Good to see that head honcho Sam Dutch & his imprint Grindin’ have survived the difficult times of being without proper distribution since the collapse of Destra. They’ve now secured a distro deal with Stomp & have subsequently been reinvigorated enough to drop 3 new releases, one being a mix, another a production duo’s compilation & the other an artist’s debut album.

The 10^th release on the label was a mix by Mr Thing that included a few tracks from the label’s roster, but now with this being No28 there’s obviously much more to choose from that can showcase the label’s direction. This mix comes courtesy of the well known underground mixtape dude J.Period & he was great choice for the majority of selections on this one are right up my alley. Some golden moments are present with favourites such as Muneshine’s ‘These Days’, French lad Khondo’s ‘D’un Mot a L’heure’, DJ Brasco & Phat Kat’s ‘We’re Comin’, & probably one of the most rinsed hip-hop acapella of all time OC’s ‘Times Up’. D.I.T.C member OC also gets another 2 tracks (incl ‘Dangerous’ with Big L) thrown into the mix, but that makes sense considering he’s the host of the whole darn thing. And he comes across as quite a decent chap with words of wisdom aplenty. Also showing off J.Period’s affiliation with NYC’s Rock Steady Crew, we get a drop by Crazy Legs followed by Move.Meant’s commanding tune ‘Rock Steady’. Excellent choices all blended with dignity, but just wish there was some actual needlework in the mix.

What a find. Glad that Grindin managed to license the German duo of JR & PH7’s album ‘The Standard’ from Austrian label Supercity. It deserves some worldwide attention, not only for it’s remarkable line-up of vocal talent, but because of the superb production, and as I always seem to favour, choruses that are predominately created from scratched up vocals from at least 5 different deejays. Maspyke member Tableek rips over a lush bassline for ‘20/20’, Boston greatness EDO G bigs up the scene for ‘Hip Hop Lives’ & nice to see The Good People prove once again that they are still one of the more consistent new era crews keeping the consciousness alive for ‘The End is Near’. The album is sonically deep & soulful & the emcees have been blessed with yet again another non-US production outfit that shows that the world of the internet age has enabled those with talent to co-create with minimal obstructions, so that we can all benefit as listeners. If you doubt how worthy the album is then just check these names for more convincing, Supastition, Oddisee, Edgar Allen Floe, Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, Planet Asia, Rakaa Iriscience, Pumpkinhead, Kev Brown, Kaze & Median.

The J.Dilla connections just keep on flowing, this time with another Detroit emcee Finale & his explosive debut ‘A Pipe Dream & A Promise’. Okay so there’s only one Dilla joint ‘Heat’.The most interesting thing about this due is that he comes with an Automotive Engineering degree (Detroit being the Motor City capital of the US), not the typical ‘hustling the streets’ cliché angle. This already is enough to pique my interest. So how does he fare? Damn the Kev Brown joint ‘Style is intro’ed by Kase 2’s often quoted dialogue from cult graffiti doc Style Wars, but then Finale adopts Kase’s emphasis for the chorus. Cool. Even cooler is that Prince Whippa Whip (of the old school legends The Cold Crush Brothers) appears on ‘The Waiting Game’ with that complex white chick emcee Invicible. In wrapping I’ll just mention that indy darlings Flying Lotus, Wajeed, Black Milk & Dimlite drop beats as too does the international Aussie M-Phazes. Quite a departure to leave the auto industry behind to run about with a mic, but then again General Motors are pretty much bankrupt & there will always be a place for talented emcees such as Finale. A surprisingly enjoyable album & proof that Detroit is still a major player in the game for the last few years. Even old schooler Awesome Dre makes an appearance.

There are only a few labels that I always seem fascinated with & that would be the Washington DC based Eighteenth Street Lounge. Ever since I first picked up the first release on the label ‘2001 A Spliff Odyssey’ by Thievery Corporation back in 1996 I’ve been a consistent purchaser of the majority of the label’s output. There’s been a few curveballs that didn’t tickle my fancy, like Blue States for example, but the definite majority has been worth a listen, especially Thievery Corp, Thunderball, Nicola Conte, Ocote Soul Sounds, Desmond Williams, Frederico Aubele, Chris Joss, the occasional Ursula 1000 & many more captivating music by a very eclectic array of talent. It’s hard to pigeonhole the label because Rob Garza & Eric Hilton (Thievery Corporation themselves) based the label around the sounds that they played in the club of the same name. It’s been 15 years since they started their club & a year later their label & in that time they’ve served up an impressive array of styles that Even though I know I wouldn’t be let through the door by the bouncers that protect the swish reputation of the mansion that is home to the club, I can at least anonymously get their music & enjoy them in my own little decrepit rented hovel. If you know the label you’d be perfectly at home with the influences of Arabic melodies, Indian percussion, Brazilian bossa nova, Jamaican dub, Italian club-jazz & a few more worldly references in the repertoire. Yet they’ve never ever remotely released anything with emcees, there’s been plenty of hip-hop styled beats with the previously mentioned international sounds, but little in the way of anything that resembles pure hip-hop.

We’ll now they’ve actually branched out a teensy bit by releasing the debut album from the Cologne based duo of the Ancient Astronauts. This very satisfying experience from deejays/producers Ingo Möll & Tom Strauch has culminated into the long player ‘We Are To Answer’ & is the closest we’ll probably ever get to anything with rap dudes on the ESL imprint. But first, some history. They debuted back in 2002 with a remix for Soul N Soda on the once great Stereo deluxe label & kicked out a remix for Fort Knox Five, but they really came to attention with their hook up with the German Switchstance label. This snowboard move monikered effort delved into a mix of downtempo instrumental hip-hop, electronic dub, up-tempo breaks & anything else that had a remotely jazz, latin, funk bent. So now they’ve flipped over to ESL & will undoubtedly gain a bit more attention with their new stateside based home. So, getting back to the rap element & we get one of the best tunes that The Pharcyde have recorded in recent years. Their tune ‘Classic’ is a burner with some witty lyrics, crafty needlework & a groove that fits them like a glove. Recognising that the Astronauts know their underground hip-hop, we get another 3 west coast artists onboard. Azeem & DJ Zeph serve up superior shine for Oblivion while the always brilliant Raashan Ahmad (formerly Mission/Crown City Rockers) pops a vein for ‘Risin’ High’. All solid efforts that will undoubtedly make it into mixtapes for those who want to bump out the odd surprise track. They also have 2 dubbed out tunes, ‘Surfing The Silvatide’ is a bit more relaxed with the intriguing spoken word/singer Bajka (Google for unique pedigree) wrapping her tongue through the groove, while Tippa Irie bumps out a dancefloor friendly for ‘All The Things You Do’. The English cello duo Entropik lace the North African vibes for ‘Lost in Marrakesh’ with some Arabic inspired melodies & it comes out as a beautifully crafted piece of cross cultural wonderment. The track that really shows their production chops is the frantic ‘Dark Green Road’ which sounds like an out of control truck careening through a weekend market knocking over tables with all sorts of instruments flying all over the place. It’s quite a hectic tune, but way more manageable than I’ve most likely described it. A solid effort. I just hope they drop a 12”, cause ESl have been slowing down the vinyl & I’m not content with a miserable wav or mp3 file for my shelf.

Unlike the typical Scandinavian export being dark metal, Swedish lads Speech Defect subvert the norm & create happy rap. I’m being a lazy dumb arse reviewer here by mentioning Ugly Duckling as a reference again. There, I got that over that bump quick smart. This now reduced 3 man crew (Mr Linus, Boogie B & DJ Ego minus Prao-D & Thage) are unlike their more famous Svenska brothers Loop Troop (er, sorry, the also now slimmed down 3 man crew Looptroop Rockers) in that they eschew the conciousness & go straight for the jolly jugular & boy do they take the piss by the bucketful for their 3^rd album ‘Happy Hunting’. Unlike their previous 2 albums, 2004’s ‘Freshcoast Getting’ Rowdy’ & ‘Come For Da Funeral, Stay For Da Food’ this includes tracks that aren’t strictly sampled breaks & dusty loops. No, they go right into parody for a few tunes & adopt a more synthesised sound more akin to corny pop rap shit. When I first saw the video & heard the song for ‘Ice Cream truck’ I thought ‘oh no, not them as well’, but after listening to the shitness of the music, the stupidity of the lyrics & the totally dumb chorus it quickly dawned on me that this is a mighty pisstake. ‘No Bass, No Way’ is far more listenable, with its recognisable 80’s keyboard riff & distorted bassline, but I didn’t really get into the slow 808 groove of ‘Move to Dis’. It might feature another Swede Kissey Asplund, but she failed to interest me on this one, nor did the other more electronic number ‘Rubberband’ do anything for me, though I appreciated their lyrical creativity & the embellishments, just that the beat was a bit ‘late 80s’ Too Short for me today. I prefer when they rock the breaks & get a bit more hyper. Prime example would be the following tune ‘Ghostin’ with its disco reggae groove or the silly as gaggle of geese, footwear obsessed, reptile wearing ‘Alligator Suede’ with its wholesale hijack of a break that is driving my brain crazy or the more frantic drum percussive of ‘Away With Words’.

Yet again The Pharcyde show what they are capable of when hooked up with people who are obviously fans. The title track ‘Happy Hunting’ directs the lyrical theme as an excuse for the crowd to rock out over some infectious mid 90s west coast piano & horn loops. Golden! They Neptunes it out with a remix of this tune ala ‘No Bears in Heaven’ as the final track & it’s their sensibility that keeps you interested, despite the middling production. They certainly have loads of personality & a well defined sense of enjoyment that leaks out through the speakers, so no matter the type of music they rhyme over, there’s always something that will put a smile on your face. Strangely enough they feature an emcee with the mixed up Carry On alias of Jid Sames. It’s great to hear his South London accent over the kinetic programming of ‘I Want Horror’. When Sid’s not hanging out with fellow Brits Mr Dark & Sceptic he’s fronting a death metal band (his previous musical career was with metal band Corpsing before he ventured into hip-hop) & is known to be a bit of a fruitcake, so it seems like a perfect match. They remind me of a lot of some of the crazy Canadian hip hop. The kind that just wants to fuck around & act a bit berko, except unlike some of those guys, SD keep it all pretty much PG rated. I like their stupidity & the fact that they are obvious massive funk, soul, jazz vinyl heads. Me loves the sampled beats & me loves it even more when they always have instrumental joints like ‘Times Up’, though at 1min, it’s a tad on the shortness. Available locally through Basement Digs via the Japanese label File Records.

WILD STYLE the Book. Coming early to mid 2007

Not much info around.
Coming from Miss Rosen/Powerhouse books..

"Charlie Ahearn's forthcoming book, Wild Style: The Sampler, the 25th anniversary book is planned for release in Spring 2007. Will feature never-before-seen images and stories documenting the making of Wild Style and it's influence on hip hop and pop culture for the past quarter century. Trust me, you will be hearing more about this for months to come"

What tha?
For some bizarre reason I haven't been able to access this blog to post.
Looks like I can now. So hold on. I'll be back.
Meanwhile here's a picture too oogle at.

Australian painted NYC subway cars


Sydney Show Opens: Friday August 18, 6-9pm continues 12-5pm following Saturday and Sunday. Gallery website.

Germany's MOMENTAN


I've been a bit slack in the overseas department recently, so i'll endeavour to fix that up in the next week or so.

They're still making some excellent music over in Germany, despite all that bling rubbish that seems to dominate the main websites. Momentan are one of my recent finds that stick out. They have a cleverly designed website that has everything that might even convince you. They recently toured Europe with O.C. & El Da Sensai (who appears on the track Good Times on their 'SoulMates' EP). You can listen to their music on their main emcee's MySpace page or more on their deejays page. Personally I think it's quality stuff. Soulful & the beats, scratches & style are all on point.

The videoclip for the single 'Im Nachhinein' shows us the world famous Groove Attack record store in Cologne.

Perth's CLANDESTIEN new 7"
Those menacing sounding perpetrators of the dark side of Australian hip hop recently released their 1st 7" on the OzHipHop related label Wog. The b-side is lovingly titled 'Utter Shit'.As expected it's more for those who like their beats based around minor chords. The videoclip for 'Offguard' is on YouTube, though you can find more clips over at their website here. Seems like its still under construction.

• MP3: CLANDESTIEN - Ancillary Cover

KEEP IT CLASSIC online T-Shirt store.


Online site for clothing. It's designed with some nifty sketches from the kids over at Illastrationz.
Check the new J-Dilla tribute t-shirt as well.

• Available through Keep it Classic.

JISOE. Melbourne graff documentary

Thursday 24 August 6.30 pm
Chauvel Cinema, Paddington Town Hall
Corner Oatley Road and Oxford Street, Paddington

Jisoe is set inside Melbourne's underground graffiti scene. The provocative film exposes for the first time how this international culture has carved an identity in Australian suburbia.

The film centres on Justin Hughes (aka Jisoe), a young graffiti artist who is part of an emerging Australian underclass. The story swings between Justin's gritty daily existence of painting trains and smoking drugs, to intimate, emotional moments such as the birth of his child, the deterioration of his relationship and, finally, his eventual mental breakdown.

Jisoe reveals a private, highly secretive (and paranoid) subculture, taking place completely in the face of the public. Although the film is set to a backdrop of ambitious graffiti art and a soundtrack including original local hip hop artists.

• Website here.

Austin Texas Art

Any excuse to show a nice pic like this will do. If you're in Austin, Texas this week then check this out.

SNAKES ON A PLANE - Josh Martinez

By now everyone is aware of the infamous Snakes On A Plane internet madness. If not, then track some of the commentary & crazyness that has surrounded this film. Due in most part to the ludicrous title & the stupid theme that it conjours up. Read more about it here at Snakes On A Blog. It opens this week in the US. And all reports seem to think that it could be the greatest B-movie in recent years or a dire mess. It'll be interesting to see how the fanbase via the Net has helped or hindered its success. It stars Samuel Jackson & a heap a snakes.

So naturally there are already a plethora of tribute songs to the unseen film. The best of the lot in my opinion is Canadian emcee Josh Martinez & his mate Evil with their contribution. You'll be reciting the lyrics & humming the melody for days as I have. It's a sticker.

• MP3: JOSH MARTINEZ ft. EVIL - Snakes On A Plane.

STRANGE FRUIT PROJECT - Up Jumped Da Boogie

This 12" from June (on the Spilt Milk label) is not off their new album via OM, 'The Healing', but is still an essential purchase. Love this tune. Produced by one of the members Symbolic 1 (Soul Kontrollerz) it's definitely the bump 'n hustle joint for the mid year. They seem to be getting a more enthusiastic vibe these days, before they were all as mellow as could be. They must be rocking some parties down there in Waco Texas. The b-side 'Makin' My Way' is alos a highlight & produced by Aussie lad M-Phazes. Make sure you give their latest album a listen. Nice cover artwork as well: look here.

• MP3: STRANGE FRUIT PROJECT - Up Jumped Da Boogie.

MONKEY SONS from Brighton.

I definitely feel that Brighton is my favourite area for UK hip hop. The great sense of humour & purity appeals to me. And this new joint venture of 2 crews, Hundreth Money & Sons of the Tribe, seems to cement my opinion.

The kooks have written their website in Latin... You can download an excellent free album from the site. The live band/crew includes Bandog, formerly of Killa Instinct. It may be a live band, but f*ck me if it doesn't sound like beats, loops & samples.

• MONKEY SONS website.
• Myspace.

Have squizz at the awesome posse track... Brilliant performances from all the emcees.

• MP3: MONKEY SONS - X-Ray Eyes ft. Junior Disprol, Real D, Legs MC, Exile, Websta, MC Phet, TS One, Louie The Monkey, Tekneek, Rage, Eastborn, DJ Sasquatch.
• MP3: MONKEY SONS - Sunshine Days. A breezy summer anthem. Hot stuff.