Ed Balloon – Bounce Back
Ed Balloon appears hot off the heels of a clipping-recommended album to give you a pop track made to uplift black people as much as it is to inspire pride. The track at once was made to set straight the people who judge his blackness, tries to inspire people as black as he is, and also looks towards his mama to realize what a man he is becoming. All while, inspiring you to dance till a sudden musical high creeps it’s way in. With such talent both at singing and producing, Ed Balloon is very much capable of pulling a Kanye on anyone who doubts him.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/250892263″]
Iceberg Black & AJ Suede – Black Suede
By now, you should be able to tell what kind of music this is: hip-hop at its most “fuck the world and everyone in it”. For those who have listened to AJ Suede before, you pretty much know the deal: he’s looking to take over the world with his raps and his beats, but you’d be well advised to not hate on him. After all, dude isn’t above chucking some knuckle sandwiches on a ninja.
Where two of his last albums found him not only depressed, but overworked and underappreciated (as described on his album covers), it’s only logical that AJ SUede would be back on that shizz, right? Well, this short tape gives more details about where his mind is at. “Fuck My Job” finds him not giving up on his rap dream, and working hard as hell to sell his tapes, his music and get his shows. “That’s the Ritual” finds him still wishing for his stuff to trake off more than it really has. Really, it’s nice to hear he is still holding out hope, but don’t let that inspire you to think he is nicer this time around. He still doesn’t trust his girlfriend with his weed, he still wishes you would drown in your own pool of Hennessey and he hopes every corporate savage or textbook racist gets gangraped in a supermarket parking lot.
What makes AJ Suede facinating is that albums like this let you know where he is at. Often to the point where you don’t have to talk to him directly in order for you to see how he is feeling. But regardless of how he feels, he sounds as controlled as he is hungry. How this will affect his fame is to be seen, but in the meantime, know that this album isn’t to be slept on.
Grypt – Thy Flesh Consumed
Before we get into Grypt’s album, have you played their game Tonight You Die yet? If you haven’t, then I would highly recommend it.It will give you a good idea of what Grypt is all about, if not what the first single of similar namesake is about. Amongst rumbling bass and tribal drums, Romie Romak toes the line between a growl and an resignated singsong before uttering “tonight you die”. Not in a way that is faux-creepy, but in a way that is so serious and pointed, it’s almost like any moment you are done listening to this, you might actually wind up dead.The success of Thy Flesh Consumed lies in its ability to look at death in a way that isn’t just literal, but metaphorical. In Grypt’s world, demons run the night and controls one’s every night and day however they can. Everyone gets their due, and nobody can change the direction of such fate, even if you feel you don’t deserve it. Thy Flesh Consumed was described as a couple of songs from past EPs and singles, but it may as well be a psychological horror festival.
“Firelighter” is it’s own anthem of mental strain. Every demon that occupies the head of the down and dirty places a bag under your eye, dirt upon your body, and blows out every bit of light from your eyes, only to sweetly sing, “keep me close to you…I don’t know you”. In said song, Romie sings “we must live our lives/We must economize” and “we must recreate/we must have a good time” in a way that suggests that amongst troubled people, living life would be less of an experience and more of a chore. This leads us to “Body of the Night”, a darkened lullaby that suggests “I work in mysterious ways/I love the nightlife, baby”.
Physical conditions are threatened, and the void stares back with nary a light shine to be found to Thy Flesh Consumed, and Romak switches between demon and victim with each manipulation of her vocals. All one can say is this: if this album is merely a collection of all their old songs, one can only imagine what Grypt has in store for their first real album.
Shady Van Gogh – 100 Hits of Acid / Palm Trees (Florida)
Hot off the heels of releasing two songs on two different Deathbomb Arc compilations, the self-proclaimed God of Florida announces that he will be releasing two debut albums, which further fuck up the program of there being a debut and a sophomore slump. (Nice!) According to the label, one album is produced by David Jio and the other is by Shadey Mohammed himself. Two of the tracks he has put forward so far comes from the latter. Either way, the track promises to slay.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/247797519″]
SassyBlack – New Boo
If you are way too used to music that’s hardly as emotional, the chords (rather, the entire production) that are being played in this track will seen alien as hell. But the track is at once cerebral and emotional to the point where it takes us back to the days of Timbaland production for Aaliyah and Missy Elliott. Over liquid production, Sassy comfortably croons, “could you be my new boo? I sense potential within you.” Although this song was peddled as tongue-in-cheek by SassyBlack herself (aka Catherine Harris-White or Uncle Cat), you will never know this by the seductive way her smooth and inviting voice slides through your eardrums.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/249833115″]
Ripping Off Brian Eno Since 2008
