I Eat Music » Fog

Themselves get escapological

andy — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:33:18 +0000

Prolific hip hopsters Doseone and Jel have dusted off their Themselves project and created a new mixtape, entitled theFREEhoudini. As the title sort of suggests, it’s a free download (although there is a CD version, too. More on that in a sec).

But what would a mixtape be without guests? Nothing, that’s what. So it’s lucky theFREEhoudini is packed full of them. Pretty much anyone you could name from the Anticon family is in there, including a very briefly reformed cLOUDEAD, as well as Buck 65, Aesop Rock, Busdriver, Lionesque, Slug Of Atmosphere, D-Styles, DJ Baku, Pedestrian, Sole, and Serengeti. And it was all mixed down by Odd Nosdam too, which was nice of him.

The download version is 40 minutes long and features no real surprises for anyone who’s familiar with Themselves, cLOUDDEAD, Subtle or any of the myriad projects that have involved Doseone and/or Jel in some way, but that doesn’t make this any less worth listening to. Their sound isn’t the only thing recognisable about them – the endless attention to quality control is in there, and each and every guest turns in a storming performance, with plenty of rapid fire rapping to warm up your ears.

All in all, it should be more than enough to convince you to part with your cash for the deluxe CD version of theFREEhoudini, which features an extra 16 minutes of music and some more guests – Passage, Alias and Fog’s Andrew Broder.

Go and download it from www.anticon.com/thefreehoudini/

Buy Themselves stuff on Amazon

Why? The Cure For Alopecia

andy — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:18:10 +0000

Why? release a brand new album, Alopecia, on 10th March via Anticon (US) and Tomlab (UK). I received an advance copy last week because I’m so cool (okay, I actually begged for it) and I can report that it’s actually even better than 2005’s Elephant Eyelash. Seriously, it really is that good.

In addition to his brother Josiah and Doug McDiarmid, Yoni Wolf is also joined on this album by Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson of Fog. Together, the five recorded Alopecia’s fourteen tracks live, lending the backing to Wolf’s quickly observed lyrics a loose and immediate feel.

The eclectic mix of hip hop, indie and psychedelia that made songs like Rubber Traits and more recently The Hollows so popular is still very much intact. However, on Alopecia it’s explored further and taken down a variety of new avenues.

As is traditional when you have a lengthy tour and new album release ahead of you, Why? have released a cover of Close To Me by The Cure for free.

Download Close To Me
Buy Alopecia
Why? MySpace

Why? The Cure For Alopecia

andy — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:32:51 +0000

As is traditional when you have a lengthy tour and new album release ahead of you, Why? have released a cover of Close To Me by The Cure for free.

Download Close To Me
Buy Alopecia
Why? MySpace