Guru - Jazzmatazz Volume II: The New Reality 2xLP - Orange Vinyl & Purple Vinyl

Vinyl Me Please (2018, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I was a huge fan of the first Guru Jazzmatazz record.  In no small part because of how much of a Gang Starr fan I was.  Jazzmatazz Volume II came out in 1995, which is where the dark ages of hip hop starts for me.  I'm aware of so few hip hop records that came out after 1994 as I pretty much completely moved away from it.  That's mostly just due to the shifts in sounds and not being able to find what I was looking for anymore.

But, I recently decided to give this album a shot, as I never listened to it when it originally came out.  And you know what, it's pretty good.  It isn't as good as any of the Gang Starr records or the first Jazzmatazz record, but those are all pretty high bars to try to reach.  But listening to it in 2022, while not being in the thick of hip hop falling to pieces, I'm able to just listen to it as a new record.

As it turns out Volume II is a pretty solid hip hop record.  It still sounds like the golden era to me, though there's an over reliance of R&B singers providing crooned hooks.  I don't really need that as I've never been a fan of that sort of thing, but the strength of the beats make up for it.  No surprise that they're very jazzy, but they still have a pretty strong boom bap vibe, even if it's a bit lower key than most.

I missed the boat when Vinyl Me Please reissued this back in 2018, so I did have to pay collector prices for a copy, but I found a really good deal on this one and didn't really over pay too much, especially since VMP pressing tend to be pretty expensive to begin with.

Guru - Jazzmatazz Volume II: The New Reality:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n8owXsPEXAr7pA_ogSy2-G7N2ATxE4Viw

The Battlebeats - You Don't Know Me 7"

Big Neck (2022)

The moment I put this record on, I immediately got the same vibe I got when I would put on a new record that came out on the sadly missed Ptrash record label.  We immediately blast off into a garage stomp, simple but effective drum beat and fuzzed out guitars riffs.  It's nothing if not instantly catchy.

I don't love the vocals.  They have that gargled with glass feeling, but lack the smoothness of say a Frankie Stubbs.  These vocals end up being very harsh and it definitely takes away from the melodic tendencies of the songs themselves.  If you just focus on the music, Battlebeats are a hook machine and every song has something catchy to latch on to.

Aside from the vocals, the only other thing that I wish I could change would be the length of the songs.  While I understand the impact of an economical blast, three of the four songs clock in under two minutes.  If you doubled the length of each, it would only make them better, I think.

The Battlebeats - You Don't Know Me:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/you-dont-know-me

More Kicks - Punch Drunk CD

Dirtnap / Stardumb (2022)

Your eyes do not deceive you.  This is a CD as it was sent to me to check out and write about.  So check it out I did.  I actually have the first More Kicks record that came out in 2019, but I really didn't remember it.  I listened to it back when it came out and then it just vanished into the collection and wasn't anything that had much staying power for me.  It's not that it wasn't good, looking back on what I wrote about it back then was positive and it even snuck into my top 10 records of that year.  It just didn't stick with me for whatever reason.

I feel like this new album might have a similar fate.  It's very obviously good.  Maybe bordering on great.  The hooks are there, the vocal harmonies are delightful and the general vibe is pretty much the sort of thing I enjoy listening to.  Do you like The Resonars?  This is probably better as it's more straight forward.  Do you dig The Cute Lepers?  I can't imagine you not liking this as even though the songs aren't quite as maniacally fast, they have a lot in common.  Do you appreciate the vocal stylings of Wiz from Mega City Four?  This might be the closest thing I've ever heard.

Even with all of those supremely favorable comparisons, the record is just not hitting me as hard as I feel like it should.  On paper, it's perfect.  Listening to it, there's just a little something missing that I cannot put my finger on.  Perhaps it's just me.  Maybe I need to spend more time with it.  Maybe I'm just getting old and stuck on the older bands from my youth.  Maybe some of the pressures of everyday life aren't allowing me to be in the right sort of mood to really enjoy this for what it is.  I can't say I know for sure.  It's a bit of a puzzle that I can't crack.  All I can say is that this is a really, really good power pop record.  I just don't know if I need another one of those right now.

More Kicks - Punch Drunk:
https://dirtnaprecords.bandcamp.com/album/more-kicks-punch-drunk

Gang Starr - No More Mr. Nice Guy LP - Red & White Inside Out Vinyl

Vinyl Me Please (2022, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I pop in and out of Vinyl Me Please.  Occasionally they have a neat reissue that I'm interested it, so I subscribe and then cancel.  My taste in music is way too finicky for me to be able to commit to a long term subscription, but I joined up when they announced this Gang Starr reissue.

No More Mr. Nice Guy is the first Gang Starr record and probably the one I've always been least familiar with.  I never even had the CD if you can imagine such a thing.  It's mostly because I always felt like it really didn't sound much like the Gang Starr that I know and love.  It was 1989, Guru and Premier had not yet coalesced into the monster group that put out Daily Operation in 1992, or even Step in the Arena in 1990.

The beats sound kind of old and they don't have that same DJ Premier vibe that I so adore.  Guru is not as smooth or monotone on this debut and there are a few songs where he rhymes uncharacteristically fast.  It's sometimes kind of jarring to be honest.  

Even saying all of that, this is still a really good record, particularly for the standards of what was going on in 1989.  They weren't ahead of their time just yet, but they were right on target with what most of the rap world was releasing at the time.  I listen to the record and it's just fun.  It's not mind blowing or important or super influential, but there's something to be said about a record that you can just put on, listen to and enjoy.  

No More Mr. Nice Guy has that and then some and this pressing by Vinyl Me Please is for sure the definitive version for the sound quality and the huge pile of bonus tracks.  I would really love it if VMP could get their hands on the rights to Daily Operation and give it a similarly excellent treatment.

Gang Starr - No More Mr. Nice Guy:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mwQzpYHjgJo5JgeJh8rC-j6fM_hseAmcg

Superchunk - There's A Ghost 7" - Black & White Swirl Vinyl (/500)

Merge (2022)

It's difficult for me to not buy a Superchunk 7" if one is released.  Last album not very good? I'll over look it.  $15 price tag?  I understand the costs of putting out records.  B side is a cover song? It's fine, maybe the A side is really good.  That's why I have dozens of Superchunk 7"s and to be honest, part of the mission now is just to keep the collection complete.

What I can happily report is that the A side, "There's A Ghost," is pretty great.  I think I can say without any hesitation that it's probably better than any song on their most recent full length, Wild Loneliness.   It's upbeat and catchy and isn't dwelling on on somber moods at all.  This is the Superchunk I like best, the one that pulls me out of funks, not the one the piles on.

On the B side we have a Sisters of Mercy cover.  I can't say I'm familiar with the original version of "Alice," or any Sisters of Mercy song to be honest.  The Superchunk version is fine.  It's moody, just like I was complimenting "There's a Ghost" for not being.  And it has a over compressed feeling to it with a supreme lack of fuzzy guitar.  I'll probably never listen to that side again, but the A side, that's a real winner.  Give me an album full of songs like that please.

Superchunk - There's A Ghost 7":
https://superchunk.bandcamp.com/album/theres-a-ghost-b-w-alice

Archers of Loaf - Reason In Decline LP - Pink Swirl Vinyl

Merge (2022)

I wasn't surprised when Archers of Loaf got back together in 2011 to do a victory lap reunion tour.  I went to the NYC show and it was excellent.  I wasn't even surprised when they started releasing new music.  What surprised me is that when I listened to their newest full length, Reason In Decline, I actually thought it was pretty solid.

This isn't just me bagging on reunion records.  It's mostly because I just intensely dislike the last Archers of Loaf record White Trash Heroes.  That record floored me in the worst possible way upon its release in 1998.  It was the sort of record that made me not super sad that Archers split up.  Because of that, expectations were pretty low for their first new album in twenty four years.

But again, it's pretty good.  It doesn't have the energy or punch of their first two records, but in general things move along at a nice pace.  There's enough anger and angst that it doesn't sound like a completely different band.  As cliche as it sounds, Reason In Decline sounds like an Archers of Loaf record made by a bunch of older dudes.  Being an older dude myself, I can absolutely get behind that.  Is this a can't miss, smash hit?  No, it's not.  But it's a lot better than you probably thought it was going to be.

Archers of Loaf - Reason In Decline:
https://archersofloaf.bandcamp.com/album/reason-in-decline

Kam - Neva Again LP

EastWest (1993)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Until pretty recently, I had never even heard of Kam, let alone listened to any of his records.  He was a complete non-entity in the world of Yo! MTV Raps and The Source, as least as far as I can recall.  But in listening to his debut album, Neva Again, I can't quite figure out why.  I suppose his brand of gangster rap was rendered somewhat obsolete by the success of The Chronic and the almost immediate transition to g-funk as the production vibe of choice.

Neva Again is more rooted in the sound that Ice Cube and Da Lench Mob were producing in the early 90s.  I mean, in some ways that's obvious since Cube is the executive producer of the album and the production work is mostly handled by his crew.  The resulting sound is very much in line with Death Certificate and Guerillas in tha Mist.  Lower tempo, rich sounding beats with funky samples and a somewhat menacing aura.  It's kind of perfect for what it is.

Lyrically, Kam absolutely holds his own as well.  He's very much a west coast rapper and excels in storytelling and painting a compelling picture of his world.  While he's not going off the deep end with polysyllabic rhyme structures, his slow and steady vibe has just the right combination of authority and world weariness.  I'm not sure where this record was hiding all of these years, but it really feels like the last salvo of great west coast gangster rap before The Chronic changed everything (for the worse, if you ask me).

Kam - Neva Again:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nLKY9znm8e77q09QUzHF0DcRcU7ee2Ye0