label: industry standard
producers: meckeneck, profound
website: Industry Standard
rating
tracklisting
1. Intro
2. Elementary Blessed
3. Kennetical Movements
4. Barren Zones
5. Interlude
6. Another Lap
7. Precise Madness
8. A-Bomb and INF
9. Iamaini
10. Freestyle
11. Controled Conception
12. Pages
13. Another Lap (Remix)
14. Q-Ball and Curt Cazal
15. Eat A Banana

 

Counterfeit Industry

How about a melodic album, that's not pop and not r'n'b? How about an album that is melancholy at times, happy and humorous at others, deep and dark, hopeful and spiritual at others, smooth and funky? How about a beat you can feel in your head and heart? How about lyrics that keep you listening, rather than mentally dozing off? How about an album that is ahead of the standard, that takes it and advances it and shovels it back to the industry, setting a new standard? What if that album is being released completely independent, with full artist control? And how about actually supporting this, although you've never heard of it before?

There's a feast being thrown in front of your feet. Slow rolling drums enter the sphere of your system, while Genesis doesn't brag, but shows his skills. This introduction also warms us for "Elementary Blessed", where a shy piano guides melodically over machinery hammering noise, along with a whiny bass line and 'philosophical flashes' by Denetics, Genesis and Jaaman. To whom the next solo track "Kennetical Movements" (a-side of the single) belongs. "Barren Zone" takes the plucking strings to a next level, with another melodic and this time almost bouncy but certainly happy and hopeful beat by Meckeneck and Profound, the producers of this album. With the emcees sounding confident, casual if not cocky, they get a break on "Interlude". The beat is made up off a dope and chopped up opera voice and a funky drum and some hating answering machine complaining, until the beat switches and smooth vibes take over.

Saturated pianos keep "Another Lap" wet with chords. But only until the beat suddenly breaks down low and moody, until it switches again and shifts to the monstrously dope sample, also heard on MHz's "World Premier". This obese track takes us to one of the dopest in a long time. Sampling Billie Holiday's "southern trees baring strange fruits", "Precise Madness" must be one of the most heart touching tracks about the struggle, that has the potential to be a hymn, a classic standard of hip hop, a track that should be played, and heard, and all people would understand.

Then there's another answering machine insert, this time it's "A-Bomb And INF" giving shout outs, while later on it's "Q-Ball And Curt Cazal" on the track by this name. And then there's the b-side to the single: "Iamaini". Guitars and a hitting drum kick perform as the background to Denetics kicking "mental composites, my phiosophics rock the progress / of common logic/my process alien as flying objects / but not the nonsense I condense complex concepts / into a form simple to digest / the alchemist creates the limitless, bio-organic stimulus / that drop inhibitance and underground inhabitants / flagging this as the fattest shit is accurate/ passing it similar to how hash is hit". "Freestyle" is a barely uptempo cut with more guitars riding the track, while "Controlled Conception" takes mysticism to another level, with another melodic trip through rising soundfields, melancholically carrying you with this Genesis solo cut. And then there's "Pages", hard strings, a clocking piano and hard drums have Jaaman spit "sounds be blowing outside like clothes on a line / as long as I put it on a page first / way burst the flavors / come later with the stage thirst / I stay versed all praise to papers / all the verbal strut clear cutting acres / good uses c.p.u be getting still/ productivity turns my print into a mill / mill meaning dough if so than I will / cause it's gods will to build and use all skill".

And then there's the "Another Lap (Remix)", a sad, mystic, composition bursting with a dramatic piano, there's the confusing monkey chant of "Eat A Banana", tongue breaking rhyme style, and a unfitting drum, that make the producers sound somewhat uncomfortable. Finally don't miss out on another answering machine interlude as a hidden track. And speaking of not missing out: don't miss out on this album!

review: tadah the byk

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