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Tyler, The Creator

‘Goblin’
XL

tyler-the-creator-goblinIt’s almost impossible to approach Goblin, the latest album from Odd Future’s Tyler, The Creator, without any kind predisposed stance. Whether it’s the huge amount of press and hype which currently surrounds the group, or the outward, confrontational personalities of its members, Odd Future set themselves out to provoke, excite and divide. With the group’s profile now at an all-time high, then, for many Goblin will a make or break landmark in their career.

In many ways, this record also marks a huge progression for OFWGKTA. For starters, it will see a physical release through reputable and reliable label XL, currently home to the likes of Adele, The XX and Radiohead. But there are also perhaps unexpected advances in terms of its content, as Tyler continues his growth into one of the most fascinating and engaging individuals of a generation. Personally, I’ve long straddled the fence of Odd Future’s output to date, but I’m happy to invest fully in the collective as a phenomenon, and one with the potential to produce something special.

Goblin, then, finds Tyler in a new found state of self-awareness, and that’s understandable from his position in the centre of the musical universe. If his last album, Bastard, was a rowdy statement of intent punctuated by gags about rape and violence, Goblin is far more affected piece of music, almost schizophrenic in nature. From the word go Tyler is at pains to address his critics, re-iterating that his music is fiction and vocalising a resentment for being labelled horrorcore, and indeed homophobic.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a largely confrontational record, but it’s also very clear Tyler wants to add more strings to his bow. He’s even included a couple of almost straight up love songs on this record, almost as if to prove his own humanity. These prove to be some of the more effective moments on the record, particularly ‘She’ with it’s memorable, sing-a-long hook by Odd Future’s resident R&B singer Frank Ocean. Lyrically, I’d argue that Tyler’s biggest influence is early Eminem. From the apparently random celebrity bashing on ‘Yonkers’, to the public service announcements and rousing shock choruses such as ‘Kill people, burn shit, fuck school’ on ‘Radicals’. The two also share a similar mischievous humour in their delivery, often veiled by aggression.

Where Tyler perhaps differs to those that have come before him is that Goblin is entirely self-produced, aside from one contribution from Left Brain on ‘Transylvania’. Those expecting an album of ‘Yonkers’ and ‘Sandwiches’ style beats will be disappointed, as these stand out as easily the most accessible songs on the record. Although vocal in his love for the likes of Clipse and Waka Flocka Flame, Tyler’s own productions aren’t necessarily even influenced by hip hop. Instead the album is mostly made up of a mixture of eerie synth arrangements and jarring stabs of distorted bass and drums. These are probably his most intricate productions to date, though, and he throws at them a range of pitch alterations and studio trickery.

I suppose the question on most people’s minds will inevitably be, ‘does this album live up to its hype’? While the answer to this question is perhaps a no, it’s almost certainly the wrong question to be asking, as by its very nature hype is a grossly exaggerated reaction. Following the path of Tyler, The Creator so far, though, Goblin is an album that meets expectations and expands on the ground that he has covered. Moments of inspiration flow regularly through this overly long and at times testing record, but I have no doubts that Tyler is an artist worth persevering with. Yes, it’s rough around the edges, but the most exciting things in life are never clean cut.

Sleekly Lion

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Music News

Free Z-Trip Beastie Boys mix

DJ extraordinaire Z-Trip has put together a free 23 minute Beastie Boys mix in preparation for the NYC trio dropping their new album.

Mixing up stuff from the new album and old classics, it’s the perfect way to kick off any day, so head over to Z-Trip’s Bandcamp page and download it!

Plus it gives us another chance to watch the awesome Make Some Noise video!

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Music News

Watch: Raekwon drops new video

raekwonIt seems like Raekwon releases videos every other day, just like his albums, but this is definitely worth a watch.

Harking back to the days when Wu Tang first burst onto the scene, the beat on Butter Knives is killer and The Chef’s vocals are as potent as ever. Kick back and enjoy!

Raekwon – Butter Knives from LRG on Vimeo.

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Music News

Cerebral Ballzy to headline Crossfire at Camden Crawl

thecamdencrawl2011This Sunday we will be at the Barfly for our evening of party goodness at the Gaymers Camden Crawl and will be expecting a night full of tunes and live bands from 6pm. The venue will be open all day of course if you are planning to get amongst the daytime entertainment but our evening line up is looking pretty tasty and can now be released so here’s what we have planned for you.

Live Schedule upstairs at the Barfly:

8.20pmHOLY STATE – visit www.myspace.com/holystate – Traveling from Leeds and signed to Dance to the Radio, this angular, post punk 4-piece should please fans of Hot Snakes and Jesus Lizard. Don’t miss them as they give a great live show and will be a band you will hear much more about this year.

9.25pmDELS – visit www.myspace.com/imdels Signed to Big Dada Records (offshoot of Ninja Tune) DELS is an MC who pushes what he can say with words as hard as he can and combines it with a really adventurous attitude towards music. His debut album ‘GOB’ is released on Monday so this should be quite a party!

10.30pmCEREBRAL BALLZY – visit www.myspace.com/cerebralballzy Our headliners are set to take the roof off the Barfly in true hardcore style. The Brooklyn based punk 5-piece play fast, skate punk that Bad Brains and first album Suicidal Tendencies fans will be proud to hear so expect total mayhem!

DJ Schedule, downstairs at the Barfly

6pm-9pm: CROSSFIRE SOUND SYSTEM with Zac Slack and James Sherry. Expect a mixed bag of punk rock, psych-garage, stoner and classic alternative and indie tracks.

9pm-11.15pm: SWEET DREAMS DJs. Returning for more since last year’s Camden Crawl these 2 ladies who know their dirty hip hop and also love a party classic!

11.15pm-12.30pm: The CROSSFIRE SOUND SYSTEM will be charging on all fronts with mash up, rock and punk classics once Cerebral Ballzy take your ears off. Expect a sing-a-long.

12.30-2am: RITA MAIA. West London’s electronic slayer will be dropping Hip Hop, Drum n Bass and dubstep hammers until close at 2am.

SEE YOU THERE!

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Live Reviews

Live review: Murs

Jazz Cafe
13.04.11

The last time I saw Murs on these shores was when he bopped past us outside 93 Feet East in 2004 when we were talking to Eyedea and he decided to make an impromptu appearance to freestyle on stage with E&A, belting out lines about the Queen and football. Many years and many albums later and the man who makes up one half of Felt was back and headlining the Jazz Cafe.

Bouncing onto the stage to his classic You & I, the Living Legend member started as he meant to go on, pogo-ing around with a broad smile on his face, getting the crowd ready for an evening of entertainment. Essentially all you need to know going into a Murs show is that he likes girls. In fact, he loves them. With a set list that boasted the tracks Dirty Girl, Silly Girl and Dark Skinned White Girl, he wasn’t even being subtle about it, but he let all the ladies in the crowd know that he loved them and they should be proud of their, um, private parts.

Taking in tracks like Lookin’ Fly, which included the rapper doing plane impressions and The OJ Song, a song about “when you love someone so much and want to be with them all the time but also want to stab their back every minute of the day”, the set was a blast from start to finish. Whether rapping over 9th Wonder beats, Ant production or Wiz’ Black And Yellow beat, Murs was on top of his game.

Def Jux might be dead, but one of their top names most definitely isn’t.

Abjekt.

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Music News

Snoop announces London show in May

Snoop has announced a one-off London show at the Forum in May.

The Doggfather will hit the capital to celebrate the release of his new album Doggumentary with the promise of special guests in tow. The album itself features the likes of Jake One, Kanye, Lex Luger, Damon Albarn, David Banner and many more and has been getting rave reviews Stateside.

For more information including pre-sale tickets, hit up www.hmvforum.com – tickets are priced at £35.

Meantime, let’s remember what an OG he is…

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Music News

Watch: New video from Atmosphere

It’s another video from those Minnesotans – Atmosphere have dropped some visuals for the track She’s Enough from their new album The Family Sign.

Not only is the tune a banger, but the video is excellent and reminds you of the days when all you had to do to get a girl was put chewing gum in her hair. Those were the days. Keep your eyes open for the cameo to end all cameos in the lunch hall.

Huge.

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Music News

Jehst is back!

UK rapper Jehst has resurfaced with a new promo video featuring a brand new track.

One of the best rappers around on either side of the Atlantic, Billy Brimstone has been fairly quiet of late but with his new album The Dragon Of An Ordinary Family dropping in the not too distant [we hope!] it’s time to ramp up the action.

This video shows Jehst as a postman, rapping whilst passing numerous faces of the UK hip hop world – see if you can spot them all. It’s a banger and we can’t wait for the full length to hit us, it’s gonna be huge.

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Music News

Watch: New Danny Brown video

Danny Brown has signed to Fool’s Gold Records and dropped a new video.

The Detroit rapper has released the video to the track Guitar Solo which comes from The Hybrid, his album of last year. We don’t really need to tell you why to watch this beyond the fact he has straightened hair and no front tooth. The beat is dope too.

Gwarn and watch it:

DANNY BROWN ‘Guitar Solo’ from Stedfast Media on Vimeo.

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Music News

Big K.R.I.T. drops new mixtape

Mississippi’s finest, Big K.R.I.T. has released his eagerly awaited mixtape.

ReturnOf4Eva is a free download and features the likes of David Banner, Chamillionaire and even Ludacris and Bun B on a track together. Having stormed his way around the underground with previous releases, the rapper and producer had everyone clamouring for this one, so make sure you grab it by going here.

Have a taster with the video below, given two thumbs up by Crossfire’s Sleekly Lion: