Times Is Changed

Once again, I'm feeling just a teeny bit hippity hop today. Last time was pretty much a mish mash of a couple remixes I found and a mashup, but this time things should be a bit more coherent as luckily I have some new vendors of tracks to shower on you reading folk, a couple I found through YouTube of all places, and the other two are a little more well known in the 'hop world.

I found this first guy Knxwledge though the old 'Tube, and the version that was uploaded had the samples at the beginning and end cut off. The track already had a melancholy feel with just a tinge of nostalgia, but they sealed the deal for me. and like our good friends BoC, while this one is very short at 1:54 it is pretty much the perfect length for it, it certainly feels longer than that. Also, that main synth lines are giving me slight echos of 1983 and Los Angeles FlyLo too.



The second wasn't as clear cut as that unfortunatey, and I had to do some searching to find the name of both the track and the artist, and then a bit more when the first free (legal) download corrupted on me both times I got it, but it was worth it. That old school sample is downright fantastic, crackle and all. There is a trend for sampling old soulful tracks like this in most of the tracks I found, this was by far the best though. And it leaves me thinking a little of Röyksopp's Sparks.

stevo · 03. Can I

Moving into the mainstream, we have a number from DJ Krush. One of only two tracks on the LP without a featuring... credit, Song 1 stood out to me because I had already heard Krush's Song 2 and had no idea there was a first. I really dig the mellow vibe of it, and there's a good variety of sounds in it to keep it interesting including some samples of applause sprinkled in there, which I thought was a nice touch.



Finally, we return to the label that I've pent the last year detailing, Warp. Prefuse seems to be one of the lesser known acts on Warp, I picked up Surrounded By Silence on a whim not too long ago, like Krush's LP it features a lot of guest vocal work, but the instrumentals are where it really shines. It's like all my favourite elements of instrumental hip hop with that trademark Warp experimentation going on. Cut up samples are the order of the day here, and some of them are spectacular: the jazz impov style breakdown at around 2:30 and the looped to hell transition back into the main track is amazingly done.



And that's yer lot for today, but before I go you can find the album that Can I is from, Muffins, legally over on mediafire and you can buy all of Knxwledge's material over on his bandcamp.

Prequel Sequel,
-Claude Van Foxbat