.L.W.H. - The Tape Hiss Hooligan

I've heard the Amsterdam public library, Bibliotheek, likened to a colossal Apple store, in sleekness and modernity. I thought the person sitting next to me was watching porn, but it turned out to just be a very PG-13 scene in some tv show which I don't recognize. A lot of people do watch porn in libraries, though, or at least so I'm told. I recall the description of a row of computers labelled "Porn Alley" in a library where my father used to work because there were no security cameras covering the row, and old horny men would flock to this row to do their business or what have you, and the large exmilitary staff member would have to sneak up on these people and scare the crap out of them and warn them not to do that shit anymore. This library has a huge music collection, at least in comparison to the libraries I'm used to raiding the music collections of, though those are public libraries of towns that are much smaller than Amsterdam. They have obscure electronic compilations that I didn't even know people owned, let alone libraries. I'm hoping to come down here with my colossal laptop tomorrow and rip some CDs.

The album that's really striking me now is this album The Tape Hiss Hooligan by producer / independent filmmaker .L.W.H(odge).

It's a hip hop album, and it features many rappers including Main Attrakionz, Squadda B. and Shady Blaze. This is the second hip hop album I've talked about on this blog so far and it certainly won't be the last. It is my belief that from a production standpoint, hip hop and electronic music are very closely related, and that's becoming even more obvious as we continue to have modern beat-smiths like the Brainfeeder crew and others really straddling, blurring the line between the two. It's going to take me several more listens to really get to know The Tape Hiss Hooligan and decide what I think of it, but my first impression is that this guy is a really good producer. He's not doing anything terribly experimental here, really. Most of the other hip hop I've been paying attention to this year definitely is. It's not nearly as three dimentional and bizarre as Shabazz Palaces' Black Up or as rhythmically progressive as Knxwledge's Hexual.Sealings.LP, definitely a far cry from the layered, dramatic beats of Clams Casino. The Tape Hiss Hooligan is, both in beats and rapping, a direct and dirty album, but it's presented in a very classy way. The backing tracks really go all across the board, some minimal and hard hitting, others beautiful and melancholy and others still groovy. The rapping is solid, nothing outwardly spectacular but definitely good, steady and reliable, and also delivered with this world-weary, stoned out casuality. The whole thing's got this gritty, stark, realistic feel to it. It hits an exhilarating high with "Spinning 87," which is just achingly beautiful and groovy as fuck, behind rapping that has real command. I wanted to embed a youtube video of the song in this post but it doesn't even seem to be on youtube yet. YOUTUBE HASNT EVEN HEARD OF IT YET, THATS HOW FUCKING UNDERGROUND THIS ALBUM IS. .L.M.H. really lets this album go its own course, beats setting really distinct atmospheres for the rappers to go to town on. It seems to me like Hodge is communicating things that are different than what the rappers are saying, not necessarily bigger things but parallel things. Part of how he asserts his voice on The Tape Hiss Hooligan is by how he handles the intro, outro and interludes, and I won't try to break that down because they are definitely things you should experience without any prior knowledge of them. He's definitely showing and not telling, which is exactly how you write well and direct well so it makes sense that this methodology translates to music as well. So if you're into hip hop check it out, definitely.

Mellowhype - BlackenedWhite / BlackenedWhite (Reissue)

Mellowhype - BlackenedWhite

Mellowhype - BlackenedWhite (Reissue)

If you pay attention to indie music and haven't heard of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, well, I'm fuckin' surprised. Not to be rude about it, but get with the program; they are easily the most buzzed as well as controversial hip hop group in the business now, and they've released a slew of albums and mixtapes of varying quality within the past two years. They've released some really killer stuff: Tyler the Creator's Bastard and Earl Sweatshirt's EARL are great rap albums, and then there's this, BlackenedWhite, by the duo of rapper Hodgy Beats and the producer Left Brain under the name Mellowhype, which to me is easily the best thing to have come out of the Odd Future camp yet. Hodgy isn't a great rapper, but he's definitely a good rapper. The real star of the show here is Left Brain, who I would say is the second most talented member of the collective outshined only by Earl Sweatshirt, who is unfortunately missing in action. The beats and productions on BlackenedWhite are incredible, innovative and kind of need to be heard to be believed. In short, it's one of the most fun hip hop albums to come out in a long time.

Mellowhype dropped this album for free on the internet last October. Now that Odd Future have blown up and gotten lots of attention from record labels (as well as having established their own), they're releasing a remastered version on Fat Possum with an alternate cover and a reshuffled tracklist with a few new tracks. It makes perfect sense for the group to give BlackenedWhite a physical release; the album is incredibly good and obviously had potential to be a moneymaker. I'm sad to report that they completely botched the reissue, cutting some of the original version's best songs and tacking on some decent but unnecessary tracks. The tracks that were cut from the original: "Hell featuring Frank Ocean," "Loco," "Stripclub," "Chordaroy featuring Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, the Creator," "Gram," and the bonus track "Based featuring C. Renee." The reason the excellent "Chordaroy" was cut is because the label didn't have the permission to use Earl's vocals, so says the wikipedia article anyway. This is unfortunate but understandable. However, I don't think any of the other exclusions can be excused, because they were/are all excellent, especially "Hell" which has a downright ridiculous beat. The extra tracks "64" and "Igotagun" are good but not really necessary.

I don't see the need for them to have altered BlackenedWhite more than absolutely necessary, though I'm sure they had their reasons. In a perfect world with all circumstances allowing, I think they could have compiled all of the tracks from the original and all of the new tracks as well as the bonus tracks for the reissue and released one fuck of a bloated, delicious 19-track double album rather than a criminally abridged 11-track album. Odd Future are doing enough interesting things right now for me to want to support them by buying their albums, but it's hard for me to get behind the BlackenedWhite reissue, though the original is necessary listening for anyone who wants to learn about these guys, or just wants to hear a really fun hip hop album.