Beauty and the Beat
Trippy, layered and hypnotic, somehow Edan
has found ways to continue to sample crap from all over the
place. While his contemporaries are pounding out looped two-key
Casio drek, he has done the throwback, scratchy record thing,
bringing back echoes of Paul's
Boutique and other fun crackly hip-hop of a bygone era.
Granted, his white-boy bravado isn't the subtlest thing in the
world, and he ends up sounding like a lot of other white hip-hop
guys delivery-wise and content-wise. We get it that you listened
to a lot of Afrika Bambaataa and Biz Markie and whatnot; you
don't have to prove to us that you grew up listening to black
music. Of course his street cred probably isn't terribly high,
being a graduate of Berklee College of Music. Clearly the guy
knows a lot about music and music's history, which is what makes
this album incredibly musically interesting, and hopefully a
great jumping off point to a long career--although maybe a career
that would be better served letting others with more interesting
voices take the front seat. |
Primitve Plus
Edan has come out in his debut as a man on
a mission to bring the old school to the new school. Cuttin'
and scratchin' is all over the place, all sunk in layers of
echo and reverb. There are sirens and video game noises and
horn blasts. This is an all-out love letter to early hip-hop.
Oddly enough, his vocal delivery on this album is more varied,
and honestly more interesting, than on his follow-up, Beauty
& the Beat. You wouldn't even know this is the same
guy, as this album is way more stripped down and, um, hip-hoppy
than the psychedelic ode to funk, 60s rock and all sorts of
things musical that Beauty is. This album is a lot
more straightforward and listenable, where as Beauty
is somewhat challenging. I dig "Emcees Smoke Crack," a song
that shows his simple approach, snarky lyrics and laid-back
delivery. Don't listen to this album and expect the same thing
on the next one. We'll see where he goes from here. |
|
Booze
& Grub
Hipster
Movie Reviews
Hipster
Book Reviews