Here we are again, the third instalment of The Mix! I hope you’ve all got your winter woollies on and it’s not too cold for everyone out there. This week we’ve got some proper stompin’ albums for you to put on your Christmas list to Santa. Let’s cross our fingers and wish that he brings us everything we ask for this year.
Apparently, Santa used to wear a green suit until a famous brand of cola got hold of his outfit and died it red just so it matched the colour of their cans. Corporate Bastards!
Anyway, I’m not even sure that’s true so I’ll get on with what I’m supposed to be doing.
Public Enemy – New Whirl Odor
Now, these people need no introduction. Public Enemy have released a brand new CD & DVD combo to bless our two most receptive senses: Sight and sound. The intro track of the CD tells us the history of Public Enemy’s impact on the world in a nutshell, and it is explained perfectly. “PE made the world listen. They articulated the frustrations and anger of the black community, more importantly they changed the perception of what hip hop could be. Chuck D said they were like the CNN of the black community, and no one broadcasts louder…than Public Enemy!”.
There’s something about PE that makes them always sound like they are live on stage. Perhaps it’s the amount of energy they put into their work. Maybe it’s the thunderous, big banging beats their rhymes are smashed on top of. Or, it could just be sheer experience and knowledge of how to rock a crowd (even if there isn’t one). As usual, here are a couple of tracks from the CD that blew my woollen socks off.
Well I think the two best tracks are at either end of the CD. This works for me, it starts in the same way that it ends. The CD title track “New Whirl Odor” has a sniff of the older style of PE. This is a heavy one, stompin’ its way into your ears right the way through. It reminds me of my younger days stamping my feet and throwing off some big moves to Ice Cube’s “When Will They Shoot” (if you remember it). I think this is the reason I’m into this track. Anyway, this is one of the best tunes on the CD if for no other reason than to remind me of some cool times. I’m sure “New Whirl Odor” will have the same effect on loads of you out there.
The next track I want to mention is “Superman’s Black in the Building“. This is another PE track that sounds like it would be top quality to see live. Loads of power, loads of energy, loads of shouting, this one’ll grab your attention for sure. Come on we all need a little cathartic release, Public Enemy are perfect for a bit of catharsis.
The Blacknificent Seven – U Wot
Next up is some of the best collaborating I’ve seen or heard for a long time. We had a real treat when “‘Ere Comes Da Black” came out with a similar collab. But here, Dark Horizon has brought us an even bigger and badder follow up. “U Wot” featuring the likes of Seanie T, Roots Manuva, Rodney P, Karl Hinds and Robert Emanuelle is twelve inches worth of pure indulgence.
The kind of luxury you can’t put down until you’ve had too much, and you just need to sit and contemplate when you can handle another sitting. The trick with this track is to put it on your ipod, ones and two’s, CD player or car stereo, and put it on fucking loud.
Listen to the quick flows integrate and entwine between the characteristic sounds of Dark Horizons’ unorthodox concoction. With a line up like this how could you go wrong? Each verse manages to kick some ass with a different artist giving some positive input on an altogether wicked track. Don’t miss this one peeps! Once again, it is available at www.suspect-packages.com. I’m dedicated to this one. Big up to the Dark Horizon Crew!
Foreign Beggars – Let Go
Once again, the Foreign Beggars have produced another absolute diamond. Or should I say parallelogram because of its perfect coordination between every artist on the track and its slant towards being pretty fuckin’ messy. This lot have got a knack of making everything sound right even though they’re all over the place and can send your head into a muddled up unorganised stack of clutter. I do mean that in a good way.
“Let go” is a top quality tune with some, ever increasingly, wicked rhymes on top. This track features Wildchild who, to be honest, I don’t know much about but it does make an agreeable change to the stuff I’m predominantly listening to at the minute. This track feels like it’s designed to build you up all of the way through, as if its building speed; Reminiscent of a locomotive finding the right pace and sticking with it. Yep another corker you should go and buy straight away.
OK. Not so much to write about this track today but that doesn’t mean it’s not exceptional. I could have written this review with two words…spot on!
C-Mone – Second After Second
Ok, I’ll share one more top tune with you. This one was released just a few weeks ago on the 24th November. This is real tough Nottingham street hip-hop brought to you by a person who makes up 25% of the forever ready and dangerous Outdaville (one of my personal favourite crews). She has collaborated with Estelle, appeared on The Streets second album and won best female emcee 2005 at the UK hip-hop awards.
My interpretation of “Second after Second” is that it displays a proletariat, working class and (I don’t want to label C-Mone with a political stance) left wing, dare I say it, approach. Here we can look back at history and what our society has been built on and still stands on today. Fuck it. We need to have a go at the capitalistic bourgeoisie taking control of us puppets and facilitating the poor to remain poor and the rich get richer. That’s the way (I believe) our society is built. Hopefully this kind of track is the kind to prompt us into thinking about these important issues. This is some intelligent, spirited hip-hop music and can be seen as a cloudless vision that C-Mone is on her way to making big waves in the hip-hop scene.
This track is produced by the Marga Boyz, who consist of Pidgeon and Outdaville’s Nick Stez and Lee Ramsay. All the vitamins and minerals a growing hip-hop head needs. You can see a clip of the video here & you can download a copy of this tune from www.karmadownload.com for just £1.78.
This week’s sights and sounds:
There’s some top tracks from Dr Syntax to listen to here (Remember the Menagerie from the other reviews?)
(More Menagerie action!) Free tunes!
A bit of top stencil artwork from Barcelona down below:
Send me some tracks, sites or graf if you want me to have look at them and give them a mention. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the lot of ya, i’m going to leave you with Abjekt’s tunes of 2005.
Kris Drew. Out.
Abjekt’s Top 5 Albums Of 2005
It’s been the best year for hip hop since I really got into it in the late 90s, and my ears have been blessed with amazing albums from all over the world, so picking 5 was incredibly hard, but have a peek at my list and if you don’t know the artists, why not check them out?
Atmosphere – You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having
Rhymesayers Entertainment
After 2 years away, Atmosphere brought out their follow up to the Epitaph licensed Seven’s Travels and blew it out of the water. Ant’s beats flew all over the place, from old boom bap to God Loves Ugly era-Atmosphere to country-sampling goodness and they were topped off by Slug’s impenetrable story telling. The usual bitterness from the Twin Cities emcee was present but party songs were in the mix too. An absolute stormer of an album.
www.rhymesayers.com
Sims – Lights Out Paris
Doomtree Records
Minnesotan emcee and Doomtree member Sims’ debut album is a collection of tracks that showcase not only his brilliant lyricism and flawless delivery, but also the immense production coming out of the Doomtree camp of late. Not to be overshadowed by the better known POS, Sims gets political, hype, traumatic and emotional in this little known but incredibly enjoyable release.
www.doomtree.net / www.myspace.com/simsisabusiness
Kano – Home Sweet Home
679 Recordings
Yep, it’s grime. No, it’s crossover. No, it’s hip hop. Whatever you want to call Kano’s album, make sure you call it good. The former Chelsea trainee rode crunching guitar beats, even sampling Black Sabbath, samba rhythms and softer romantic flavours on this album. He is able to be confident in his talent whilst remaining modest and his variety is certainly something that sets him above the rest of the field.
www.ka-no.com
Gorillaz – Demon Days
Parlophone
Everyone knows about the Gorillaz, and as a staunch Damon fanboy I was always going to enjoy this, but it really surpassed my expectations. Danger Mouse’s beats brought a much more rounded feel to the plate than Dan The Automator’s did on the first effort. A plethora of great guest vocalists from MF Doom to Dennis Hopper to Shaun Ryder meant there is something for everyone and everything for this someone. Awesome.
www.gorillaz.com
Felt 2 – A Tribute To Lisa Bonet
Rhymesayers Entertainment
Slug and Def Jux’s Murs made a return as the Felt duo this year and this time brought the undeniable production qualities of Ant into the equation. This is, simply put, a summer album. The beats are all feel good, smile inducing head nodders, and with Slug and Murs chatting about how they check out girls, fuck girls, go and party in Vegas and then slam doors in faces, this is an album that just reminds me of how good life can be. Fuck the English weather!
www.myspace.com/rhymesayers
I wish you all a hip hop happy xmas and a wicked new year. See you over in 2006!
Peace – Jektadon
James Dawson presents a series of recent paintings looking at small architectural spaces regularly visited by skateboarders around Manchester.
With a schizophrenic blend of death metal ferocity, jazz-core unpredictability and a relentless desire to produce the unexpected, Between The Buried And Me remain one of metal’s most vastly undiscovered gems. The Jamie King produced follow-up to 2003’s underground classic ‘The Silent Circus’; ‘Alaska‘ succeeded in pushing both metal and music in general into brave new territories.
For more than a decade, bearded rock heroes Clutch have been firmly at the forefront of America’s underground scene. Bursting with tongue-in-cheek political commentary and hilarious sociological observations, ‘Robot Hive / Exodus’ is resounding proof that the greater things in life nearly always improve with age. Visit 
It’s no surprise that a band like High On Fire and indeed an album such as ‘Blessed Black Wings’ would be brought to the masses courtesy of Relapse Records. Planting its feet firmly outside of the box, this tantalising Slayer-meets-Motorhead mindfuck is a slice of pure rock fury capable of satisfying even the most hard to please 30-something elitist. Go to 
There are few bands on the planet more devoted to melting the minds of all who they meet than Scandinavian metal-mentalists Meshuggah. Packed full of the type of complex patterns usually only found in your grannies knitting, ‘Catch 33′ is a benchmark release in the history of one of the world’s most innovative acts. Visit 
He may have the attitude and appearance of the crazy old man across the street, but Devin Townsend and co. kicked off the spring season in 2005 with what would go on to be one of the year’s stellar efforts. With its throbbing electro-industrial pulse, ‘Alien‘ is a gloriously innovative chunk of revolutionary metal. Go surf over to 
‘TRANSMIT DISRUPT’ silenced all the cynics who questioned whether- having parted ways with EMI – Hell is For Heroes could produce an album of the same quality as their debut ‘The Neon Handshake’ on a small indy label. Well the results speak for themselves.
With generic indie guitar music flooding the airwaves relief this year came courtesy of 15 musicians going by the name ‘THE ARCADE FIRE’. Recorded in Montreal in the depths of winter and feeding off raw emotion as close friends died and marriages collapsed during their time in the studio – ‘FUNERAL’ is a truly eclectic, rewardingly beautiful record. Siblings Win Butler and Regine Chassagne lead the way through a winding tale of neighborhoods, f! antasies, tales of love and woe with harps, accordions, xylophones and a symphony of other instruments moulding an album that constantly has you guessing,. From the hymn like downers to thumping disco beats in Rebellion (Lies) – this is theatrical, stunning and wonderfully quirky album.
‘JACK’S MANNEQUIN’, the side project of Something Corporate’s Andrew McMahon, springs to life in an album bursting with piano based California pop punk. ‘Everything in Transmit’ combines the catchy hooks, effervescent guitars, soaring piano melodies and beautifully narrative lyrics with a dose of attitude that SC sometimes lacks. With Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee on drums, pop-punk guru Chris Lord Alge mixing and Andrew McMahon at the top of his writing game – every track stands it’s ground, every lyric hits home. What makes it especially poignant is McMahon’s diagnosis with Acute Lymphatic Leukaemia shortly after recording wrapped up; lines like ‘ She thinks I’m much too thin, she asks me if I sick..” suddenly have new meaning. ‘Everything in Transmit’ is a ray of California sunshine for 2005, and shows McMahon, who is currently undergoing treatment, for who he is – one of the best young songwriters of his generation. 
Its been a long time in the making but rising from the ashes of The Crocketts ‘THE CRIMEA’ step up to the breach with this intelligent, bright, sometime infectiously poppy (Lottery Winners on Acid’), sometimes dark ‘ (Someone’s Crying) and sometimes uptempo (‘White Russian Galaxy’) album. Davey MacManus’s writing veers towards fervent, and the passion of his live performance is captured on the album. Lyrics are spun with sometimes disturbing undertones, yet balanced with every present catchy hooks, and a bright round sound, the album and soaring melodies – it’s a tidy little package bursting with promise that leaves you buzzing – it’s no wonder John Peel was such an ardent supporter of the band.
Hailing from Chiswick, THE MAGIC NUMBERS were the band who took the festival season by storm this year. Nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, their eponymous album is a collection of harmonies, stunning vocal arrangements, engaging melodies and a sincerity that so many cheesy generic manufactured pop lacks. The brother/sister combination adds to the feeling of genuine warmth throughout the album, stunning musical arrangements, an alt-country vibe crossed with The Mamas and the Papas – this is an honest and uplifting album, a dynamic mix of melancholy and love, california pop and folk. They seem to be the marmite of the music world, but taken at face value, this album is a beautifully produced memento of the summer.
Arguably more popular than ever since they reformed three years ago, Hank Von Helvete and co. delivered another fine chapter in the deathpunk saga with ‘Party Animals’.
2005 saw the continuing invasion of metalcore territory by the emo hordes; resulting in far too many bands peddling whiny vocals over recycled Iron Maiden riffs. So thank goodness for Darkest Hour, who brought some
Sounding like a 1950’s rockabilly bar’s house band, the Fat Cats came swaggering out of Stoke-On-Trent to deliver one of the most infectious debuts of the year; a hybrid of ska, swing, punk, and traditional R&B – all topped off with a suitably dark sense of humour.
Having got over the worst of his personal demons, Trent Reznor abandoned the over-elaborate style of previous NIN album ‘The Fragile’, in favour of the back-to-basics approach that made ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ such a success. The result was arguably his finest album in a decade, with songs like ‘The Hand That Feeds’, ‘Only’ and the melancholy ‘Right Where It Belongs’ sure to remain fan favourites.
An eight-piece folk-punk band with a bizarre stage show is hardly your typical Warped Tour band, as several thousand Americans recently discovered. But hey, isn’t great punk music meant to be original and provocative? ‘Gypsy Punks.’ is both of these and more, combining traditional folk and gypsy sounds with the urgency and rebellious attitude of punk. It’s a brilliant record, but more importantly, you’ll have heard nothing quite like it before.
Are you thinking of going snowboarding and looking for Gloves? Well these Drop MFG Throttles are the nuts.I have been wearing them to and from work as the slopes are miles away right now and they are damn hot. They are waterproof, perforated and in leather that is soft to the touch with a zipper at the back.
Girls will be looking fresh in these crystal white Nikita Knitmits this winter. But washing them will become the norm as these will turn dirty in colour if you don’t keep them clean.
This hat is seriously comfortable, I have been wearing one all week. The reversible option is always a bonus as well, especially if you are on the run. Also this striped beanie comes in all sorts of colours, this is our favourite although they did send us rasta hat for the review, but can you imagine Zac sporting a rasta hat? Nah, nor could we!
Etnies have these peaked winter beanies out that are quite fresh this season but we have no idea what they are actually called. This one is grey but they probably come in all sorts of colours. They even have these festive cuties for the ladies with lovely stars on to.
Es have gone for the traditional beanie in the colours you can see from this image and come up trumps.
Blueprint are arguably the most active skateboard company in the UK but what are their new hoodies like? Well after wearing a Prevalence design for a week, they are soft strong and very very long, just like the advert but without the dogs. Actually, you can take the long bit out, but they are soft and fluffy and desirable for the winter months ahead.
This is the OG in style, I dunno why, it probably has something to do with the great artwork but I have worn one of these until it started to get holes in the elbows over the last year and a half.
One for the girls out there. Nikita make some seriously funky clothes and this winter the Hot Spot Hoodie should probably be at the top of your hit list with its comfortable set up.
This hooded zip fleece should keep the girls snug this winter with 80% cotton and 20% polyester to keep you warm on the inside.
OK, this our Shoe of the Year without a doubt and not only because Mark “Fos” Foster designed the dope Heroin graphics for this shoe either.
SWYD stands for “Sleep When Your Dead” and the man that used this phrase more than most this year is Dirty Sanchez fulltime stunt knob Matt Pritchard. We love those guys here at Crossfire so we were stoked when we heard that Pritch has a shoe out on Globe. Keep your focus in these clean, technical skate shoes with smooth leather or soft suede upper in a technical skate style, with stitching accents, a plain toe with perforation accents, and side stitched stripes. You can find an embossed and stitched Globe logo on side, heel, and tongue plus a full lace up front, with a padded collar and thick padded mesh tongue featuring keeper straps. Soft fabric lining and a cushioned insole keep your feet warm and they sport a Grippy gum rubber outsole for maximum board control.
I admit that I don’t usually rush to the DVS display when I look for a new pair of kicks, but in todays competitive skate shoe industry and among the hundreds of different models on offer, the new DVS Novas come correct. No bells and whistles just a simple functional shoe with a sweet suede upper and sticky gum sole. I started to skate these straight out of the box which is always a big thumbs up by my standards.
With a gum sole and a suede upper, these DVS Dills are ready to skate from the box as they are pretty flexible being a thin shoe. with a hidden lace loop. There is nothing else that is special about these shoes, no hidden features, no bullshit, just straight up out of the bag skate shoes with a nice go faster stripe at the back end, just like the rider who skates them.
Jackets are essential to survive the winter but finding one that you can skate in that works is actually quite hard. This jacket was the first to turn up here at HQ in a box from Revival Distribution and is the warmest you will find this time of the year. But making a jacket warm does not mean that it is the heaviest jacket on the shelf because otherwise you would not be able to skate in it whatsoever.
Winter arrived late this year, but it’s here now and it’s as bad as every other year! With temperatures hitting all time lows, you’ll need something warm but not too heavy for a session if you’re hitting up the great outdoors.
OK, this is not a jacket recommended for skateboarding but who said you have to skate in any of these products, it’s all clothing right? This jacket is a men’s heavyweight leather with a printed lining from Hurley. BTW, we were told the punk ass pin badge selection comes included. Nice touch.
Well, it looks warm doesn’t it? But I must admit I have never been a fan of the tight sleeves on jackets as I have never really had that snotty nose thing some people have and these sleeves always serve as a perfect spoon!
OK, this jacket should look dope on any girl just as long as you keep off the floor at gigs ladies! This looks like the sort of jacket that would make some of our friends heads turn and are recommended for girls with tight units!
I’m not a girl, (well not the last time I looked) but I reckon this jacket would look pretty hot on most. It’s a jacket and vest combo so great for winter and spring with a snug hood and 2 deep pockets in the front with zippers for your gloves.
8 years after his death, The Notorious B.I.G aka Biggie Smalls has a new album out, this time with his previously unheard studio stuff being paired up with a host of guest rappers, some of whom weren’t even out of nappies during his reign on the top of the Rap world.