ROOTS, THE Rising Down (Def Jam) cd 14.98

ROOTS, THE Rising Down (Def Jam) 2lp 14.98

ROOTS, THE The Roots Come Alive (MCA) 2cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The popular Philly hip hop band does the double live thing, and they really are a band so it makes sense. This two-disc set (with "enhanced cd" video footage) is a limited edition, I guess there's also a single disc version but we only got the double, of course.

ROOTS, THE The Tipping Point (Geffen) cd 14.98
How can you not love the Roots? A live hip hop band. Why that remains an anomaly is beyond us. But it is, and it makes the Roots stand out even more than they would otherwise. Besides a tight-as-fuck band, their emcees can not be beat. The Roots are one of those rare hip hop groups that are hard enough that the thugs still dig em, but not so thuggish that they don't appeal to everybody else. They even lampoon thug life and the hip hop industry in a video and everybody still eats it up. Why? Because the Roots are amazing. Funky and soulful and a little bit hard, pure organic hip hop. This time around, the most noticable change is that a handful of the songs totally sound like they were produced by Timbaland, all stuttery and sort-of-unfunky, but since we're assuming they're still doing this stuff live, it makes it even more amazing. We used to fantasize about there being a live jungle band with a live drummer (or drummers) but it never really happened. At least not how we envisioned it. But here the Roots seem to be pulling off a similar trick with a rock band playing as tight and funky as the MTV / Timbaland sound du jour, but even better because you know they can rock that shit live! Just like all the other Roots records, this is dense, provacative, funky, funny, dark, politically charged and deeply personal hip hop. And of course, highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "I Don't Care"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Say Nuthin'"

ROOTS, THE Things Fall Apart (MCA) cd 15.98
Philadelphia's Roots return with what may be their finest record yet. Dark and intense. And still a real live band. One of the few groups that's still about the music and the message as opposed to the hype and the 'legend' (Wu-tang anyone?)

ROOTS, THE Undun (Def Jam) cd 17.98
?uestlove, the drummer and band leader of The Roots has been in the news a lot lately for the musicial prank he pulled on Michelle Bachmann during her appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, the show for which The Roots are the house band. But we really hope that incident doesn't overshadow what amazing musical visionaries he and his Roots crew are. They close the end of the year with a bang releasing not only this great new album, but a collaboration with legendary soul vocalist Betty Wright (reviewed elsewhere on this week's list).
Undun is a concept record of sorts based on the life of a fictional character representing the struggle and realities of inner city life. The album melds hip-hop with R&B, all fueled by such superb playing and guest spots by Bilal, Greg Porn, Dice Raw, and Big K.R.I.T. The record comes to a climax with its two closing songs, "I Remember" and "Tip The Scale" and then segues into a majestic closing suite complete with cello, violin, and viola.
In a hip-hop world dominated by bravado and flashy antics, The Roots always keep substance at the front of their game, making music in the process that transcends genre and leaves a deep and lasting impact.
MPEG Stream: "Sleep"
MPEG Stream: "Kool On"
MPEG Stream: "I Remember"

ROYAL EARL AND ROMANOWSKI Together Alone (Lemon House Productions) cd-r 9.98

RUCKER, RICCI Fuga (Alpha Pup) cd 12.98
When we first heard this record, we were so blown away, and before we had a chance to dig WAY in, we took to describing it to other folks as the 'free jazz Endtroducing'. Like DJ Shadow's legendary hip hop classic, but here constructed from jazz records instead of funk and soul and psych. But closer listening and a glance at the liner notes revealed that Fuga is so much more, as the process of creating it is almost as interesting as the music itself. The basic framework was constructed by sampling bits and pieces from records, just how you would imagine, but then that framework was presented to musicians who then played the main chords and melodies, improvising and adding and interpreting. Live drums were added, the whole thing tweaked with and arranged, then those sounds were pressed onto vinyl, and the resulting vinyl records are what was finally used to arrange, sequence, scratch and put together the final product (similar to the way Portishead would record themselves, and press vinyl so they could 'scratch' their songs live). The result is a warm, abstract, fuzzy avant garde free jazz record. Or something. While the presence of vinyl and scratching and referencing DJ Shadow would lead you to think this was some sort of hip hop record, it's really not. Maybe in the way it was constructed, but Fuga tends to flip back and forth between scrabbbly, drone-y, dense assemblages of jazzy sound and chaotic plunderphonic free-jazz. The first two tracks pretty much lay the framework for the whole record. The opening track is an abstract ambient soundscape, warm swells of sound underpin clattery percussion, rumbling drones, buzzing synths, all very muted and minimal, an expansive stretch of darkness, peppered with tribal percussion, way-in-the-background fretless bass, eventually the whole thing morphs into a funky jazzy workout, but only briefly, before it fades into a manic percussive shuffle, which perfectly slips into the second track "Harder Than Hard, Softer Than Soft", the first half a seamless collage of drums and nothing but drums. It definitely sounds like a live drummer tearing it up, hard to detect how it was assembled via various slabs of vinyl, eventually it warps into a strangely funky, fuzzy synth workout which again finally slips back into just drums. The rest of the record is a bit like a freaked out version of Don Cherry's Orient, but all chopped up and layered and twisted and smeared into drones, stretched into strange shapes, funky horns, shuffling tribal percussion, chant like vocals, warm washes of organ, groovy vibes, scrabbly guitar, mournful strings and fluttery flutes, all woven deftly into a gorgeously dense and abstract sort of jazz. Wow.
MPEG Stream: "Tension And Release (The Journey To Fuga)"
MPEG Stream: "Harder Than Hard, Softer Than Soft (The Line Between Yin And Yang)"
MPEG Stream: "Too Fresh For Words"

RUFF RYDERS Ryde Or Die Vol. 3, In The 'R' We Trust (Interscope) cd 17.98
People have been giving me an enormous amount of grief about my love of top 40 MTV hip hop and my disdain for most underground shit (read: most, not ALL), but I could care less. Until all those playas can spit out stuff this good, beats this sick, rhymes this funny and smooth, then I'll stick with my DMX's and Jay-Z's. This is big beat, MTV, bumpin' ride, dirty south (sort of), hands in the air, boomin' system, top 40, anthemic hip hop. Fuck the underground. Catchy and funky and funny and totally great. The Ruff Ryders third time around are DMX, Eve, Bubba Sparxx, Petey Pablo, Judakiss, Drag-on, Fiend, the L.O.X., Ludacris, Timbaland and more!
RealAudio clip: "They Ain't Ready"
RealAudio clip: "Dirrty"
RealAudio clip: "U, Me + She"

RUNAWAYS UK Progress (Three Sixty) cd 14.98
UK (duh) group follow up their almost-all instrumental hiphop classic "Classic Tales" with this new effort. Progress? Hmm, well it's no longer as unique and Mo'Wax-y, with a bunch of guest MCs this time droppin' rhymes, including Masta Ace.

RUPTURE, DJ / COM.A Shockout (Tigerbeat6) 12" 8.98

RUPTURE, DJ/ Gold Teeth Thief (Violent Turd) cd 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At last, reissued -- as a 'real' cd (not a cd-r) and cheaper too! This debut DJ/Rupture mix disc was a big hit here at Aquarius (and elsewhere too, apparently). We'd been getting the cd-r version on /Rupture's own Soot label direct from the man himself, but those are no longer available. Kid606 stepped in and signed DJ /Rupture to his Tigerbeat6 label, with a new /Rupture set called "Minesweeper Suite" due for release on August 27th. But, in advance of that, the Kid's other label, Violent Turd, has made the "Gold Teeth Thief" set available once again. Packaged in one of those plastic clamshell cases, with nought but a sticker for artwork, this remains a budget release, but a welcome one. It's also apparently a limited edition reissue, so if you missed it before, don't sleep on it now!! Here's our original glowing review, backed up by being named one of the top 50 best albums of the year by The Wire:
This is one of the best mix cds we've ever heard. And it's not about insane turntable skills, or about that 'isn't-it-weird-and-crazy-how-I've-juxtaposed-hip-hop-and-classic-rock' gimmicky stuff or about how famous or cool the DJ is (in fact, I bet you've never even heard of DJ /Rupture, an American living in Spain). It's about his choice of songs, and how smoothly and creatively they're mixed (live on 3 turntables). This cd is just an amazing and deft mix of dance hall (traditional -and- HARD ala DJ Scud etc.), hip hop, dub and electronica. Nothing fancy just 70 minutes and 43 tracks of some of our favorite shit: Missy Elliott, Nas, DJ Scud, Barrington Levy (a different track than his contribution to the amazing 400% Dynamite compilation, but you'll recognise his oh-so-familiar 'Woah Wooah.'), Nettle, Dead Prez, Bounty Killer, Kid 606, Venetian Snares, Luciano Berio, Shabba Ranks, Non Phixion, Wu-Tang Clan, Cannibal Ox, Djivan Gasparyan, Sub Dub, John Wall, Oval, Project Pat, Muslimgauze and even Paul Simon/Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Miriam Makeba (ending all smooth and pretty with no beats at all). Wow.
MPEG Stream: "track 2"
MPEG Stream: "track 5"
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 3"
MPEG Stream: "track 6"

RUPTURE, DJ/ Low Income Tomorrowland (Apple Core) cd-r 10.98
Once in a while we get all super annoyed BY DJ'S and DJ culture. We love DJ's as much as the next guy (okay, well, maybe not AS much) but once in a while, we start to wonder how playing somebody else's records makes you a musician, or a celebrity or a star. C'mon, what the fuck? Sure there are DJ's and turntablists who blow our minds, who take the turntables and do amazing shit, from avant soundscapists like Jeck or Marclay, to actual hip hop DJ's like the Skratch Piklz or folks who exist somewhere in between like DJ Shadow. But for the most part it's hard to not think "Fuck DJ's". So when there's a DJ, who isn't some crazy acrobatic scratcher, isn't some crafter of obtuse beatscapes, but who just plays records, has killer taste, and deftly mixes and matches and mashes up tunes and beats and said cool records, well for us to love every single thing they do is definitely saying something. And that's precisely how we feel about Rupture. Sure being a DJ is the equivalent of being a professional mix tape maker, so your record collection is 90% of the battle, and judging from Rupture's last few records, he has one of the world's best record collections (rivalled only by DJ Andy Votel we'd imagine). This time around it sounds like Rupture has caught grime fever just like the rest of us. Sure there's loads of classic hip hop, spastic drill and bass, classic jungle, huge bigbeat ragga, dancehall, but there's also plenty of greasy grungy griminess!! Every track on here rules, From a wildly catchy and bizarre MIA remix, to a Dead Prez meets snake charmer joint, to a perplexing but killer a capella Tracy Chapman track mashed up with some super stuttery slow motion drum and bass. Funky, fierce, furious, and FUN.
As if that weren't enough the disc also includes 4 live German radio mixes, over 90 minutes, 6 MP3's of crazy sonic terrorism, all over the map, from Sabbath, to eighties pop, to hardcore ragga but most importantly there's glorious GRIME all over the place...
MPEG Stream: SIZZLA "Got It Right Here (50 Cent Blend)"
MPEG Stream: BONG-RA "Old Skool Armageddon"
MPEG Stream: JAHBA + KRUMBLE "Bush Is A Pussy Cloth + Backward Country Boy Explosion"

RUPTURE, DJ/ Redux (Broklyn Beats) 12" 7.98
Three early DJ Rupture tracks, from way back in 2000, a remix of Rupture by France's Rotator and a brand new Rupture track featuring Puerto Rican rapper MC Welmo Romero.

RUPTURE, DJ/ Special Gunpowder (Tigerbeat6) cd 14.98
It's been a while, but finally a new record from AQ fave DJ /Rupture. Unlike his previous releases, which were essentially mix tapes, this is a bonafide record of original tracks produced and arranged by Rupture with all sorts of guest vocalists and musicians. Now obviously it would be hard to create a record that stood up to your past releases, when they are all culled from the cream of your record collection, but Rupture makes a go of it and fares pretty well. The tone on Special Gunpowder is much more laid back and mellow that previous releases, and way less experimental. While your need for weird might not be fully satisfied, this is definitely much easier listening. A smooth mix of reggae and dancehall, as well as muted Eastern rhythmic ambience ala Muslimgauze. The dancehall tracks are awesome, but not at all aggressive like the Bug. Wicked Act, Junior Cat, Wayne Lonesome and a handful of others toast over darkly delerious, pulsing dancehall rhythms, nestled in Rupture's unique sonic stew. There are a few missteps, the opening spoken word bit is a little cringeworthy, and Eugene from Oxbow (who can do no wrong in our eyes) pops up smack dab in the middle of the record, mewling and howling over a creepy musical backdrop, and while we can never get enough Eugene, it definitely feels out of place and disrupts the flow. Other than a few hiccups, Special Gunpowder is a prety cool spin, and it's definitely cool that Rupture chose to write and record a record instead of cruising along on his impeccably hip record collection.
MPEG Stream: "Little More Oil ft. Sister Nancy"
MPEG Stream: "Leech Wisdom"
MPEG Stream: "No Heathen ft. Wicked Act (Blacksmith Mix)"

RUPTURE, DJ/ & FILASTINE Shotgun Wedding Volume 6 (Violent Turd) cd 10.98

RUPTURE, DJ/ & MUTAMASSIK Bidoun Sessions (Violent Turd) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're always excited by a new blast of DJ /Rupture's unique mixology from his decidedly left field record collection. And this split disc with New Yorker Mutamassik is no exception. No big surprises, just another wicked mix of hip hop, jungle, dancehall and obscure world music. Andee was most excited by Rupture's inclusion of two tracks by German Dancehall crew Seeed, whose records we haven't been able to track down for the store yet. And Mutamassik is the perfect compliment to Rupture, offering up a similarly ecclectic sonic brew.
MPEG Stream: DJ /RUPTURE "Bidoun 2"
MPEG Stream: DJ /RUPTURE "Bidoun 3"
MPEG Stream: MUTAMASSIK "Bidoun 12"

RUSTIE Jagz the Smack (Stuff Records) 12" 14.98

RZA Afro Samurai (OST) (Koch) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Afro Theme"
MPEG Stream: "Afro Instro"
MPEG Stream: "Certified Samurai"
MPEG Stream: "Afro Samurai Theme (First Movement)"

RZA As Bobby Digital In Stereo (Gee Street) cd 17.98
Wu-time! 21 tracks of RZA, exploring his even-larger than life alter ego Bobby Digital. This'll be everywhere, so enough said.

RZA Birth Of A Prince (Sanctuary) cd 16.98

RZA The World According To RZA (Instrumentals) (Think Differently) cd 15.98

RZA AS BOBBY DIGITAL Digital Bullet (Koch) cd 16.98
A few years ago, RZA and the rest of Wu-Tang made a guest appearance on the Upright Citizen's Brigade (the sadly missed show of comic absurdity recently cancelled by Comedy Central in favor of BattleBots... bad move, Comedy Central), lambasting Trotter - the cyborg who always denied being a cyborg - for being too analogue. While RZA's amusing wordplay certainly fit into a strange UCB running joke about the plausibility of Trotter's claim of not being a cyborg, it is just another instance of his personal vernacular of 'digital' trumping 'analogue' and 'old skool' as the arena of superiority in the megalomaniacal world of hip hop. Digital technology - and not the jazz / soul / funk 70s revivalism - is of course the method of production for RZA. But his sound has never been terribly progressive, especially in light of Timbaland or electronica's digital fuckers Kid 606 and Lesser. Instead, RZA's production sounds a lot more like the stripped down skeletal funk of Sensational (just a mechanical breakbeat, a supple bassline, and the barest of melody). RZA's vocal delivery is a constant ramble that doesn't really break into rhyme or verse or harmony, it just rambles on and on... yet somehow there is a strange sadness to the whole conconction. The verdict is still out on this one.
RealAudio clip: "Show u Love"

RZA AS BOBBY DIGITAL Digital Bullet (Koch) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A few years ago, RZA and the rest of Wu-Tang made a guest appearance on the Upright Citizen's Brigade (the sadly missed show of comic absurdity recently cancelled by Comedy Central in favor of BattleBots... bad move, Comedy Central), lambasting Trotter - the cyborg who always denied being a cyborg - for being too analogue. While RZA's amusing wordplay certainly fit into a strange UCB running joke about the plausibility of Trotter's claim of not being a cyborg, it is just another instance of his personal vernacular of 'digital' trumping 'analogue' and 'old skool' as the arena of superiority in the megalomaniacal world of hip hop. Digital technology - and not the jazz / soul / funk 70s revivalism - is of course the method of production for RZA. But his sound has never been terribly progressive, especially in light of Timbaland or electronica's digital fuckers Kid 606 and Lesser. Instead, RZA's production sounds a lot more like the stripped down skeletal funk of Sensational (just a mechanical breakbeat, a supple bassline, and the barest of melody). RZA's vocal delivery is a constant ramble that doesn't really break into rhyme or verse or harmony, it just rambles on and on... yet somehow there is a strange sadness to the whole conconction. The verdict is still out on this one.

RZA AS BOBBY DIGITAL Rhumba (Koch) 12" 6.98

RZA, THE Music From The Motion Picture Ghost Dog (Victor Japan) cd 31.00
So we know a bunch of you bought the Ghost Dog soundtrack, threw it on, and realised you were listening to a completely mediocre rap compilation that had very little to do with the movie, and thought 'What the fuck?' Well, there is an explantion. If you were like us, you were expecting the -score-, all that moody, creepy instrumental RZA incidental music that did so much to set the mood of the movie. But Andee discovered a copy in a soundtrack specialty store in New York (for $40!) and we tried desperately to track down copies. For some reason the score was only released in Japan and has been incredibly difficult to get. But this is it. Dark and meandering beats, swelling strings, and moody atmospheres. Mixed up with clips from the movie. So good. If they had released this instead of the crappy 'soundtrack' they would have sold so many more. But again Hollywood underestimates our tastes and panders to the lowest common denominator taste wise. We've had copies on and off for the last couple of months but never enough to list it. Now, we finally managed to get a few more copies, but VERY few, so this is on a strictly first come, first served basis. If you don't manage to snag one, we can put you down for one, but there is no guarantee we'll ever be able to get more. You have been warned.

S.A. SMASH Smashy Trashy (Definitive Jux) cd 13.98
Latest blast of damaged hip-hop-ic mayhem from the Def Jux camp and it's maybe one of the best so far. And of all the Def Jux releases, for some reason it's gotten the least attention. Not sure why, but it's a shame. Def Jux has done nothing but impress from day one, Cannibal Ox, El-P, RJD2, Company Flow, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif and on and on. A perfectly, off-kilter, damaged and demented take on hip hop. Super innovative production, funky and bouncing beats, wild, weird flows, and most importantly a sense of humor. S.A. Smash fit in perfectly, playing the goofy country cousins to the big city Def Jux nuclear family. The record starts off with a skit, I know, I hate 'em too, but this one's pretty fucking funny. And there are a few more scattered throughout the record, but they sort of fit in the whole scheme of things. Skits aside though, this record kills. Banging, booming beats, weird but totally catchy production. The sound is a wild mix of Nelly bounce, Clipse grind and Cannibal Ox outerspaceness, which perfectly complements Camutao and Metro's free form flow, equal parts Onyx intensity, Redman goofiness and Method Man scratchy drawl. The El-P produced "Lilly" is quite possible the jam of the year, with an incredibly catchy, looped bassline, and a hook that just won't stop. Why this isn't all over the radio we will never understand. And the rest of the record is just as slamming. Fans of all things Definitive Jux, Mush, Anticon need this, and folks who get all their hip hop from MTV and Power 106 gotta get schooled.
MPEG Stream: "Smash TV"
MPEG Stream: "Robot"
MPEG Stream: "Clout"

SA-RA CREATIVE PARTNERS Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love (Ubiquity) 2cd 16.98
After the amazing job they did with production on last year's Erykah Badu record New Amerykah Pt.1, we were really anxious to hear what the Sa-Ra Creative Partners would brew up on this new album of their own. Taking the best of psychedelic soul's past and placing it into a kaleidoscopic vision of hip-hop's future this ambitious double disc proves that Sa-Ra really are at the forefront of modern day leftfield soul/hip-hop/funk. You can for sure hear the aesthetic they laid down on Erykah Badu's latest as well as healthy hints of De La Soul, J Dilla, and lots of nods to funk luminaries like Prince, Zapp, Cameo and Parliament. This is the kind of record you can blast out loud for late night hang sessions or through headphones for an ultra stylish, personal and intimate, interstellar psychedelic soul experience.
MPEG Stream: "He Say She Say"
MPEG Stream: "Spacefruit"
MPEG Stream: "Hangin By A String"

SAGE FRANCIS A Healthy Distrust (Epitaph) cd 13.98
Sage Francis has always been the best lyricist of the bunch, the bunch in question being the Anticon collective (Dose One, Sole, Alias, etc...), but until now it was ALL about the lyrics, the music being just background for Francis's nimble flow. A Healthy Distrust finds Francis on fire, spitting some of the most biting, brutal and brutally funny lyrics EVER, sometimes in a purposefully unfunky drawl, sometimes sung in a goofy sing song, and sometimes sprayed in an impossible series of tongue twisting turns of phrase. And unlike Atmosphere and some other hyped white rappers, Francis manages to flow effortlessly, incorporating his white boy idosycracies into his lyrics and delivery instead of letting them define him as an artist.
And finally, for once, the music is just as impressive, dense and emotional, hard and heavy, but not heavy in that incongruous-metal-riff / metal-meets-hip-hop nu-metal way that most rap groups try at least once (and regret it), but in the way only perfectly crafted beats and thick evocative atmospheres can be. Intense and aggressive, melodic and strangely haunting and melancholy with minor key melodies and creepy sad loops. Thanks to a seriously impressive line up of beatmakers and producers: Danger Mouse, Alias, Sixtoo, Controller 7, Daddy Kev and more, A healthy Distrust would be just as good a record even if it was instrumental, with its dark deep Shadow-scapes, weird lumbering funk, skittering electronica, organic instrumentation and lots of wicked beats. So when you mix in Francis's Eminem-meets-MC Serch flow, you've got a contender for hip hop record of the year.
A lot of the attention has focused on the track "Sea Lion", a collaboration between Francis and Will Oldham. And rightfully so. A subtle shuffling drum and bass rhythm, over plaintive mournful guitar and Oldham's cracked moan of a vocal line. Definitely an unlikely match up that works perfectly. Another standout is the anti gangsta diatribe "Gunz Yo!" that had us laughing out loud:
"Straight to the grill like a homophobic rapper unaware of the graphic nature of phallic symbols, tragically ironic, sucking off each other's gats and pistols, I've got more back issues than Guns n' Ammo, cuz my uzi weighs a ton and i never let go of the handle. Hanging onto mommy's pant leg...double fisted. Knee deep in shells, kicking ballistics. This dick is a detatchable penis. An extension of my manhood, positioned like a fetus. An introvenous hook up feeds bullets to my magazine. Nevermind the Bullocks, my pistol is a sex machine!"
and:
"I've got another gun, I keep it in my briefcase. It keeps me safe at my workplace. Cubicle gangster who's in need of his personal space. Angster of love who's unable to look girls in their face."
In fact, this is one of the few hip hop records that actually had us dropping everything we were doing to actually listen closely to the rhymes, even reading along in the cd booklet. And again, the lyrics had us cracking up, and occasionally even getting all choked up. They're that right on. Here's a few favorites:
"Now it's whistle blower versus the pistol holder. Case Dismissed. They'll lock you up and throw away the key witness. Justice is the whim of a judge. Check his chest density. It leaves much room for error, and the rest is left to density. The West Memphis 3 lost paradise. Now it's death penalty vs. Suicidal Tendencies. All I wanted was a fucking Pepsi. 'Making you think you're ugly is a million dollar industry.' Corrina Bain. If they could sell sanity in a bottle, they'd be charging for compressed air. They're marketing health care. They demonized welfare. Middle class eliminated. The rich get richer til the poor get educated."
"Let em freestyle, Winner takes all. When the music's dead I'll have Ted Nugent's head hanging on my wall. Kill one of ours...and we'll kill one of yours with some 'friendly fire.' That's a funny term...like 'civil war'."
"In a world where girl's got retro tattoos, and all I've got is a gut and velcro black shoes."
It's all in the the delivery though, and the above lines are so deftly woven in to the music, that it's hard to imagine them on their own as they are above, but just listen to the sound samples! For hip hop, 2004 may have been the year of MF Doom and Madvillain, but this year (so far) it's all about Sage Francis!
MPEG Stream: "The Buzz Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Sea Lion"
MPEG Stream: "Gunz Yo!"

SAGE FRANCIS Personal Journal (Anticon) cd 13.98
Another solo disc from the Anticon posse, Personal Journal is MC Sage Francis' long-in-the-works earnestly-autobiographical album. With producers odd nosdam, Sixtoo, mayonnaise, Controller 7, and more, all of whom keep his voice right out front.
RealAudio clip: "Specialist"
RealAudio clip: "Inherited Scars"

SAGE FRANCIS W/ WILL OLDHAM Sea Lion (Epitaph) 12" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sounds like an odd pairing, but it works surprsingly well. Sage Francis, assembles a dark and dreamy Anticon-ish hiphop-scape, with Oldham supplying the main vocals in his trademark laconic drawl. You can almost imagine what a great palace song this would make if you sucked out all the groove. But that's precisely what makes it such a great hip hop track. It's just a great song. On the extended version Oldham And Francis are joined by Saul Williams which is super cool. The B side, is the track "Stuck" and features fellow whiney rapper, Atmosphere.

SALEM King Night (IAMSOUND) cd 13.98
Before we get into our usual wordy meandering, hyperbolic gushing and tangential ruminating, we oughta come right out and say it first thing, this record is fucking incredible. One of the coolest weirdest records we've heard in ages. Twisted and blown out, weirdly melodic and groovy, dense and washed out and otherworldly and fucking bizarre, equal parts blissed out hypnogogic shoegazey drift, lurching, chopped and screwed style Southern crunk, majestic choral dreaminess, blurred beat heavy collaged electronica, and sample heavy blown out synthbuzz epicness. In some alternate universe alien world, THIS is the music that comes blasting out of booming systems in tricked out lowriders, some sort of glorious, blindingly blissy club music that fuses stuttery stumbly beats, to crumbling distorted low end, and thick swaths of synths so blown out the whole record sounds like it might collapse, mix in soaring operatic vocal samples, low slung bass buzz, jittery drum skitter, and mush mouthed slowed down 'rapping', smear and blur it all into one glorious, warped and warbly cough syrup fever dream epic, and that's basically Salem's King Night.
By now, most folks have at lest heard of 'witch house' a new 'genre' that Salem seem to represent, willingly or not, it's hard to say, but alongside other groups like oOoOO, witch house has received the sort of blog hype (and mainstream press) that immediately turns us off, and made us want to hate it, but so far, everything we've heard, we've dug, big time, but nothing has kicked out ass as much as this Salem record. It's so weird, and twisted and bizarre, it's sort of hard to believe that THIS is the record people are talking about, it makes sense that we'd love it, and that it would be an aQuarius Record Of The Week, but the New York Times? John Q. Public? Fuck it, like we always say, we'd way rather here stuff like this on the radio anyway. But regardless of the hype, or the backlash, or any of the nonmusical stuff, it all boils down to how ingenious and utterly OUT THERE this is. Just check out the title track, some weird garbled voices, some skittery drum machine, some ravey synths, choral voices, and then BAM, the song explodes, the bass a throbbing slab of rumbling crunch, the drum machine weirdly awkward, but the perfect compliment to the tangled melodies, and those soaring distorted operatic voices, the track a total epic, building and building, like the score for some insane alien sci-fi slow motion dancefloor martial arts battle, you can almost visualize fishtanks exploding into galaxies of exploding glass shards, while bodies fly threw the clouds of glistening sparkle, everything seemingly floating weightless. So good. We could listen to this track FOREVER (and pretty much have since we got it). But then comes "Asia" with its fat stuttery beat, and girlish vocals buried beneath a miasma of crumbling distorted crunch, and woozy synth melodies and confusional drum programming, sounding a bit like some over the top M83 jam gone haywire, or maybe some lost Cocteau Twins B-side remixed by Alec Empire and Black Moth Super Rainbow, everything fuzzy and washed out and gauzy, murky and dark, but still suffused with a weird sort of sunshininess. "Frost" is more of the same, even prettier and blissier, taking Sigur Ros and dipping it in a vat of gristly distortion and Carpenter sci-fi synths, and then stretching it out into a billowing sheet of diaphanous dream pop.
It's not until "Sick" that we get a glimpse of Salem's other side, their chopped and screwed, sippin' sizurp, alien slow motion shoegaze hip hop side, the music remains essentially the same, maybe not quite as dense, still swirls of female vocals, a strange otherworldly chorale, but over the top of this sonic cotton candy , a 'rapper' delivers his mutated pitch shifted flow, mouthful of marbles, finger on the record slowing it do a crawl, creating a weirdly dreamy draggy druggy hip hop / dream pop hybrid. And the rest of the record seems to drift lazily between those two sounds, "Release Da Boar" finds Salem offering up another cloud of dopesmoke dreaminess, fuzz drenched dirge pop bliss, which gives way to "Trapdoor", another slow motion, DJ Screw style cough syrup remix, laid over a warm warped and warbly bit of lysergic ambience and buzzing rave synth swirl. "Hound" is like the title track redux, so thick and crumblingly distorted, but so blown out and beautiful, "Tair" is a gloriously weird spaced out, handclapped chunk of shoegaze rap, and "Killer" sounds like Joy Division or Interpol run through a million distortion pedals, and set to a Casio keyboard drum machine beat, only to shrug off some of the crunch and warble, leaving a gorgeous stretch of plaintive low slung doom pop, that hints at the poppiness that lurks beneath the surface on King Night, only to finish the record in a squall of synth buzz, mumbled vox and drum machine chaos.
Wow. What else can we say. This sounded so good in the store, and even better in headphones, but it wasn't until we got in the car, and cranked this as loud as it would go, that it finally sunk in, and suddenly, we were bouncing up and down in a tricked out lowrider on some alien planet in some alternate universe, our booming system BOOMING, getting totally lost in these twisted and gorgeously damaged sounds. WAY WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "King Night"
MPEG Stream: "Asia"
MPEG Stream: "Trapdoor"
MPEG Stream: "Redlights"
MPEG Stream: "Killer"

SANTOGOLD Creator / L.E.S. Artistes (Downtown) 12" 10.98
Wow, "Creator" is quickly becoming our favorite single of the year. Santogold has been getting lots of attention and winning high profile fans like Bjork, Spank Rock and Lily Allen. "Creator" for sure makes us think of her friend M.I.A. in both the vocal delivery and the splatter-of-color production by Switch (who worked on most of M.I.A.'s latest). The 'b' side finds Santogold in more of a new wave territory sounding kind of like Karen O singing lead on the first Cars album. While both the aQ faithful as well as her famous fans wait for her debut full length, we'll be laying the needle on "Creator" again and again and again.

SANTOGOLD s/t (Downtown) cd 14.98
Santogold's eponymous debut came with a tall stack of expectations that nearly any artist would have a hard time fulfilling. The number of industry glossies that tagged her the next MIA, or even went so far as to whisper the hallowed name of one Lady Sovereign, had everyone abuzz, ready to witness the next vital permutation of global hip hop whatever pitchfork is calling it these days. So, that said, the record didn't quite pack the punch some of us were hoping for. Or perhaps rather, it just wasn't what we expected, taking many more forays into what can only call a kind of mid-'90s slick indie-rock, that's probably best left for the occasional late-night YouTube session. Even so, Santogold should be credited for her efforts to break genre-constraints, and ultimately the record is stronger for it, if not a bit schizophrenic.
Over the last month most of us have uncovered a few new favorites, and certainly agree this record is no dog. Those in need of a handful of great summer jams from a fresh and promising voice working in the vein of the aforementioned trendsetters will certainly find what they are looking for. Of note, of course, is the fabulous lead single, "Creator," which features Santogold's more fierce vocal delivery, and a killer combination of hooks and rhythms. Also, another standout "Lights Out," shows Santogold making good in her efforts to reach toward new wave and even her punk past for a subtly inventive take on pop music. It's certainly a far cry from the global hip-hop/dancehall designation that "Creator" had her billed as, but even so its seriously infectious, and a few of the songs even sort of kick ass. If you've got a few holes to fill on a mix-tape or just feel like some P-O-P, do it.
MPEG Stream: "Creator"
MPEG Stream: "Lights Out"

SAVATH & SAVALAS La Llama (Stones Throw) cd 14.98
Mr. Scott Herren sure likes to keep busy. We just listed his newest project Diamond Watch Wrists, an indie rock minded collaboration with Zach Hill from Hella, he also has a brand new Prefuse 73 album in the works, but somehow even with all that going on, he's also managed to crank out another Savath & Savalas album. S+S is the project that allows Herren to explore a more delicate, breezy and tropical sound. Teamed up with a great ensemble of musicians, which includes dreamy vocalist Eva Puyuelo Muna, La Llama might be the most fully realized and satisfying Savath & Savalas recording yet, channeling the sounds and sentiments of '70s Brazilian/South American soft-psych greats like Joyce, Milton Nascimento, and Congregacion, yet infusing that sound with a modern element that keeps the music from sounding purely nostalgic. Understated and richly flowing with an ease and breeze that is totally hitting the spot!
MPEG Stream: "La Llama"
MPEG Stream: "Pavo Real"
MPEG Stream: "Barceloneta"

SCARFACE The Last Of A Dying Breed (Rap A Lot) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD Meet My Maker (DB Productions) cd 10.98
Hard to believe, but this is indeed a RAP record from one of the drummers of BURMESE! But Burmese fans aren't necessarily Schaffer's demographic, as there are no hellish howls, or gut ripping low end, of head crushing percussive onslaught, just some bumping bass, casio-ish drum beats, and a whine-y white boy flow. But it's the lyrics that keep the Burmese flame burning. Metal, Satan, mayhem, rock and roll and assorted other punk rock debauchery spit in a sing songy, un-funky flow. Fans of Steven Schultz's I Forgot To Get A Rap Name record should definitely check this out!
MPEG Stream: "Your Band"
MPEG Stream: "Attack Of The CLonefucker"

SCHULTZ, STEVEN I Forgot To Get A Rap Name (Spam Records) cd 8.98
This Schultz classic has been redone, rerecorded (!) and repackaged for those of you that missed out the first time. Here's what we had to say about it:
You may have seen Steven Schultz reading and eating donuts in the front row of the Mayhem show. Or you may remember him in pigtails and pajamas eating prunes in the pit at the Hammers Of Misfortune show. Or you may remember his hilarious and amazing lo-fi Naked City-ish 'History Of Vats' cd from a few years back. Or you may not know him at all. This cd marks SS's first recorded foray into the world of rap music, and boy, it's something. Musically notable for the fact that the instruments are all real (all played by the multitalented Steve), and dramatically notable for the fact that the skits are all acted out by Steven's friends. And then there's the rapping. White and whiney as you may have expected, but lyrically, well, no one could have expected anyone to take on the persona of a rapping pirate ('Call Me Pinkbeard'), a rapping whale ('Fuck A Harpoon'), a rapping goth ('I Got Bigger Hair Than Robert Smith'), or a rapping eskimo ('Maniac With An Igloo'). Then there's Steve's attack on rap-metal ('Rap-Metal Is Funny')... Yes, it's incredibly dumb, but undeniably fucked and funny. Self-produced cd-r with color cover (art by Steve) and oh-so-essential lyric sheet. Maybe not the next Eminem, but perhaps the next MC Paul Barman?
RealAudio clip: "Fuck A Harpoon"
RealAudio clip: "Call Me Pinkbeard, Mistress Of The High Seas"

SCORCHER Thunder Power (T.H.E. M.O.V.E.M.E.N.T.) cd 15.98

SCRATCH (Palm) dvd 25.00
Finally on DVD, the movie Scratch, a documentary about hiphop DJs by Doug Pray (who also made Hype!, that grunge doc). Not only is the subject matter super interesting, but the film is very well made (unlike most music docs!), and so it is a treat to watch! Features interviews with Grand Wizard Theodore, inventor of the scratch, with the legendary Afrika Baambaataa, and with todays' expert practitioners including Mixmaster Mike, QBert, Cut Chemist, DJ Shadow, Rob Swift, Z-trip, Babu, Faust & Shorteee etc. Lots of local folks make appearances, including Billy Jam (of HipHopSlam), Dave Paul (of Bomb Recordings, who released the groundbreaking all-DJ comp Return of the DJ), DJ Quest (of Live Human, along with his crew the Bulletproof Scratch Hamsters), even (weirdly) Naut Humon of Asphodel. The film is well made, clear, funny, and super enlightening. One plum scene has QBert getting all cosmic as he talks about about inspiration, which for him consists of trying to imagine what music from outer space sounds like, and then reproducing that sound on his turntables. Oh those Skratch Piklz. Another nice sequence features DJ Shadow at that record store that appears on the cover of Endtroducing, which is basically his nirvana, his treasure chest, where they let him into the basement to dig.
Also included is a director's commentary, extra scenes, etc. There is also a *second* disc loaded with material -- DJ Z-trip with useful tips on how to DJ a party, a segment of QBert's Wave Twisters movie, a DIY scratch lesson with QBert, a notation demonstration (so cool to see scratching represented on paper), etc. Whew! If the packaging is to be believed, there is in total over 5 hours of material here! Worth the money, methinks.

SCREW, DJ All Work No Play Volume 2 (Reliant Entertainment) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Man, I should have been a rapper. What other career allows you the freedom to release record after record, even after you're already dead!!! In much the same fashion as Tupac and Biggie, Screw's posthumous output will soon outnumber the records released while he was alive (not counting the zillions of mix tapes). For those of you who don't know about Screw, he's from the 'Dirty South', and he struck gold with his peculiar brand of remixing (or 'screwing') which entailed, basically just slowing down the record to a crawl, making the record sound like it was dipped in a vat of cough syrup. Sounds weird, but goddamn if the results aren't mighty pleasing to the ear. Most of the stuff that gets 'screwed' here on volume two comes courtesy of Screw's buddies from down south: Fat Pat, Lil' Flip, UGK, 8-Ball, Juvenile, Lil' Keke and loads more. We LOVE DJ Screw.
RealAudio clip: "5.5 (Featuring Lil' Keke and 8-Ball)"
RealAudio clip: "Swang Down (Featuring Fat Pat and Southside Playas)"

SCREW, DJ Screwed Up Vol. 1 (Smokin') cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
RealAudio clip: "Pushin Rhymes Like Weight (Ice Cube)"

SCREW, DJ Screwed Up Vol. 2 (Smokin') cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
RealAudio clip: "Pushin Rhymes Like Weight (Ice Cube)"

SCREW, DJ Screwed Up Vol. 3 (Smokin') cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
RealAudio clip: "Pushin Rhymes Like Weight (Ice Cube)"

SEMIAUTOMATIC s/t (5 Rue Christine) cd 11.98
Rop, ex-Peechees member, has moved to New York where he hones his DJ and turntablist skills as DJ Ropstyle. Semiautomatic features the additional talents of Akiko. Fans of Kid Koala's funny style and ICU/IQU's lo-fi d'n'b will enjoy this.

SENSATIONAL Corner The Market (WordSound) cd 15.98
The return of one of the most fucked up rappers we know, whose last record was a highlight of the always-excellent WordSound label! Between songs like "Chunky Buds" and "Dope Man", Sensational's second album is much more of a proclamation of getting really stoned and staying really stoned for as long as possible. Somewhere in between all of this pot smoking, Sensational manages to somehow record a really great record of brittle, super slow hip hop and utterly mental words of wisdom mumbled-with-a-mouthful-of-marbles as opposed to rapped with any coherence. Needless to say, Sensational may very well be Aquarius' favourite rapper (yes, more so than Kool Keith). Recommended!

SENSATIONAL Get On My Page (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Though we at AQ love the mumbling, narcoticized lo-fi rapping of Sensational, three albums of the same production -- sloppy beats with Sensational mixed way too high in the mix -- was a bit much. The ongoing argument here has always been which of his first two albums (Loaded With Power or Corner The Market) was the better, and that if you needed more than one, either of these would make a fine companion to the other. His third disc, Heavyweighter was more of the same. This new release on Mike Patton's (Mr Bungle) Ipecac label finally steps out of the production ghetto that Sensational was stuck in -- providing a wider variety of musical and sonic elements, varied beats, and a more reasonable vocal balance in the mix -- but it's almost too little too late. So, once again, we can tell you that if you haven't had enough of Sensational after three releases, by all means pick this up. But if you have yet to make a plunge into the strange world of Sensational definitely start with either Loaded With Power (if you believe Allan or Andee) or Corner The Market (if you believe Jim, Jeff or Byram).
RealAudio clip: "Let Me Be"

SENSATIONAL Heavyweighter (WordSound) cd 14.98
AQ's favorite rapper (next to Ice Cube) returns (following one 12" single on Matador and anticipating another) with his third full-length album for equally AQ-appreciated label WordSound. His lazy, stoned style is still causing maximum confusion, as his words wander amongst the deliberately lo-fi and disjointed beats found here. He's the master of hazy, blunted, repetitive raps, liberally sprinkled with strange non-sequiturs. If you're new to Sensational you should perhaps start with his "Loaded With Power" debut, but this'll give you the flavor too.
RealAudio clip: "Paper Chase"

SENSATIONAL Loaded With Power (WordSound) cd 14.98
Former member of the Jungle Brothers goes solo, sounds like Wu-Tang with a head injury!

SENSATIONAL Natural Shine (WordSound) cd 14.98
AQ's favorite mumble-mouthed rapper, the oft-surreal Sensational, is back, and back on his original label Wordsound after releases on Matador and Mike Patton's Ipecac.
Wordsound is also the home of another AQ-fave, Spectre, and Sensational shares Spectre's style of rumbling, murky, deep, gritty home-brewed production (the Ill Saint twists the knobs on track 11, "Super Styling"). Sensational's lazy drawl is nicely matched by the dubby echo effects of the music and his doubled-up vocal track. It's the aural equivalent of the clouds of pot smoke swirling around the studio. Sensational's stoned stream of unconciousness lyrics are sometimes retardedly brilliant, and he never lets a nonsensically silly non sequitur get in the way of his flow -- it's all about the flow, the repetition, the layering. He doesn't have to be rhyming -- he often isn't really -- a Sensational track still makes you nod your head and go, huh. As Evil Nice says on track two, Sensational is "hotter than a fucking...missile". Huh.
RealAudio clip: "Style Notice"
RealAudio clip: "Juicy Lips"