, yet always maintains such a high standard of performance.

Mos Def with Chris Dave & Robert Glasper – Thieves In The Night

This pairing of hip hop and jazz musicians was organised by Revive Da Live crew! who often pair the styles for intimate tours and track collaborations. Previously they have been responsible for pairing Guru with Grammy award winning trumpet player Roy Hargrove, and work with a range of jazz musicians, groups, poets and old school rappers including Q-tip

Guru and Roy Hargrove

With artists like this on their roster, Revive Da Live Crew are going to be well worth keeping an eye on, and Very Good will be sure to announce any projects that they bring to Australia.

You can check out what Revive Da Live are up to at:

www.myspace.com/revivedalive

…bs

Tags: Collaborations, hip hop, Jazz

Immortal Technique – Al Jazeera News piece

Controversial rapper and political theorist Immortal Technique, has again spoken publicly on his views with regard to the current political situation in America, this time on Al Jazeera News, a 24 hour Middle Eastern news channel broadcasted in English. Known for his strong opinions and raw style of poetry rap, Immortal Technique often touches on themes of the struggles of Latin American people especially with equality and finding their sense of identity in the US.

Immortal Technique’s intensity always seems to be calmed by his powerful use of the English language. He is not alone in the hip hop world in being vocal in recent, and especially the current US election. A collaboration formed by Will.I.am of Black Eyed Peas creating ‘YES WE CAN’, a musical score written to a presidential election speech given by Barack Obama.

Really highlights why Immortal is known for his raw style. If you plan on listening to more of his album’s… make sure you listen to them alone first, so you know when to skip some graphically detailed tracks in different social groups, honestly.

You can check out more of Immortal Technique’s music at:

www.myspace.com/immortaltechnique

www.immortal-technique.com

…bs

Tags: hip hop, Political

Hope Shorter

With so many American artists trying to get their break onto the world scene, we don’t get to see many of the better artists that are coming out of the USA. With an abundance of options for countries to tour with far greater populations and therefore audiences, Australia and New Zealand are often overlooked in the touring circuit also, especially for artists who do not fall into a main stream category. Hope Shorter is one of these amazing artists who we can only hope to see playing on our shores at some stage.

Playing mainly accoustic originals, Hope (the name she often goes by) brings a style of simplicity to the table that would leave you wanting if it weren’t for the fullness of expression she delivers vocally so effortlessly. The simplest collaboration of a person and their guitar bringing silence to a hall for just three and a half minutes in one of the pieces that brought her to the worlds attention “Rain don’t last”.

Residing in Los Angeles, Califonia, Hope is a far cry from the masses of hyped up trash that typically is generated under the guise of Hip Hop, Soul and R&B there, Thankfully it appears that the major record labels got it right this time with her debut album entitled “Hope”  being picked up by Atlantis Records and recently released .

You can check out some more from Hope Shorter at:

www.myspace.com/hearhope

www.hope-music.com

…bs

Tags: Soul