The Very Good Agency

Atmosphere’s new album – Definitely not a lemon

There are few artists who gain my highest honour; the ‘buy before try’ scenario. Minneapolis based duo Atmosphere is one such example and their latest offering ‘When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold,’ easily returns my faith.

Since ‘You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having,’ Slug and Ant have been consistently drip-feeding fans with a string of 5-song EP’s and the awesome ‘Strictly Leakage.’ Such releases have been hit and miss for me and it is great to have another full-length album that feels cohesive and obviously benefits from greater time spent on writing and production. If you are expecting the jump around beats of classics such as ‘Get Fly’ and ‘Pour Me Another’ beware, ‘Lemons’ moves into darker territory both lyrically and sonically. Ant’s flawless production has moved away from hooky grooves to a more acoustic sound with live instruments; flutes, piano and guitar, these compliment Slug’s sometimes preachy, but always poetic flow. That’s not to say the album doesn’t retain that top-down, cadillac-country feel, especially on tracks such as ‘You’ and ‘Can’t Break.’

It never fails to amaze me that Slug can deliver a poignant and I think, ultimately optimistic message (just look at the title), using such grimy subject matter as pimps, cigarettes and dry heaves, all layered above Ants swelling, hand-clapping beats. Sure he shows moments of despair, for example ‘The Skinny,’ about the hold cigarettes can have over someones life, but this is off-set by glimpses of hope such as my favourite track ‘Wild, Wild Horses,’ ‘go ahead and chase your dreams and your freedom, run run wild wild horses, you can’t tame these horses.’ Apparently god loves a trier. It is his realistic never afraid to call a dick a dick, attitude that tears Slug and his brand of introspective hip hop away from the diamond encrusted wannabes of mainstream hip hop, so much so they barely deserve to be categorised in the same genre. “All of us cut from the same damn cloth, some of us never cut the price tags off.”

Atmosphere
Trying to find a balance

If you were in any doubt that Slug is a bonafide wordsmith, the deluxe edition comes with a 40 page childrens story written and illustrated by the pair, a nice touch for big kid fans like myself. Ultimately, this album is a step-up from previous releases and I’ll definitely part with my cash with the same reckless abandon next time around. Surprise, surprise, another lady loves Slug (and Ant.)
Alesha

You can check out more from Atmosphere at:
www.rhymesayers.com
www.myspace.com/atmosphere

Tags: hip hop, Music video

Foreign Exchange – ‘Leave It All Behind’

Phonte of Little Brother & Dutch producer Nicolay form Foreign Exchange

Dynamic duo Phonte of Little Brother and Dutch producer Nicolay have teamed up to release the follow-up to their critically acclaimed Connected from 2004. Leave It All Behind will hit the shelves later this year, with Nicolay recently posting this on his Myspace: “Let me cut right to the chase… the new FOREIGN EXCHANGE record is almost finished! We are currently working on one of the last tracks, which is the title track, ‘Leave It All Behind’, already one of my personal favourites”.

The first albums’ smooth blend of hip hop, R&B and electronic soul was achieved with the two members having never physically met each other. Brilliant production and Phonte’s compelling lyricism resulted in what is in my opinion a straight-up classic.

Phonte spoke briefly about the album on HipHopDx.com a while ago, when asked if the album would be similar to Connected, Phonte stated: “I can’t tell people what to expect. What I can tell them NOT to expect is ‘Connected Part 2.’ This is a totally different record with a different energy, but it’s still me and Nic doing what we do. I feel like this is the kind of record I’ve wanted to make all my life; I can’t wait for the world to hear it.” That makes two of us, Phonte.

You can check out Nicolay’s site at: www.nicolaymusic.com for more updates. or maybe you want to check out they’re track below… Sincere

Tags: Collaborations, hip hop

Nas

Nas has announced that the controversial title of his new album has had to change. Originally slated to be released as “N*gger”, the Queensbridge MC appears to have finally given way to industry pressure, changing the title to simply “NAS”.

In a statement to AllHipHop.com, Nas said “It’s important to me that this album gets to the fans.”It’s been a long time coming. I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. It’s that important. The streets have been waiting for this for a long time. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it.”

Two of Hip Hop’s controversial rappers unite when Nas and Jay Z perform together

That said, there is certainly a waft of corporate sellout in the air. The title has had much attention since it was announced late last year, and major label demands have obviously played a part in this decision. But it could all have been a big publicity stunt from the beginning? Who knows these days, let’s just hope it’s another classic from the God’s Son. The album will be released in July on Def Jam Recordings.

You can check out more of Nas at:

www.godsson.net

www.myspace.com/nas

also well worth checking out is Road to Zion which Nas featured on with Damian Junior Gong Marley in 2005

Tags: Collaborations, hip hop, Political

Rock The Bells

A Tribe Called Quest re-unite to play Rock The Bells 2008

Guerilla Union have come correct once again with another stellar line-up for the annual Rock The Bells hip hop tour of the States. Backing up from the strong 2007 bill, which included the likes of Rage Against The Machine and the whole Wu-Tang Clan; Rock The Bells will indeed do that. Headlining this year’s event are A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, Ghostface and Raekwon, Meth and Red, Immortal Technique, Murs, De La Soul, and the re-union of the original members of The Pharcyde.

The Pharcyde origional members play Rock The Bells 2008

Fan’s can expect to hear a huge amount of new material from the artists, with new albums on the way from Nas, with the self-titled NAS, due in July; Mos Def with The Ecstatic, supposedly due April; Ghostface and Raekwon reunite for Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, due this American summer; Immortal Technique’s The Third World is due in June; and Meth and Red are back with The Blackout 2, also being released this American summer.

Mos Def – one of many amazing headline acts at Rock The Bells 2008

The festival will hit 9 US cities through July and August, and with tickets priced from US $32.50-$74.50 it’s a bargain that you’d have to be foolish to refuse given the opportunity Lets hope we something of this magnitude on the scene down this end of the world sometime soon.

For more info and the complete 2008 line-up head to www.guerillaunion.com/rockthebells or check out what Rock The Bells 2008 means to the artists at the press conference…

Tags: Festival, hip hop, Old School

True Live Interview

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Hey guys, thanks for taking the time to catch up… for those who have just heard you recently, who’s in True Live, and where did you all hook up?

True Live started as a loose pool of players involved in a regular jam night in melbourne, which progressed to become the core 6 piece unit you see these days. The band is made up of MC Rhyno, Thomas Butt (double bass), Tamil Rogeon (violin), Tim Blake (cello), Joel Mammone (drums) and Thai Mattus (keys). We cut our teeth playing our fingers off at shows around Melbourne every week for about years, as the profile slowly grew around us.

New single “Damn Right” dropped recently, when can we expect a second album?

The new album is in the final stages of production at the moment, and we are hoping for a mid-year release for it.

What’s the plan for the next couple years? Any countries you are interested to work in?

We’re talking to a label in Japan about a tour over there, and we have a few gigs penciled in across Europe and America that we’re working towards at present. It’s early days still for our international presence, as we’ve been really focusing on our presence in Australia and the new record.

You guys really shine in your live performance… Does that have anything to do with your name?

I guess that with a name like ours, which was actually merely a way to describe the original weekly gig we were playing, we have to put on a good show. We are all working musicians who make a living doing what we love, and in this industry if you don’t perform then you don’t get any gigs, so we’ve all learned these lessons the hard way. You have to play every single note as if your life depends on it, cos in a way, it does. And in my opinion it’s this attitude that makes a real performer great.

In the Australian Hip Hop scene you stand out from most other groups as conscious lyrically, and organic musically. Have you got any love for other Australian Hip Hop groups?

We don’t really see ourselves as a hip hop band so much as simply a band, which stops us from getting too bogged down playing a genre and frees us up to think about the music we write and play in a fresh way. Of course we draw from hip hop, but we also listen to a lot of soul, electronica, metal and jazz. We are good friends with many Australian hop hop artists, and plan on working with many more in the future. The upcoming Uni-fied tour is a testament to the universal appeal of what we are trying to do.

What about current international artists… who’s got True Live’s Attention in the Live / Jazz or Hip Hop scene?

I’ve been listening to a lot of J Dilla lately, as well as Gnarls Barkley’s latest release, Pete Philly en Perquisite and the new album by Autechre. They’re all great, strong albums.

Jazz seems to be neglected these days, at least as far as touring goes. How do you find audiences react to your full live instrument performances and solo’s?

The jazz element of a true live show is often a great release, as we place the moments throughout the set to help the whole performance breathe. We find this is much more effective than overkill, where too much of a good thing loses impact. The audience seems to really engage with the soloist, and from the volume of the cheers after a good solo, it appears to be very well received.

I know some of the group members have little side projects outside of True Live. Anything we should look out for that you guys are working on?

Rhyno and Tamil are at working on The Raah Project, where they wrote for and recorded an orchestra, then took the result and chopped and screwed it and added electronic beats, vocals, synths and all sorts of other things. Joel is involved with the Bad Boys Batucada and CMW, a hard edged hip hop project that I’ll be contributing some beats to, and Thai is always busy with his crazy jazzish band the 12 Tone Diamonds.

Were Black Eyed Peas better with or without Fergie?

I wouldn’t like to gossip, but I will say that when I saw them support Roni Size in 1998 (pre- Fergie) they were pretty damn good.

Will True Live ever bring a girl to the group? Who would it be if you did???

We do have female guest and backing vocals on our current album, and the new album will also have girls adding to the sound. generally it has all been to the end of creating a good solid bed to support Rhyno’s vocals, as opposed to an attempt to sex up an all-boy band. We have been touring with Bec Ari recently, who has been great.

Cool, thanks for taking the time… looking forward to the new album… what’s it called?

Now that would be telling…

Peace

Thanks for having me.
Tom.

You can check out more from True Live at:

www.myspace.com/truelive

Tags: Australian Artists, hip hop, Interviews, Jazz