King Amongst Many

Review: Horrorshow "King Amongst Many" album

Released: 2 August 2013                
Elefant Traks


I have to admit right now, on my first listen, I didn't "get it".  Although I enjoyed Horrorshow's first two albums immensely, I have since moved on.  The first couple listens I skipped through the majority of the songs thinking Horrorshow had disappointed me by only providing more of the same, emotional and soft hip hop that doesn't push any boundaries or take a stance on anything too controversial.  But at a second glance I realised that I was looking at it the wrong way.

It wasn't until a very late night walk with the dog down near Blackwattle Bay with the air thick, damp and heavy as it is before the rain, my quiet and reflective mood finally latched onto the music and the words. What was revealed to me was something beautiful, dense and meaningful.  The meaning behind the words finally stood out to me as though I was stepping out of the fog, and the music provided the perfect backdrop for them to whirl around within.  So what I'm saying is don't set this album aside if at first you're not in the mood to embrace it, cause it definitely has the potential to come back and surprise you.

This is not a lighthearted album.  This is a deeply pensive, listen alone in your room with the lights off type album.  Not that there aren't tracks would work in a concert setting, but it's not dancing music. This is sway on your feet with your lighters in the air music.  This is the type of music that will make us take a collective breath and just listen, which I think holds much more power than the type that we want to cheers beers to. This isn't The Party Life, in fact there's not one party track here.  This is exactly the type of music that works for Horrorshow. This is In My Haze type music.

While leaving the party songs and more festival orientated songs alone, you would think that the JJJ crowd might not take to it as readily, but the doesn't seem to be the case at all as Horrorshow fans and new fans alike have seen the album debut at #2 on the ARIA charts. Like it or hate it, it's refreshing to see that this album didn't have to  follow the well defined formula in order to achieve success.  In fact, from the first album right on through to this one, Horrorshow duo never seem to be making music for anyone else at all, simply combining beats that sounds pleasing to them with lyrics that allow the emcee to express to us the inner workings of his mind.

That being said, is it on par with the best beat makers in the world? Not by a long shot. Are the lyrics revolutionary and showing us a brand new perspective? Not for the most part.  But these two are definitely growing as artists and their music has a place in the Australian music scene and in worldwide hip hop. Though it's not everyone's cup of tea, in terms of emotional content this album is ace.

The first listen we had of this new material was during the Hilltop Hoods "Speaking in Tongues" tour.  Dead Star Shine was a chilling anthem that made us all stop dead, so to speak.  This was a year before the album came out and it had a great response.  However the chorus on the finished version leaves much to be desired.  I think the effect over Solo's voice lessens the emotion, to where it sounds boring and dull.  And that carries on through most of the chorus' on the album.  I think as a rule, Solo could work on the expressiveness of his voice, both in singing and in rapping.  Though the evenness works one one level, it does make all the songs sound far too similar.  And though I love Adit's knack for picking samples, the beats could use more variety as well. Having a few songs with more of an edge to them and a harder hitting beat would surprise us and keep us interested.

The song that stood out to me first was Down The Line.  This is story telling at it's best.  So emotional it nearly made me cry although it's not a particularly sad.  Through a story about his ancestry, Solo tells us the importance of family, something that speaks to everyone universally.  This is the only track with a female singer as well, Sarah Corry, and possibly the only song that really has the chorus it deserves.  The recording of his grandmother at the end is beautiful.

I think the album overall has a few too many guest spots and Suffa could have been cut out for me.  I don't think he adds anything to the track he is on called On The One Hand and in fact I think he draws attention away from Grieves who is the first international guest that Horrorshow have welcomed to share in their art. They have chosen well here; Grieves and Solo have a similar hip hop style in that their songs are deeply personal and emotional.  I want to like this track the best because it's Grieves but in truth it bores me a little.  I was expecting more of a standout on this one, but whatever that sample is that comes in as the outro of this song, I love that better than the rest of the track.  A beat more like that would have excited me more.  Not to worry though, I think Grieves and Horrorshow could have a beautiful thing going and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing a further collab if this kid ever makes it out to Australia.  (If you want to know more about Grieves check my links at the bottom and stay tuned.)

Surprisingly out of the whole album the song that turned me off the most is the first single.  This is actually what kept me away from the album a long time.  I don't think it has the right effect, it doesn't catch you right away and it is not memorable.  A terrible choice in my opinion.  All it does is remind me that we're ready to see something different from these guys.

The absolute best and most important song on the album, and the one that makes the listening all worth while is Own Backyard which features newly signed Elefant Traks artist, Jimblah.  This track tells of a young white male's perspective of racism in Australia, how he goes from simply believing what he was taught in school to discovering the truth of Australia's bloody past for himself.  Then Jimblah comes forward to tell a tale which we never see in Australian hip hop.  A black perspective of continued racism in this country.   Stunningly poignant, the harrowing last line reminds us, "They tried to wipe us off of the face of the earth dude, need proof? Look around you."


 More than a lyricist who throws out catchy puns and one liners, Solo is a poet spinning a story that makes you feel you are in that moment with him if you listen closely enough, and that's something I hold  highly.  Honesty as well is a trait that is not optional for me, he's certainly not trying to represent anything that he is not, the downfall of many of the more popular hip hop artists.

Horrorshow is on tour! 
Their next few dates are:

TONIGHT
Thu 19 Sep
ANU Bar
Canberra

Fri 20 Sep *
Metro Theatre
Sydney

Sat 21 Sep *
Sprung Festival
Brisbane

Thu 26 Sep
Corner Hotel
Melbourne

*all ages
For a full list of tour dates and ticketing information click here

Link me up
Elefant Traks
Horrorshow official site / Facebook page
Jimblah official site / Facebook page
Grieves official site / Facebook page

Quick, reverse the polarity in the defibrillator!

Me: Kathy, the engine is overheating, the breaks won't work, we're spinning out of control and heading straight for the river!

Kathy: oh and also we just ran out of vodka...

Me: If we don't make it back to the Hordern Pavilion in time Hillary Duff will take the stage and ruin hip hop forever. We have to get back and stop her!

Kathy: what the fuck?

Me: I know it's crazy.

Kathy: If only we had a way out of this mess that was simple yet sounded scientific enough that no one would question our authority on it.

Together: Reverse the polarity!!

(Far away shot of a car exploding as it spins off a bridge. Two girls walk slowly towards the camera wearing blue sparkly spandex [superhero outfits] while fireworks go off behind them as the car hits the river. The taller one sips from a bottle.)

cue music: “Slider”

Me: well I didn't know that would happen. Good thing for those eject buttons.

Kathy: Good thing for more vodka

Together: Cheers!

Kathy: now what?

Me: train?  

Reverse Polarities: shaking up our ear holes and turning nonsense into magic since 2005

Also, making train rides less boring.

Although the name may make it sound like a bunch of scientific mumbo jumbo, what Reverse Polarities actually says is a lot more real than 99.99% of anything you've ever heard on the radio. Their philosophy is simple, do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Flip the game over on it's head and just deliver the raw truth. They want to uncover the political issues, give the facts, and focus on life as they know it here in Australia. In essence just make their mark by challenging everyone and changing how they think.

Mute and Mikoen at Oxford Arts Factory

You could say that Reverse Polarities as a hip hop group, grew out of the western suburbs of Sydney. It started off simply as couple of guys getting together for drinks, who recorded poetry onto tape using half a headphone as a mic. Back in the early 90's decent recording equipment was scarce, at least for a group of youngsters. Rappers, Mikoen and Mute MC, who met at school way the hell out in the middle of no where (ie western suburbs of Sydney) may have originally worked on raps together out of boredom back in their school days, but the work that they put into it back then has really paid off.

The two of them didn't officially form the group until much later, choosing to work on several other hip hop related projects. It wasn't until Mute moved to Newtown in 2005 that things started to kick into gear for RP. Mute met beat maker Kit Complete and the two became inseparable, working with another friend Ludz on beats and rhymes, building their skills. Their youngest member, Psmurf was still finishing school at the time they had their first official gig at the Cat and Fiddle, which packed out the place. Hip hop in Australia was only just starting to get some credibility at that time thanks to groups like Hilltop Hoods, Muph and Plutonic, and Bliss n Eso. Reverse Polarities was proud to represent where they were from with all they had, focusing on issues relative to life in Australia, rather than trying to mimic American emcees.

Although the group has juggled around and swapped members in and out since it's inception, it is known now for its four permanent members: Mute MC, Mikoen, and Psmurf as rappers and Kit Complete on the beats. They rep the inner west and the western suburbs of Sydney and have been active in one form or another since 2005, minus a two year hiatus between 2009 and 2011.

Watching Reverse Polarities perform now, it's obvious that they all really respect and appreciate each other. And although your attention might first be drawn to the barefoot one bouncing around with the expressive face, you will soon see that there is no front-man to this group. Each member equally takes his turn in the spot light. They are all supportive of each other without the pretension of having to “be something” or project a certain image. I feel like when I see an RP set it's four artists coming together and just relaxing into themselves and letting each other do their own thing but with the backing that they need to help one another other shine. Everyone takes their turn in the spot light, they cover each other's mistakes and play to each other's strengths.

So where does Reverse Polarities end and Daily Meds begin? The whole thing can be a bit of head spin to figure out. Some members are shared between groups, and of course other members make “guest” appearances on each other's tracks. The beats and production are done differently in the two, with Roleo in Daily Meds and Kit Complete on Reverse Polarities. Daily Meds came into being at the time when RP was on hiatus.

Since they share members anyway, a Reverse Polarities and Daily Meds supergroup sounds like a terrific idea, but the reality of it is there are so many different projects going on simultaneously, it would be hard to coordinate, although they always have and will continue to swap members around like spit at a make out party... that's fam right there.

RP LIVE:

The way I look at it is Reverse Polarities gave them a taste, let them find the way onto the scene, and helped them define and develop who they are as artists, so that then when Daily Meds came along, they weren't starting from scratch anymore. They had a recipe that worked and this time there wouldn't be any burnt batches of brownies. Daily Meds was serious business and they have exploded onto the scene in the last few years and become a raging success with fans all over the country. RP now has taken a back step to this, but with the group back together and going strong again, what I see it as, is an outlet for the boys to relax again. They don't have to prove anything to anyone, and they are humbled by being reminded of where they have come from. It's a treat for old and new fans alike to see the comfortableness and refreshing attitude that comes out of a Reverse Polarities show. And this is no soft la-de-da party music either, it's in your face and tackling political issues head on, something that this scene needs desperately.

Drank, dance, rap...

It will be a busy year for RP as a group as well as all the members individually. You can look forward to an official Reverse Polarities album this year released through Big Village. Also Psmurf will be dropping his solo release VERY soon. Mick's mixtape will be out to offend young and old come April. Mute is working on a little something special with Daily Meds DJ, Roleo. But that's not all, he's also got a project called Mute Oblivion with a release in the near future. Kit Complete won't be outdone either, with his second solo release coming out this year as well.

Despite so many other projects happening, the RP group is back in full force. Their latest video project, “Invasion Day,” released in time for Australia Day this year perfectly demonstrates the hard political stance on an issue that's still very sensitive in Australian society. And true to their name they will flip the situation on its head. They won't just give you the watered down version of events, they aren't just some white kids from the suburbs rapping about how they hate their parents. They will serve you up the real issues in a way that won't be ignored, and you can make up your own mind but at least the facts are all there to be digested.

Check out the clip below:

“Reverse Polarities, you wouldn't want to challenge these emcee's mentalities...”

Big Village

Peace out people, stay cool.

The Ruckman Record

Review: 
The Ruckman Record
Re-released in JB Hi-Fi, Sanity, and on iTunes TODAY
10th August 2012

“So who's your favourite rapper's favourite rapper?”

It's a question that immediately commands our attention because we assume that those that we admire and look up to would have the knowledge and insight needed to play the tour guide and successfully lead us through this jungle that we call the rap game, making sure that we saw more than just the tourist sights. Our favourite rapper, we assume, would have such a vast knowledge of the music scene that as a tour guide he would be able bring us deep into the culture, showing us the intricacies of the local and international scene. It goes without saying that a lot of thought would have to go into the answering of such an important question. 

Well I'm not a famous rapper, but I reckon if I was I would have to have a clever answer ready for when someone put this question to me. Maybe even an unsuspected and surprising answer. It would have to be someone smooth, cunning, intelligent, underrated, underground, with wicked flows and smooth as silk voice. It would have to be someone who is just as comfortable spitting a clever diss at an opponent in a rap battle as they are busting rhymes over a chilled out beats in a song about loving life. And that rapper for me would have to be Kade MC. But hold up, wait a minute, ok let's just make this clear: I'm not actually saying Kade is my favourite rapper, I'm just saying that if I was a famous rapping heavyweight, I would be quick to mention Kade as one of my favourites in order to show that I was still hip to the Sydney underground rap scene. And that being said Kade MC is definitely a name that you should know, and if you don't know, it's time to get familiar.

Meet Kade & the Karneez

Kade has been secretly toiling away in the background, busy working at perfecting his craft over the last ten years, and still he is a youngster in the scene. How many people do you know that can say that they have been on the grind for more than a decade at 21 years of age? Having first stepped on stage at the almost unheard of age of 10, Kade has successful jumped through many of the hoops and hurdles that will hopefully lead him down the road to a successful music career. He has become known as a deadly emcee to battle, with his witty asides and quick flips leading him to victory over several prominent emcees, most notably The Tongue of Elefant Traks. (See below for several battle video links.) But although he is very talented at battling, Kade will never find it as fulfilling as making music and performing it to a live audience. Although most emcees perform with a live DJ, Kade prefers to travel with a live band, the Karneez.  The addition of a  live band provides a refreshingly different take on hip hop music. 

me bopping to Kade & the Karneez at the Annandale

The past few years, Kade has been strongly focused on delivering the best debut album that he possibly could. He has been polishing to a perfect shine, what could only be recognised as a gem, The Ruckman Record. The album has been available now since late 2011, but it's re-release into a more commercially successful platform this year was all but prophesied by Kade in the song Underrated where he says “I hear the world ends in 2012, which is when I plan to have my album on shelves...” It was a goal that he had often vocalised that he had to hoped to have an album out by the age of 21. And I think that goal, although not yet realised at the time that the album was in production, is a main theme of the album.

The album takes us on a deeply personal journey of discovery. It feels like a balance sheet weighing out the reasons to stay positive in life against the reasons to succumb to the darkness and doubt that overtakes everyone's mind at some point in life. It's a refreshingly open and honest look into this young man's psyche. As Kade explains himself in Lonely Lyricist, “bi-polar has me racing up and down like a staircase.” And even though, just as explained, the music bounces from a dark personal internal struggle type of track like that to the happy, positive, and carefree track, Pull it Together, the transition seems natural and organic. Through all the darkness which is enclosed in the human psyche that this album dredges up, I feel like the positive messages far outweigh any negative.

Kade has some profound messages in the album, but I think the clearest, and most obvious message is this: “You can achieve anything you set your sights to,” in the song Make It Happen: not only only spoken knowledge, but inarguably proven.

Notable tracks : Undderrated, Idiom Ideology, Headphones

Pick up the Ruckman Record today on iTunes, here, here, or at a live show (possibly for free if you're lucky.)


enough of me, listen to Kade himself talk about the album...

Catch a live show
Friday     17th August- Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor-  Supporting Limit Infinity with Deadbeat and Hazy
Saturday 18th August- Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst- Supporting L-Fresh the Lion with DJ Ology
Sunday   16th September- Valve Bar, Tempe- 1 outs Battle Event
Sunday   30th Septmeber- Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway - Headliner
Tuesday   4th October- Fbi Social, Kings Cross- Headline

Links
Triple J Unearthed - listen to download and rate some of Kade's songs
Oz Hip Hop Forum- The Ruckman Record- talk some crap about Kade's album
Kade MC Facebook page- up to date info by the artist himself


Music Videos
Kade & The Karneez performing "Huntsman & the Player" live at the Annandale Hotel, new music off the NEXT album, coming soon.

young and carefree...

the struggle...

serious determination.....

Battle shit

This is straight up lyrical murder.  Kade kills it in the first Sydney 1Outs Event.

straight talent on the streets of Newtown

Kade's legendary defeat of The Tongue

Even when he loses, he really wins.

Go cop this ish! I have literally already bought 5 copies so you can at least buy one!

Music isn't free. Support the artists who dedicate their lives to this.

KnoHow music is the crew.
Peace out homies, love life.
<3 <3 Jen  <3 <3