Atmosphere, the Midwestern indie-hop
duo consisting of vocalist Slug, and producer Ant (Atmosphere,
Brother Ali, Felt) are back again with yet another EP which aims
to whet the appetite for their forthcoming album, ‘When
Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold’. Being
the result of one too many tracks produced for their new album,
the duo have set themselves the (unintended?) mission of dropping
an EP of excess album material for each season leading up to the
album release.
The EP see’s the duo move further
into melodic territory, injecting more variation into their style
and experimenting more with differing sounds and techniques. As
such, the tracks on the EP cover a broad stylistic range moving
from deep electro grooves to old-skool beats through to mellow
indie-hop and more. Such variation in style can alienate some
listeners as the linearity of the release is broken up, but then
again, switching styles can serve to constantly re-focus the listeners
attention thus accentuating the effect of the tracks and in this
case the latter applies. Vocally there is keen delivery and sharp
commentary which delves deep into Slug’s persona and covers
a broad range of topics ranging from the personal to the comic.
Across the 5 cuts and 15minutes, Atmosphere
not only remind us of how lyrically talented and versatile they
can be, but they also drop some class-A beats to go along with
the vocals. If these tracks are the off-cuts, then I for one am
eagerly anticipating the duo’s forthcoming release. Sounding
like a collaboration between Grooverider and J Dilla, the EP starts
off with ‘Don’t Stop’, a deep, dark and brooding
beast. As soon as you press play, the deeply warped electro bass-groove
kicks in and oscillates in a hypnotizing slow-motion tempo and
sounds ultra-hip and cinematic when offset by the sharp clattering
beats. Covering his entry into the musical world and his love
of hip-hop, Slug lays bare on the track delivering impeccably
placed vocals in a medium-tempo. Moving straight-ahead into the
contrasting, old-school beatscape of ‘They All Get Mad At
You’, Slug carves out an entertaining and well constructed
story about being robbed at the convenience store by a robber
with a flare-gun, rapping over a beat which sounds straight off
the Fresh Prince of Bel Air’s walkman.
The pounding percussive attack of ‘66th
Street’ up’s the EP’s tempo with Slug increasing
the rhyming ante, playing around expertly with his placing of
words in such a way that it locks into the groove and achieves
synergy with the beat. Before the quirky, old-skool Daedelus-esque
beats of closing track ‘Ha, This One Is About Alcohol Too’,
the duo drop the melodically extrovert ‘Beautiful’.
A slice of energetic and raw indie-hop wrapped up in a teasing
commercial aesthetic, the comparisons with the likes of Gnarls
Barkley if they where fronted by an incensed Sage Francis make
themselves apparent. Muffled-bass and twinkling electronica combine
with harmonized choral chants which are interspersed every 8 bars
with Slug’s visceral vocals laid on top, dripping with sweat
and delivered with conviction.
All in all, this is an excellent teaser for the forthcoming album
and will happily tide fans over till the release. On top of that,
it has the charm, potent delivery and unique characteristics to
win over a legion of fans who are new to Atmosphere. The ‘Sad
Clown’ series of EP’s where previously exclusive to
fans seeing the duo live however it has now been decided to make
them available to retail, which is good news for newbies and non-US
fans that would have had a slim chance of catching Atmosphere
live. Vinyl junkies should look out for the vinyl release of this
EP which should be dropped soon. Be sure to listen out for the
free mixtape download ‘Strictly Leakage’ which is
available from rhymesayers.com/atmosphere. (RM)
For
fans of: Aesop Rock, Gnarls Barkley, Sage Francis, Mac Lethal
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