Well like most people… I’ve found myself incredibly busy (and in envy of anyone with an iPhone).
But, I have a lot of cd reviews on deck that I plan on having completed by the beginning of next week.
-Black Lips ‘200 Million Thousand’
-Animal Collective ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion
-Sons of the Addicted ‘Fractal World’
-Lindsey Brier ‘Waiting For the Sun’
-Drev ‘Failure’
-the Westerners ‘Beautiful Departed’
Phew… well I know some of them are late… but, they will be up all the same
Album Artwork
From our Friends at STEREO MAGICK
Founded in a log cabin at 9,000 feet in the mountains of Colorado, and now based in San Francisco, California, Heavyweight Dub Champion is a movement of interdimensional warriors representing the Army of the Last Champion. Firmly rooted in hip hop, dancehall, dub and electronic music, founder and Last Champion Manifesto author Resurrector transcends space and time wielding an arsenal of deep revolutionary audio with support from a evolving crew of co-conspirators that include co-founder Patch, Totter Todd, Dr. Israel, A.P.O.S.T.L.E, Jillian Ann and Stero-Lion. At the collective’s core is the universal intention of inspiration, mind expansion and transformation through creative expression - all of which manifests in their collective artistic performance known as The Liberation Process.
Their award-winning debut album Survival Guide for the End of Time is a hard-hitting slab of revolutionary consciousness that continues to galvanize a growing legion of followers across the globe. Their unique sound, powerful presence and evolutionary message of self-determination have attracted the attention of many notable artists, critics and international festivals. Their music has been remixed by the legendary FreQ Nasty who included his mix of “Snared” on the recent FabricLive 42 compilation and, by rising star Bassnectar, whose mix of “Arrival” was released by the seminal San Francisco electronic label, OM Records. 2009 is poised to be a landmark year for Heavyweight Dub Champion with the global release of their new album Rise of the Champion Nation and their continued success on the international touring circuit.
Heavyweight Dub Champion - Rise of the Champion Nation
Rise of the Champion Nation is the highly anticipated, genre-bending new album from Heavyweight Dub Champion. Produced by Resurrector and Patch and recorded over the span of five years on multiple continents, Rise features collaborations with some of contemporary music’s most incendiary vocalists, including Killah Priest, Dr. Israel, A.P.O.S.T.L.E. and three tracks with the legendary KRS ONE. More than 25 artists contributed to the album with additional production from Totter Todd. Building on the foundations of hip hop, dub, electronic music and ancient trance ritual - Heavyweight Dub Champion is breaking new ground and blazing new paths in what they term Sonic Shamanistic Alchemy.
Picking up where their debut album Survival Guide for the End of Time and its included 60 page Last Champion Manifesto left off, Rise of the Champion Nation is a “conceptual” album that follows the inner battle of the “Warrior,” from the Arrival (of the Last Champion), through Warrior Divination One, Two and Three, to his emergence as the King Of The Mountain and the journey’s end with the entrance to the Promised Land. Throughout the album Emcee VILL is again beckoned by “N.A.F. Agents” while on his quest to infiltrate Champion Nation and assassinate the Last Champion. Heavyweight Dub Champion’s mission is simple: “The Unconditional Liberation of the Human Race.”
“An ill-bent mix of apocalyptic hip hop dubtronica.” - Westword Magazine
“Some of the hottest dub hop on the planet.” - Marquee Magazine
“Their genius is the great virtue of 70’s dub - never overdoing it.” - L.A. Weekly
Rise of the Champion Nation features contributions from KRS ONE, Killah Priest, A.P.O.S.T.L.E., Dr. Israel, Totter Todd, Stero-Lion, Elf Tranzporter, Ganga Giri, Lady K, Emcee Vill, Lady K, J Criminology, Wailer B, Lynelle Moran, Dan West, Ivan “Choi” Khatchoyan, Hector Becerra, Emcee Vill, Vida-Sunshyne and DJ Illnaughty.
Mix Engineered by Oz Fritz
Mastered by Brian “Big Bass” Gardner
Bradford
the Ninth Ring (2008)
If you are into Steve Vai and or Joe Satriani… This is a record you will like. Smooth, pretty guitar solos way out front over clean sometimes funky basslines.
The opener and title track of the record is one such example of the style and feel present throughout the whole album.
Things take a turn on “Conjuring the Storm” which up until 1:30 in could be mistaken for the Sword or Early Mans straight up metal chugging. Although I think this is the strongest song on the record up until 1:30… at 1:30 it falls off drastically. Lulling into a quiet clean guitar solo for a full minute. It never regains its steam and is complete with synthetic sounding piano and the like for the rest of the track.
The next track is possibly the worst on the record. We are led into the song by a cheesy sounding hip-hop style beat complete with the 808 sound on the kick drum and synthetic bassline. this beat makes its presence known occasionally throughout the song. Perhaps worse is the rest of the song is all over the place. Arpeggios out the wazoo as well as some metallica style wah pedaling. Dated guitar tones and melody lines. I can’t really get a feel for where the groove is supposed to fall in this one.
All this being said, Bradford is an extremely good player and in general the album has a stylistic cohesiveness that seems few and far between in recent records I have heard. I also think with live musicians and or more organic instruments it would add more soul to the record specifically the pianos.
I also have to be fair and say this is not generally my taste in music which is apparent just by reading my other posts. For what it is its not a bad record its just very far from my cup of tea.
If you are a fan of instrumental guitar phenoms this is a record to check out