Dilated Peoples
Platform
Capitol
I just want you to know I had the most exquisite bowl of Coco Rice Krispies and my homies Dap, Snaggle, and Big Pops (Snap, Crackle, and Pops' half-brothers) urged me to tell you about the new Dilated Peoples album. I do whatever the f¿k my Rice Krispies tell me, so I have to proclaim this album is the most refreshing dose of hip-hop to smack my eardrums in a while. Platform is reminiscent of the once-great Native Tongue family¿creative and witty, not like the wack MCs of today (Coco Puffs, yeah I'm calling you out, koo koo bird. Your cereal is wack, your rhymes are wack, and you better hope Dap, Snaggle, and Big Pops don't beat your beak in!) "Work The Angles" is still the best damn track on the album, but there're plenty of other tracks to make it a complete part of a Saturday mornin' cartoon breakfast. You think I'm lyin'? Nah, this album is so good that the surf dawgs next door tried to steal it! Luckily, I thwarted the amateur-ninja wannabes off with multiple nunchuks to the face.¿Shad "Tania needs this review right now" Gonzales
Big Pun
Yeeeah Baby
Loud Records
Puerto Rico ... Ohhhhh. Pure-player style right up to the end. Puerto Rican powerhouse Big Pun, born Christopher Lee Rios, got the one thing all real-thug rappers want ... a posthumous album release. Although he may not have died in a hail of gunfire (not all thugs can) like B.I.G., Big L, or Tupac, I'm sure he wanted to. Thug is thug, though, and word on the street is that he went out like Scarface without the guns.
Yeeeah Baby, with tracks like "Watch Those," "Leather Face," and "You Was Wrong," is a bangin' tribute to Pun's efforts while he was alive and to those of his crew once he passed on. While listening to the album you'll wonder what you're gonna do without Pun, but with executive producer Fat Joe in the mix, I wouldn't be surprised to see cameos by Pun sometime in the future. For now you'll just have to buy the CD and build a shrine. Big Pun/Terror Squad 11/10/71-02/7/00¿RIP.¿Jared
Ween
White Pepper
Electra
The best way to describe the new CD by Ween is by that feeling you get when you sit on your grandpa's lap. First you're sitting there and you want to get off, but he holds onto you. You get all squirmy, and then you calm down, his large man hands petting your head. You don't know if this is wrong or right. You just sit there, thinking and feeling. Now it's not so bad, and it feels like you can be here all day. I love you, Grandpa, I mean Ween.¿Tyler Adair
Looper
The Geometrid
Sub Pop
My inclination at the beginning of this review is to talk about the history and origin of Scotlands' Looper and about the people who make up this creative foursome. I also feel some responsibility in mentioning the other musical connections and paths that lead to this particular group of people and to their latest release, The Geometrid.I've chosen, however, to shun these feelings of obligation and instead throw out a bunch of descriptive words and clever phrases in an effort to persuade you to search out this release and add it to your music collection. Here we go: narrative yarns skipping thru lo-fi breakbeats. Frosty baby-blue melodies competing with grumpy, antique keyboards. Found sounds. House sounds. Love songs. Grooves that induce strutting. Dope, dirty analog sketches. For more history, here's a hint: this group has a sweet cousin named Belle and Sebastian. Now go do your homework.¿Larson
Mase
Double Up
Bad Boy Records
Mase did it right. He became famous by being the sidekick "Umm ... uh-huh" guy for Puff Daddy, who was the sidekick "Uh-huh ... hit me" guy for Biggie Smalls. He released his first album, Harlem World, in 1997, which almost instantly went to number one in sales on the Billboard Music Chart. He toured and worked on various projects for the following two years, then released Double Up in late 1999.
Shortly after DU's relee, he announced his retirement from the music business "to follow God," he told anyone who asked. He was quoted (in the third-person narrative) by MTV News, saying, "Mase is his own person and Mase can do other things besides rap and music and things in that nature." His agent Magic Johnson (Did anyone know Magic Johnson was a music agent?) confirmed his client's bowing out, adding, "I want to help Mase reach his goals, and I just sit in the back and let him do his thing."
So what's Mase doing now that he has like a billion dollars and nowhere to go from nine to five each day? He's enrolled at Clark Atlanta University, where he's probably the only freshman who could personally buy a city block in Time Square ... in cash. Mase is working toward a bachelor's degree in education, and while school rules have been bent slightly for the ex-hip-hop sidekick-turned-superstar, he's said to downplay his past as a musical performer.As far as Double Up goes, if you're down for heavily sampled hip-hop with R&B background vocals, there aren't many albums that even approach Mase's last hurrah as a musician. It's truly listenable.You gotta love people who go out on top.¿J.P.
Air
The Virgin Suicides
Astralwerks
As the composers of the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's directorial debut, a film about five sisters who commit suicide, the Parisian duo Air has created a mostly instrumental album that owes a debt to both prog rock ("Bathroom Girl") and old-school electronica ("Clouds Up"). "Playground Love" and "Suicide Underground," the two tracks with any vocals to speak of, might be the most accessible songs here, but they aren't the best ones. While the ominous synthesizers in "Cemetary Party" recall something like Wendy Carlos' Clockwork Orange score, it's the xylophones of "Dark Messages," the psychedelic organ riffs in "The Word 'Hurricane,'" and the searingsynthesizers of "Dirty Trip" that create a hazy ambiance that translates even without any knowledge of the film.¿Jeff Niesel
Michael Leon
Instant EP
Girl
Girl Distribution and its respective companies have always been known as fertile ground in terms of churning out creative endeavors. Michael Leon, the art head behind Fourstar Clothing, has revealed a lesser-known facet to the Girl companies. On Instant EP, a self-produced CD release, Leon lays out some handcrafted gems that pop right off of the CD and trigger that little foot-tapping button that you probably haven't used lately. Jangly guitars, far-away acoustics, cinnamon melodies, and postcard lyrics all happily skip together in this five-song storybook. With a respectful nod to Belle andSebastian, Luna, Elliott Smith, and Brian Eno, Leon proudly displays a big soft heart on his sleeve and exposes a big chunk of what's missing in a lot of music today¿sentiment. Michael Leon shows us that the song is what's important, and that maybe all we really need is love. Check out his Web site, www.commonwealthstacks.com, and buy his CD. You need it.¿Larson
Beanie Sigel
The Truth
Rocafell Records
Beanie gives mad props to one very important person who made this CD possible¿himself. He ain't afraid of the truth. Go buy this CD¿it's dope. Blah, blah, blah.¿Tania
Alkaline Trio
Maybe I'll Catch Fire
Asian Man
I first heard Alkaline Trio on a compilation and immediately ran out to buy the first release, Goddamnit. There was just something about the sound that hit me. The band's sophomore release, Maybe I'll Catch Fire, continues to showcase their explosively melodic songwriting. Singer/guitarist Matt Skiba's voice has that perfect balance between too rough and too melodic. Skiba trades off vocal duties with bassist Dan Andrino, who used to sing in another Chicago band, Tuesday. The only way I can describe the Alkaline Trio's sound is great melodic rock. The real thick quality is attributed to the unique sound of Dan's bass and Glenn Porter's heavy drumming. Lyrically, they come up with some great lines. In "Keep 'Em Coming" Matt sings, "I've been huffing gas and sniffing paint to take away this buzz that I call you," and he describes his smile as "more yellow than the sky." The trait that sets the Alkaline Trio apart from so many underground bands is that they back their musical muscle with brains.¿Nick Bogardus
ally, they come up with some great lines. In "Keep 'Em Coming" Matt sings, "I've been huffing gas and sniffing paint to take away this buzz that I call you," and he describes his smile as "more yellow than the sky." The trait that sets the Alkaline Trio apart from so many underground bands is that they back their musical muscle with brains.¿Nick Bogardus
