Breeze into August with Swedish dance pop and off-kilter hip hop
5 O’Clock Shadowboxers – The Slow Twilight
(divshare.com/download/7729941-bd0)
There’s a lot to know about The Slow Twilight the debut album from the 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers. First of all the group is a collaboration that features Zilla Rocca behind the mic and producer Douglas Martin behind the boards.
The album is allegedly partially inspired by Allen Baron’s 1961 film noir classic A Blast of Silence . Samples from the likes of the Velvet Underground the Unicorns Radiohead and — bafflingly — Elliot Smith are prominently featured. Rocca routinely drops rhymes about such offbeat subjects as retired concussion-addled hockey star Eric Lindros to give but one example. There’s a lot to know and it all adds up to The Slow Twilight not being a typical hip hop album.
Fortunately in addition to being different the album is really good. Though Rocca’s rapping is pointed and cerebral throughout it’s Martin’s production that’s really surprising.
While many producers have been mining indie rock for their samples in recent years Martin doesn’t sound like just another follower looking to cash in on the tight-clothes trend. Instead he creates fully formed tracks chopping up or brazenly obscuring his familiar sources to perfectly mesh with Rocca. Heck even his chipmunk-voiced Elliot Smith on “Stay Clean” doesn’t sound absurd. That’s quite the accomplishment.
Alex Ludovico – The Reawakening
(zshare.net/download/60312075a22c547e/)
Speaking of unconventional hip hop Alex Ludovico’s latest mixtape The Reawakening certainly fits the bill. Unlike the focus of the 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers Ludovico is all over the place. The tape starts out heavily relying on electro beats while Ludovico goes party-anthem crazy compressing a ridiculous amount of words into an amazingly small amount of time. As things progress though Ludovico moves away somewhat from the dancefloor cocaine offering up tracks that range from minimal nothingness to straight-up swing before finally resting on the bread and butter of hip hop: kick-ass old-school soul.
While some things on The Reawakening don’t entirely work it’s still an impressive effort. Ludovico sounds at ease throughout which is remarkable considering the dramatic transformation the music underneath his flow undergoes making him an MC who bears keeping an eye on.
Various Artists – Live Forever or Die Trying
(srvc.se/service/comp/)
Sweden has long been known for cranking out a lot of great music and though it will likely always nurture a disproportional amount of stellar indie pop in recent years it has also developed a reputation for being responsible for some of the finest breezy dance pop in the world. Led by the likes of Studio Air France and The Tough Alliance this new movement could fool listeners into thinking that the Scandinavian nation is one giant continual beach that is endlessly hosting a killer party.
Live Forever or Die Trying is a compilation put together by the Service record label that provides a nice gateway into the wonderful world of laid-back Swedish dance music. The compilation features the aforementioned Tough Alliance as well as The Embassy and Lake Heartbeat among many others.
Wale – Back to the Feature
(zshare.net/download/621944113825271b/)
Finally Radio Silence favourite Wale made a new mixtape with producer 9th Wonder available for your downloading pleasure. The up-and-coming MC has already been discussed ad nauseum in these pages but suffice to say it’s required downloading.
