| Atlas Loved: The Afro-Pop Soul of Oakland’s Bells Atlas | April 5, 2013 |
Max Bell’s heart pumps coffee. The EP is often the best distillation of an artist’s/group’s early material. There’s no room for the extraneous or sub-par. If not excised, there’s no place for the lame to hide. For groups that go with the LP the first time out, the skip button is usually hit, and you […]
| Rittz is For Real | April 2, 2013 |
Max Bell was very excited to see Tech N9ne at Paid Dues. Until recent, I thought that Gwinnett County-bred Rittz was just a rapper who looked like a hairier and thugged out Steven Wright. I had no idea he was the guy ripping Yelawolf’s “My Box Chevy Pt. 3” or that I’d completely slept on […]
| Kendrick and Ab-Soul Go Sailing | March 27, 2013 |
Max Bell is excited for Paid Dues. If you haven’t heard Awolnation’s “Sail” yet, then you either haven’t turned on your radio or your TV since June of 2011. Or, like me, you’ve done your damndest to ignore it. The song is everywhere. Like here, here, here, and here. It’s a well-articulated and well-funded (they’re on Red […]
| The Metaphysical Wanderings of Milo | March 22, 2013 |
Review courtesy of the Uber Max Bell. Milwaukee’s Milo has a “big brain”– like Jimmy Neutron if he talked about Nietzsche’s Übermensch instead of science. Think of Milo as a more introspective and well read Ab-Soul for fans of Vonnegut and Phillip K. Dick. Allusions aside, he’s an intelligent, unabashedly horny ’90s baby with an inexhaustible store of knowledge (high/low […]
| Joey Bada$$ vs. Nardwuar and Mic Geronimo’s “Time to Build” | March 19, 2013 |
Max Bell is the Morris Day of the blogosphere. First impressions can make or break you. That’s always been the case, but lately, they’ve become the foundation of hype for still-developing rappers who aren’t yet worthy of the adulation. When I think about the too-much too-soon trend, the first name that comes to mind is […]
| Running the Marijuana Thon with Action Bronson | March 14, 2013 |
Max Bell must be stone crazy. Cube was right about life being “a marathon.” But when talking about the rap game, it might be fair to say that it is, in actuality, a “Marijuana Thon”—the long race to the finish line really won by the man (or woman) capable of smoking the highest grade of […]
Producer/DJ Bonobo (Simon Green) is one of the pillars of the UK’s pioneering electronic music label Ninja Tune (Blockhead, The Cinematic Orchestra, Daedelus), and is among most well-known practitioners of what many generally refer to as “downtempo.” Though it’s fair to say he’s transcended that label with each and every album (2010’s Black Sands is my personal […]
| The Les Sins of Toro Y Moi | March 8, 2013 |
Max Bell prefers to speak Flemish. Kool Keith had Dr. Octagon (and Black Elvis and Dr. Doom and other names I’m forgetting). RZA had Bobby Digital. Mos Def has rechristened himself Yasiin Bey—I still call him Mos Def. And before there was MF Doom there was KMD’s Zev Love X. Basically, music, and rap music […]
| The Brighton Blues of the Rag ‘N’ Bone Man | March 4, 2013 |
Max Bell is naming his first born son, Huddy. Play the audio of Rag ‘N’ Bones Man’s version of “Die Easy” for anyone you know. Then have them guess the following: the year the song came out, the appearance of the man singing it, and where that man comes from. I’m fairly confident that all […]
| The Fire Kicking Tree Limbs of EarthGang | February 26, 2013 |
Max Bell shot the mayor. Jeff already lamented the deluge of hardly memorable music that floods the net daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. I concur and won’t elaborate much (and suggest you read said lament). I will say that it’s especially trying when it comes to this rappity rap stuff. With seemingly every “rap blog” content to […]
