Onoe Caponoe – Lord Of The Light (Sun Riddim)
New visuals from Onoe Caponoe – Lord Of The Light (Sun Riddim) prod. by Chemo lifted from his new album ‘Voices From Planet Catelle’ out 28/01 on High Focus!
The Four Owls – Think Twice (Prod. DJ Premier)
The Four Owls team up with the legendary DJ Premier on Think Twice – the second single lifted from the forthcoming ‘Natural Order’
Limited edition 12″ available for Pre-order
The Four Owls – Silent Flight
Brand new from The Four Owls lifted from their new album ‘Natural Order’. Set to be released in February 2015
Onoe Caponoe – Space Bitches
Official video for the brand new Onoe Caponoe single -‘Space Bitches’ lifted from his new album ‘Voices From Planet Catelle’ entirely produced by Chemo – Out January 2015 on High Focus
Jam Baxter – …So We Ate Them Whole (Review)
Jam Baxter is a musical oddity, juxtaposed by mystery and popularity. The public go wild for his style of profound rap but the person behind that is not so obvious. …So We Ate Them Whole, produced by the equally elusive Chemo, serves as a tiny window into the twisted mind of one of the most intriguing artists of our time.
…SWATW is a mixture of splattering guts, marinated babies, slipping on human blood and yamming on grubs and worms. It’s also the most experimental foray into production since Rinse Out Friday, where no stone is left unturned in Chemo’s repertoire of beats.
The album is quintessentially surreal and riddled in complexity. Wings Cost Extra, track one of fourteen, is a maddening tour around an extraordinary city. One part overtly imaginary and the other part a slick social commentary about urban society. Ethereal piano keys descend into a heavy, rolling drum pattern where the weirder the narrative the more loopy the music becomes. The beauty comes in the form of Baxter’s storytelling where snippets of bizarre worlds collide and grotesque humans come to life:
‘The smell of crack wafts from the brothel beside the chicken shop/above a sewer teaming with giant beetles and killer wasps/opposite the corner where kids gorge on forbidden slop/and when their stomach’s burst… wipe their innards off’
‘I spat the phlegm out of my mouth and swung a left/past the crowd of braying patriots dying a dozen deaths/and the crazed woman drilling a hole in her lover’s chest’.
Undoubtedly a remarkable way to open an album and in true Baxter fashion what comes next is even greater than the last. Duly achieved in the form of Leash pt I, which harbours all the comical vulgarity of Gruesome Features with the aggressive undertone rife on Rinse Out Friday. Meanwhile Incoming flirts with reality and strange fiction once more, forming an abstract creation of gonzo hip hop set to blow the minds of everyone who listens to it.
Throughout the course of the album there are many staggering moments. One that particularly stands out is the stunning steel drum soundscape Chemo creates on Husk twinned with the rare sampling found on Fantastic Man. Each track is uniquely challenging in its own respect in terms of lyricism and the innovative beats behind the music.
Here Baxter has created an album where the boundaries of what is considered to be normal in hip hop are broken. No track forthrightly tells you what he’s thinking or how he has got there in order to make the music. It’s that specific kind of unknown ambiguity which guides the strength of the vibe the entire way through. If you’re looking for brash and in your face look elsewhere but if you’re after barefaced honesty covered in a psychedelic dust its here. And it’s brilliant.
Review by Louise Brisbane
…So We Ate Them Whole is out now on High Focus and available Digitally, on CD, and Limited edition double vinyl.
Album launch – Friday 19 December @ Brixton Jamm – Click here for tickets.
Fliptrix – Polyhymnia (Review)
One way to measure Fliptrix’s success as an artist is to contrast the entirety of his back catalogue. His debut, Force Fed Imagery, remains one of mine, and undoubtedly many others, most listened to albums. Even back in 2007 it had a raw yet personable vibe sewn into it, something which has evolved fluidly with the making of each following album. Seven years later and on his 5th LP, Fliptrix is continuing to make music which is both broadly conceptual and endlessly fascinating.
As supporters of his previous work will understand Polyhymnia isn’t a release which can be easily overlooked. To put this album on as background noise is to completely miss the concept it’s based upon. Drawing on inspiration from ancient Greek mythology, Fliptrix devotes the crux of the album to one of the 9 muses of the arts; Polyhymnia the goddess of sacred poetry. Re-enlisting the help of Molotov on the production you can expect a similar soundscape to Road to the Interdimensional Piff Highway, with an abundance of otherworldly themes and smatterings of spirituality.
Throughout the 14 songs there are many moments were Fliptrix masterfully balances the art of creating meaningful music with a refined subtlety. Praise the Sun, one of the pre-released singles to the album, encapsulates this beautifully with the help of resident blues singer, Rag & Bone Man. Making for a shrewd choice for the opening feature. Followed by the eponymous title track where Fliptrix truly embodies his passion for his work with candid yet powerful wordplay. Polyhymnia illustrates Fliptrix’s dedication to making music and how this has altered his life in the process, all of which is performed smoothly and egolessly.
Lean Star Gazer is a roller-coaster into the heart of Fliptrix’s mind, focussing largely on his positive mindset, something which is vividly portrayed throughout the rest of the body of work. This self-examining theme is soothed by a melodic guitar loop which crescendos cinematically into a fluttering flute solo, adding a perfect intensity to the track.
Returning producer Molotov provides the album’s most ethereal moment on Warning, with a steady stream of violins laced with tinkly piano keys. Doing extremely well to sculpt a beat which could easily be featured on not only a hip hop album but the opening soundtrack to film as well. Something which serves to highlight Molotov’s sheer talent and versatility as a producer.
The Message pushes the tempo to a more serious note, where Fliptrix muses about the world and its ever evolving complexities. For an artist who makes tracks with this kind of premise regularly its something he does very well. Revealing just enough to keep the listeners hooked but not so much that it loses its relevance.
Catch Fliptrix in your city
Reclaim Your Mind finishes with a psychedelic speech from the tryptamine master Terrence McKenna which ties together exactly what Fliptrix set out to achieve in Polyhymnia. This extra touch from McKenna points to a way in which Fliptrix tries to live his life which is thus reflected heavily in his music.
A brief overview of Polyhymnia does very little to explain the full extent of his work. Its less of an album and more of an exploration into a way of life. Using his music as a platform Fliptrix gives supporters a glimpse into his fierce passion for his work and the inner workings of his life as both an artist and a human.Out of the 5 albums its his most honest to date, surpassing Piff Highway with a new level of refreshing integrity.
While it might not be as jovial as Third Eye of the Storm, its certainly a new direction in his work where the best is still yet to come. Impeccably crafted and seething with intelligence this is one release which is not to be missed.
Review by Louise Brisbane
Polyhymnia is out 08/10 on High Focus and available on Limited Edition Double Vinyl, CD and Digital
Fliptrix – Praise The Sun Feat. Rag N Bone Man
Fliptrix Ft. Rag N Bone Man ‘Praise The Sun’ Produced by Molotov out now on Itunes.
Lifted from the forthcoming Polyhymnia. Available to pre order on CD | Limited edition vinyl | Itunes on High Focus