March 1st marked the release of Sweatshop Unions 5th release, quoted to be “the groups most ambitious record to date, an experimental concept album best described as a runaway mushroom trip through the inner and outer cosmos”. Supported by a string of shows across the North America and Canada the group aims to be hip-hops most prolific outfit ever, an admirable benchmark to set.
The title track samples Gza and Rza of Wu-Tang fame, from the delirium section of the 2003 Jim Jarmusch film Coffee and Cigarettes. Referencing everything from “Where the buffalo roams” (R.I.P. Hunter Thompson) to Ghostbusters “So Pete Venkman” this is the grimiest track on the album.
“Bill-Ghostbusting-ass-Murray”
The two stand out songs for me are “Bring back the music” and “John Lennon”.
Bring back the music harks back to a time when MTV played real music and swayed away from the pop side of the industry. Utilising a very familiar hook, slick scratch samples and some well placed organs this tracks flows well, but like a lot of the e.p. is pretty short could do with another verse. The penultimate track John Lennon also makes use of some instantly recognisable samples but again falls victim to being just a tad short.
Overall The Bill Murray E.P. has some good tracks on it, nice clean sounding production, and Sweatshop Union dont to shy away from using synths. Definitely worth a listen if you are into beats from across the water and are looking for some thing along the lines of Lupe Fiasco or The Goodie Mob. This gets a 3 out of 5 from Me.