Prologue: This was tough. There were no track listings so I had to make assumptions about titles. Note to future submissions: assume we know nothing about you and your music and we will listen to your music on our Beats by Dre. Again my hearing is important so is my time. I don’t want to have to think up titles too. Anyway, on to the review….
Track 1: “ Just Lettin You Know” The beat is punchy from the outset. The simplicity of bass line along with the echo on the snare moves the rhythm along well. The lyrical delivery took away from the song. The first verse was a little all over the place, content was interesting. The second verse seemed more in line with the rest of their demo as far as sitting within the beat. For a first track, it was not the best choice. Line to remember: “Slap the s#!t out of every single jiggaboo whose penguin suit is getting loose for lacking basic principles”
Track 2: “How many Cops you Spot” The production takes a dip; levels are all over the place. The fade in can be lost if the rest of the track gets run through a compression module and you cut the treble a little over the chorus. There is a loss of vocals on the hook and the the verses need to be rounded out with regards to loudness. My suggestion: adjust the mids for the vocals and add a backing track. Content-wise, this was the most intellectually interesting and the beat switch at the end could be hot as a standalone beat in the right hands.Line to remember: “Probably the first crooks invested in books ”
Track 3: “The Conversation” *my title suggestion* My favorite song but mainly because the “Woman to Woman” by Shirley Brown (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZssL3nr6JZg) sample is nice. Both artists sit well within the beat. In fact, I would say they need to find more production like this. The vocals are clear and the delivery is in rhythm. For this reason, this song is the most complete song lyrically as far as theme/premise in connection with what they are saying. Unfortunately, it is too short and contributes to potential confusion as to the theme. Also, equalize the track to remove the drastic change In the volume in the intro. There was no 'line to remember'.
Track 4: 7269811 The only complete song; very short. Very pop oriented, which is good if intentions of venturing outside underground music are present. The bass echos in the reverb creating a slight hum. Theme-wise, it is a clever way to get your contact info out there. Line to remember: “Silverback swagger” ---comedy---
Epilogue: There is a DVD?! This made me the most impressed about this group. There is often a strong discrepancy in the visual expectations of a group (i.e. Sean Garrett looks way different than you would expect from his voice). Here, Parker and Numberman have got it right if this was done on purpose. I envisioned a nerdy hustler type with a guerrilla vibe which the videos deliver. This tape just barely edged 1.5 briefcases. There is a lot of work that can be done to bring up the quality of the sound and lets be real that’s all that really matters to most people. Esquire.
Continue lendo >>
01.” Love King”
