Junior Boys are a duo from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Initially comprising bedroom producers Jeremy Greenspan and Johnny Dark; they spent the first few years of the new millennium putting together demos and shipping them around. Johnny Dark then left the group to pursue other interests, and in the meantime the Kin label showed interest in the demos and commissioned further work.
Teaming up with local engineer Matt Didemus, Greenspan worked on the demos and wrote some new material which led to the release of the debut album Last Exit.
Last Exit was a slow burner, not initially selling, but gradually building a reputation, especially on the new format of the blog. This was the golden age of the blog, and many of the most progressive and interesting writers came to this new format, attracted by the lack of an editor and the freedom to express ideas and write in long form, which would never be excepted in a monthly or weekly publication.
Artists were also able to write and publish in real time, quickly creating scenes with like-minded acts and individuals around the planet. Authors like Simon Reynolds and the Hyperdub label boss Steve Goodman (AKA Kode9) were early champions of Junior Boys.
Last Exit was an important development in North American dance music, and might represent the New Order at Paradise garage, Depeche Mode moment, as an act that could combine song craft and real dancefloor knowledge. It feels as though the beats come from a genuine love of grassroots house, grime and 2-step garage. Unlike contemporaneous British shite like Klaxons, who, like a pisstake of rave, appeared as an art school rock band with glow sticks.
Greenspan's songs on Last Exit combine intricate electronic rhythms with soft breathy vocals, reminiscent of Prefab Sprout or Scritti Politti, albeit without such good lyrics!
Themes of travel, distance and a yearning sweetness inhabit these tracks of groove and seduction. Subject matter which was familiar to the indie crowd, who embraced them; as did dance producers like Manitoba and Carl Craig who provided remixes.
Birthday and High Come Down were released as singles and are both on the album, proper pop. Stuttering intricate garage beats, Greenspan wants to 'see you shake this whole damn crowd'. Birthday about being forgotten on your birthday or some such nonsense, is almost Morrisseyesque in it's self-pity (a good thing).
This kind of melancholy has since been fully absorbed into the music of acts like The Weeknd or Drake, the natural successors of Morrissey.
Under the Sun is a good track, driving and mid paced like Krautrock meets Madchester. Teach Me How to Fight, expresses sentiments last heard from early 90's ultra indie Sarah records groups like the Sea Urchins, although perhaps The Field Mice with their electro indie heartbreaks are a closer fit.
Very underrated group The Field Mice.
Anyhoo Junior Boys went on to more success with their following album, the also excellent 'So this is goodbye'. Their most recent album Big Black Coat came out this year.
MV & EE are partners Matt Valentine and Erika Elder. Prior to this duo, the pair had been a part of the New York based Tower Recordings, now credited as early catalysts of the free folk (a term coined by Valentine) movement which peaked in the mid 00's.
Valentine and Pat Gruber (AKA PG Six) had been main movers in that scene, and from their record shop day jobs, had worked against the prevailing trend of heavy rock and modernist electronics to seek out like-minded outsider artists and in a deliberate retreat from a world which had just become ultra connected, they did an escape to the country. This retreat mirrored an older generation of psychedelic folksters such as Vashti Bunyan, Alexander 'Skip' Spence and John Fahey, bonds were formed.
The wilderness chosen was in the seasonal north east state of Vermont; Valentine and Elder then went about growing their vision in the country, living at 'maximum arousal farm' and starting an annual 'Brattleboro' festival where peers and outsider artists such as free jazz man Paul Flaherty, out there vocalist Dredd Foole and hobo songster Michael Hurley could play among appreciative ears.
Unlike the early 70's musicians however, who often retreated into commercial non-existence; the new generation were able to keep in touch with their audience through the internet and CD-R's, many, many CD-R's. Cheap to produce and often adorned with hand made artwork, these frequent sonic communications were cheap and often limited to 30 - 100 copies, and you felt like you were experiencing the developments of the scene in real time almost.
MV & EE themselves had innumerable CD-R's on their Child of Microtones label behind them prior to this release. Dealing in a freeform electric country blues or 'lunar raga' MV & EE take the psychedelic explorations of The Grateful Dead or guitar wig out Neil Young to the next logical stage. Heavy analogue reverb and tremolo dominate the production MV termed Spectrasound.
Neil Young once said that during the recording of On The Beach he was ingesting 'honey slides', which are a combination of baked weed and honey, reportedly these were utterly debilitating and the band at Topanga would lie wiped out for days, stoned beyond belief. Well, if you imagine a situation where honey slides continued as the drug of choice, instead of cocaine and the 80's you might get close to the zoned out majesty of this record.
If you are one of those people who find it difficult to enjoy Neil Youngs thin falsetto voice, then you might struggle with MV's weedy refashioning; in the right mood though his laconic NY isms feel right.
Chunks of this record drift by in a blissful stoned revery. Loose interpretations of country blues standards by Charlie Patton, Mississippi John Hurt and Reverend Gary Davis are included. Anthem of the Cocola Y&T feature a lyric about a beautiful stoned girl; C.C. Pills is a horizontal Robert Johnson on mandrax. Raga drone & harmonica feature; the back up band for this outing play instruments called things like cumbus wood flute, yayli tambur, stuti box, electric jug, and mooncrotales. The second disc is even better, opening out over even wider vistas, Meditations on Payday has you looking for pots of honey to cook, you can smell the bongwater. MV's production emphasize tinkly sounds like brushed shells, a dog barks, someone puts up a shed, trip potential maximized. EE sings beautifully on Banty Rooster Blues.
The motherload is remarkable final track Death Don't Have No Mercy, a 23min journey which seems to start completely free and loose and gains form throughout it's duration, like they had smoked themselves sober.
The view from maximum arousal peak is sweet, long may it last.
Sunn 0))) (pronounced Sun, and named after their favorite amp brand) are the Seattle based doom/drone metal duo of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson. Both have previous metal history with numerous acts, notably Goatsnake and Burning Witch, and many ongoing collaborations within and out of the metal genre. Collaborators tend to bring out the best in Sunn 0)) and include Julian Cope, Julian Priester and frequently the Hungarian vocalist, Attila Csihar, formerly of black metal titans Mayhem.
Primarily best appreciated as a mighty live act. No format is able to capture the might of extreme weight, volume and physical force of witnessing Sunn 0)) in person. So live show remains the best way to experience their peculiar brand of volume ritual if you dare!
The whole Sunn 0))) project can be viewed as a tribute and continuation of the work started by Dylan Carlson in his grunge era Seattle group Earth. Their 1992 album Earth 2 stood alone at that time as investigating long form drone and distorted guitar meditations, forgoing rhythm and melody for immersion and volume. Sunn 0))) follow this tradition into a darkened portal.
For those of you turned off by anything vaguely resembling metal, Sunn 0))) are a hard sell. They fully immerse themselves into the culture and theater of metal, despite also incorporating influences from outside of the metal sphere, namely free jazz and the avant-garde. I would imagine that they fall squarely into what the Sleaford Mods refer to as 'Blow me down with a feather, cloak and dagger bollocks'.
However as mods everywhere look at the world through clear eyes and see the REAL, the worlds of Sunn 0))) and other psychedelecists also concern the unknown and unseen. As 80's-90's turntablists Coldcut once said, Hip Hoppers would do well to listen to Mark E Smith; well I would also suggest that electronic, Dubstep and D'n'B acts could learn from what Sunn 0))) are able to achieve with bass frequencies, and feedback to build tension over extended forms.
I first saw Sunn 0))) live at Autechres 2003 ATP festival at Pontins Camber Sands (an electronic group natch). Seeing them among the cutting edge of electronica, grime, hip-hop and the avant-garde they made perfect sense. Fully robed, faces hidden, and stage enveloped in toxic amounts of dry ice their sloth like downtuned riffs, was a ritual of the physicality of volume. Sometime vocalist Attila Csihar looked like he had been exhumed earlier that day, maybe he was 500 years old like Dracula, he muttered deep throated incantations to human failure. The effect was biological.
Monoliths and Dimensions was their 6th studio album and most successful as a home listening experience due to its not being an attempt to recreate a live experience, but as a standalone musical piece. The usual blazing white light of feedback drone is supplemented by colour added from collaborators, giving the impression of a shimmering illusion at the bottom of a black lake.
Featured musicians include Attila Csihar on three of the four long tracks, Eyvind Kang who adds orchestration, brass, and strings; and Julian Priester the legendary jazz trumpeter who does blistering work on Alice. There is also a featured choir.
Two tracks, Aghartha and Big Church are named after late 70's period Miles Davis tracks. Big Church starts with some kind of incantation, the track is halted twice by bell tolls, choirs rise and fall, and the dry, cold vocals make like Nosferatu shaping the elements against humankind.
Alice is perhaps the most moving Sunn 0))) track, with the trumpet and a suggestion of ascension providing a glimpse of positivity.
Definitely see them live though. A Bristol gig at Trinity Hall from around this period which I missed, and was attended by my brother Ben and a friend, was described in terms of incredulity in terms of shear volume and spectacle. Attila was clothed in mirrors which reflected a headspinning laser show.
Sunn 0))), give it a go.
Harlem natives, Vast Aire and Vordul Mega came straight out the box in 2000. First introducing themselves on the classic double 12", split with Company Flow's final release.
The following year would bring this, the debut Cannibal Ox album produced entirely by Co-Flow rapper/producer El-P. It remains El-P's best work (including Run the Jewels) all these years later.
Strange to think that at the time this seemed futuristic in both it's advanced slang editorials and progression of hip hop breaks into industrious, skull cracking, dystopian funk. Now however, it's clear that this was a last gasp of NY hip-hop in it's original minimalist beat and gristle form.
A linear progression from Jam Master Jay to Juice Crew to Public Enemy to BDP and RZA's dusty sampling. El-P's concussive boom-bap, if 'The samples is the flesh, and the beats the skeleton', well the flesh is all sirens, wheezing respirators and Darth Vader gurgles.
New York and it's hip-hop culture would soon be irrevocably changed and shaken by 9/11, just around the corner, and it would never fully recover. The axis was already shifting South.
Perhaps Cannibal Ox reached one possible logical endpoint of hip-hop, with their dense slang riddles and head scratching metaphors, zooming into view and away faster than a cubist train graffiti burner, colourful and complex, the tags only revealing themselves after detailed investigation. The rewards are great for those who want to go.
Cannibal Ox describe Harlem in detached terms of the observer, themes of separation from the physical ('soul from the shell'), horror and science-fiction are common. So called indie or backpacker hip-hop from this era often suffers from being knowingly clever and irritating, or having tricksy rhyme flows which are essentially awkward and unfunky. Can Ox are never less than finger snapping funky and repping Harlem world hip hop with addictive and distinctive flows, Vast Aire is the Q-Tip to Vordul Mega's Phife Dawg. When moments of clarity come among the lyrical stanzas it hits even harder.
Iron Galaxy opens the album, mapping the dimensions of the ghetto. 'You were a still born baby, mother didn't want you, but you were still born/ Boy meets world, of course his pops is gone/ What you figure?/ That chalky outlined on the ground is a father figure?/ So he steps to the next stencil, that's a hustler/ Infested with money and diamond cluster'.
Ox out the Box, has a freestyle feel, with Vast boasting his mic prowess 'I grab the mic like "Are you Experienced", But I don't play the guitar, I play my cadence'. Two posse cuts, 'Atoms' and 'Battle of Asgard' showcases the extended Atoms family of MC's and sounds like a hip-hop episode of Game of Thrones.
A B-Boy Alpha is about growing up around the birth of hip-hop culture.
Raspberry Fields is one of the best cuts, a weird tune which may be semi improvised with a great chorus. The cocky Vast, 'Oh my god, I said a word twice'.
Vein is in my top 10 hip hop tunes of the 00's. It's wears it's anxiety like vintage Geto Boys, the vocal tense, sometimes stuttering and overlapping to emphasize a loosening grip on reality. Desperate to escape the ghetto but bound by inequalities real and imagined. Vordul dreams of 'Ghetto acapellas in cathedrals' but is 'lost in this ghetto population, just another face that's facing all types of, like stereotypes and hatred', Vast then takes over telling a chilling narrative of meeting a local teen, bragging, waving a gun. Vast lectures him and says 'Peace, keep breathing' before vividly detailing the crew who hustles guns to kids, naming names, and observes, 'We're all from the same ghettos, and these are the same hollow tips that knocked Milly out of stilletos'. Vordul then delivers a panicked rap
where he's 'Off of this earth to return to my nature'.
The F-Word is a new spin on Biz Markie's' Just A Friend'. More heartbroken than it first appears, just like Biz! Even if it's couched in anger.
Stress Rap is wrapped in shrouds of honks, bells and train brakes and Painkillers is a nauseous lopsided organ and barroom piano funk about addiction.
Pigeons are used as a metaphor throughout Cannibal Ox's work for human kind and especially the Harlem ghetto (now battling gentrification!). 'Most of 'em, would rather expand their wings and hover over greater things/ that's what we call inspired flight/ But the pigeons gotta eat pizza crust every night'.
Cannibal Ox are from a NY of graffiti on trains, breakbeats and cultural isolation. They can symbolize the vast distances of imagination needed to reverse the negative forces of the ghetto, but to reach this precious plain, they walk the razors edge of reality. Others; Coltrane or Sly for instance have stepped over that edge, but this rarely in hip-hop, as artists are too grounded to 'the real'. Well 'realness' is overrated, and hip-hop needed to take that step, to realize it's psychedelic potential.
Ricardo Villalobos creates wide vistas of engrossing rhythm and noise, often labelled as a minimal or micro strain of techno/house. He has, over two decades built a reputation for epic DJ sets which have been known to last up to 8-10hrs, and is a major draw at the world biggest dance festivals. Enviously straddling both populist energy rave and underground experimentation, his music is quite hard to write about, lacking subject matter and being all about kinetic energy and interlocking percussion. But here we go... Ricardo Villalobos was born in Santiago, Chile. The Villalobos family fled Pinochet's dictatorship in the 1970's and landed in Germany. The young Villalobos became obsessed with early synth pop, particularly Depeche Mode who he followed when on tour in Europe. Villalobos' family settled in Berlin, a city with a substantial displaced Chilean population, and as such house parties involving South American music and rhythms were common. Berlin then became the European capital of techno in the 80's-90's. Young second generation Chileans were attracted to and instrumental in this scene, and a good understanding of where Villalobos' style evolved from would include imagining the percussive congas and shakers of samba projected into a technological future, whilst retaining folk elements of the homeland. Looking into an imagined past to project a Utopian future. There is also a strong political edge, simply in the fact of glorying in a tradition, and partying in a way that would have been impossible under Pinochet. Alcachofa was Villalobos' first full length, but he had a long string of 12"s and remixes behind him at this point, the ideal format for this music really. Unlike most techno full lengths though this one does really work as an album you want to listen all the way through. It begins with Bahaha hahi, a typically onomatopoeic title, and a warm up for what's to come, introducing the palette of textures familiar in much of Villalobos' work. Glitches, squelches and other wet sounds, dry compressed percussion, busy fleshy detail and muttered vocal snatches, all in the service of dance-able rhythm. Next is the one-two hit of Dexter and Easy Lee, also released as a 12" single. Pared back from their massively extended versions. It is not unusual for his tracks to be 15-20mins long and the 2006 release Fizheuer Zieheuer stretched to 37mins. When Villalobos was asked about the running times, he simply said that this is how long he liked to listen to them for. Like all the best minimal techno, the appeal lies in the magic that can be created by following your ear as the music almost imperceptibly changes, focusing your attention of different sonic elements, playing tricks with time and space. Dexter, essentially knits a static electricity beat, bass pulse and kick drum around each other, until a minor chord, Cure like bassline comes along to play. These few ingredients can keep my rapt attention for 8+mins. The minimal tag is really a misnomer. Although there may be few elements in each track, there is nothing minimal about the way the tracks build in momentum, or the deceptively complex patterns which are weaved, the effect can be quite busy. Easy Lee swaggers along with a neat robotic cowboy melody, sung above watery percussion and nautical congas which build and build. Fool Garden (Black Congas) again uses few flavours, flitting between a vocal ululation, and a twinkling keyboard sound. I Try To Live (Can I Live) uses a snatch of reggae vocal with bangin 4/4 kicks and fearsome swathes of acid. Theogenese has a skipping, major key upfull vibe, before Wawomao gets dirty with a post punk, ESG like bass riff and chicken scratch funk guitar. What You Say presents a series of shiver inducing timbres, which must sound incredible through a loud PA, and the finale Y.G.H. plays out as a perfect outro, with John Carpenter like synth washes and a pulse which holds back from the rush of release. Unlike many techno albums which play out like a series of tracks, this one feels like a journey, but with tracks which also work in the club.
Boards of Canada are brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin, and Geogaddi was their second album following the success of their debut Music has the Right to Children (1998) and a handful of EP's.
The brothers themselves have always given very few interviews and personal appearances preferring, as the cliche goes, the music to speak for itself. This then has allowed an obsessive fan base to fill in the gaps where information was lacking and create rumours and myths surrounding Boards of Canada's activities, in particular suggesting occult and esoteric meanings behind much of what they do.
In fairness BOC, and certainly Warp records have done little to deny any of this, surely enjoying the cult that has built around them.
The music and artwork provides recurring themes and motifs inviting listeners to search for hidden meanings. Numerology is often invoked with sampled counting, timings of albums (66mins6secs), 23 track albums (a numerologically significant number) geometric shapes (hexagons), and hints that tracks were created using mathematics formula. Colours are also significant with intensely visual yellows, reds and turquoise skies.
BOC are named after a Canadian film company, and the brothers themselves were raised to pre-teens in Canada before moving to the outskirts of Edinburgh, where when a little older they became part of a electronic rave type scene outside of the cultural centre; much like Richard James was doing at the same time in Cornwall.
Unlike the digital electronica of Aphex or Autechre however, BOC go for the more aged sound of analogue equipment and samples from 70's sources, perhaps deliberately aged, but just as technically astounding and detailed as any electronic boffin type.
What was massively influential about the BOC sound was the way it invoked memories of 70's- 80's childhoods simply due to the quality of the sounds and samples (often children playing or old TV documentary voices). It would be hard to imagine the existence of Ghost Box, folktronica, Animal Collective or Oneohtrix without BOC.
Although BOC came from the future music of techno, they create a kind of pastoral electronica, looking back to grand interior statements like Incredible String Band, The Beatles White Album, Robert Wyatt or My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. The rhythms are less techno than a precise downbeat hip-hop like DJ Shadow with Sheffield's bleep and bass production values.
Any music that deliberately evokes memory will always be tinged with melancholy, as BOC have said, 'any music about memory is music about a time that can never come back'. Music has the Right to Children still managed to sound happy and warm, the memories of child's play and summer holidays.
Geogaddi however (the 4 year gestation explained as being due to the exacting perfectionism of the pair al la MBV) was much darker, although it does seem less dark now following the evolution in spooked electronica since!
Geogaddi then, evokes darker memories of childhood. Whereas ROYGBIV from the debut had sampled children counting as if part of a game, Gyroscope on this album seems like a reversal with a more anxious voice counting but seemingly unable to get beyond 9 without finding itself back at 0 again, the funk beat clipped too short to be traditionally groovy.
Music is Math's vocal sample 'the past inside the present' sounds like a spell, with phantasm vocals unable to escape the squelchy beats containing them.
Sunshine Recorder references EP track Beautiful Place in the Country, but the weirdly timestreched vocal and cool reverse spin has the effect of distancing the beautiful place. One persons beautiful place remember is another's Father Yod style sex cult.
Alpha and Omega features some great sampled congas.
The Devil is in the Details could be described as that Chris Morris phrase 'disgusting bliss' which he used for the black comedy series Jam, about the same time as this record and both connected to Warp records. What sounds like a hypnosis session is punctuated by ominous wails and a munching that reminds the listener of what a heavily LSD dosed Brian Wilson must have heard in his head when he recorded Paul McCartney munching celery for the recording of Smile.
Dawn Chorus remains probably my favorite BOC track; blissful funk, an MBV psychedelic swirl of off-colour organ melody and an vocal sample like that bit in Purple Rain where Prince plays Appolonia the tape and she can't tell whether the woman is laughing or crying.
BOC's next album The Campfire Headphase is almost equally as good as Geogaddi and uses more live instrumentation especially strumming and folk sounds.
Yeeeeeooohhhhh! Teeth, Gums, Can U see 'em? They alright? Lissssssseeeeennnnnnn!!!!
Grime lost it's way following it's initial rush of success 04-05, with Dizzee's Boy In Da Corner, The Streetsand Lethal Bizzle on TOTP. Record companies hesitated to understand and sign artists, club nights closed down amid institutionally racist police concerns; and leading lights of grime were imprisoned (Crazy Titch), the movement lost confidence. Grime artists who got signed to majors found themselves with less artistic control, with their releases stalled. Some successes like Tinchy Strider or Chipmunk branched into crossover territory, and are now remembered for guest spots on pop records.
One Grime MC however thrived in these adverse circumstances and produced a fantastic series of mixtapes building his reputation, and nowadays he's viewed as one of the most poetic, adventurous and skilled British MC's.
Trim was there at the inception of Grime, being in garage party crews, but always viewing himself as a lyricist. Raised by a Rasta mother, Trims languid baritone flow reflects his love of reggae and dancehall, he flows over Turbulence and Sizzla riddims on these tapes. Unlike the majority of the Grime scene which hail from Bow E3, Trim was brought up in Tower Hamlets E14 and he proudly reps this, perhaps he also knows this adds to his outsider reputation within grime. Trim was 15 when Damilola Taylor was stabbed and left for dead in this area, and Trim's black comedy raps will often depict a grim, melancholic environment.
Trim joined Roll Deep, one of the biggest garage crews (not yet called grime), as they were already up and running, spotted by local scene catalyst Wiley. He contributed to the Creeper comps, the In At the Deep End debut album with the Grime high water mark of When I'm 'Ere, and released the solo Boogieman 12". So far, so promising, however it's here in the story that things start to unfurl.
Maybe it was the sheer amount of personalities and egos battling to be heard within Roll Deep. Wiley, Footsie, Riko, Flowdan, Scratchie, Breeze plus others passing through. Shortly following the release of the debut and a group trip to Ayia Napa, a beef developed between Trim and Flowdan and Trim left the crew.
Trim has not been shy in vocalizing this beef on record, the track Lowdown seems to suggest that he felt Flowdan was not looking out for him and may have been actively undermining him. Trim also says he looked up to Flowdan as an older MC he admired, making the perceived slight hurt deeper.
You do wonder though, whether two deep voiced MC's both with dancehall influenced flows was one too many for the crew. Maybe Flowdan was worried by Trim who hasn't quite got the dread delivery of Flowdan, but is certainly more lyrical and funny. Trim is also one of the best free-styling and battling MC's, unafraid of any competition.
Don't look for a classic album among these mixtapes, there's no Revolver or Nation of Millions, and there likely never will be. Like a classic Reggae DJ e.g. Dr. Alimantado or Big Youth, the point is to make great tracks, and to fire up the rave. You will have to trawl through these tapes to find the classic tracks among the skits, remixes, guest appearances and tracks cut short. Trim has been promising an album 'Crisis' for about 6 years now, but it seems no closer to release now than it did 6 years ago!
After leaving Roll Deep, Trim took Roachie, another Roll Deep alumni with him and proceeded with the Soulfood mixtapes.
Roachie then went to jail until 2008 and a 'Free Roachie' theme runs across all of these tapes. Trim uses producers from all across grime, Wiley, Target, Jerzey, JME, Mega, The Streets, Danny Weed but is also unafraid to look at more experimental areas of electronica and dubstep.
Soulfood 1 has the great Lowdown, Liar Liar (I'm a liar, I need help from More Fire) and Taliban.
Soulfood Vol 2 contains Confidence Boost (United we stand, divided we lose) later versioned by James Blake.
Soulfood Vol 3 is perhaps the most consistent tape, with the majority of tracks presented in full.
Trim is full of catchphrases; Middle finger up, index with it, the way he repeats his punchlines a second time with a chuckle, in case you missed them the first. On Signal he raps 'if you didn't catch my name i'll throw it to you, and for those who can't catch i'll roll it to you'.
Ask For Trim runs through some local E14 spots or The Bits, with a foreboding air 'Tower Hamlets where we help people get badges for disabled parking'.
I'll Do Me is a possee cut with a great snaking flute and shaker riddim, indebted to Missy & Timbaland, with a no biters theme.
I'm Not is Trim defining himself against what he's not, 'If you're a bad boy, then i'm not'.
Inside Looking Out is an introspective realization of Trim's outsider status, and seems to come to a sort of peace with the fact that he could never be part of a crew.
The Low-Dan expands upon part 1, Trim claims he should have been called Flowdan, and accuses Flowdan of trying to get him arrested over war like pummeling bass kicks and lazer synths. It's here that we get our first promise of an official album!
I Can C U is Radioclit produced UK Garage clip clop funk, and It's A Cold World demonstrates Trim's talent for twisting everyday catchphrases much like US rapper MF Doom 'United we stand, divided we're like odd socks', 'eye for an eyewitness'.
Gave Him An Inch is produced by The Streets and is the punt at a hit single release, but seems to be inbuilt with the problems which mean the charts and Trim will always be at arms length. 'Is it me or am I different, In at the deep end but water resistant' and Mike Skinners assessment 'Too greasy, you can feel the ape in his bars'.
Trim sees himself as a mix of Old Dirty Bastard and Dennis Brown, and this is not far off the mark. Grime MC's have always had the problem of standing out from each other, with similar flows and voices. Trim has never had this problem, he's a natural and makes the whole thing seem effortless, his persona is his act with all of it's eccentricities.
If Grime has a Captain Beefheart or a Kool Keith then surely it's Trim, Trimothy, Shankvan.......
This list includes albums, singles, joint entries, and basically anything i feel like doing in the interests of storytelling or representing my taste and the decade.I intend to post each entry one at a time in reverse order, whenever i can. This may well take us into next decade.Enjoy!
