The 1960's Jazz Revolution Again

by JayAre (J. Rawls and John Robinson)

J. Rawls has been quite prolific the last few years, putting out a couple of really good jazz albums, producing an r'n'b album with Middle Child, and lacing a few different hip-hop albums with tracks.

This has apparently led to a lengthier collaboration with John Robinson here, in a project that marries his jazz work with hip-hop. Listening to this album, I am not immediately made to think of 1960s jazz, a topic I know very little about, except by tracks that seem to emulate Thes One's incredible Lifestyle Marketing project. There are some sampled hooks here that could easily have come from period advertisements.

Regardless of provenance and intent, Rawls and Robinson have put together a very good jazzy hip-hop disk, in the vein of some early Digable Planets, with perhaps a little less funk. Robinson, who I sometimes find boring, and other times find forced, comes off very nicely here; he focuses on his story-telling skills, and keeps my interest throughout (except for 'The Lee Morgan Story' towards the end).

Rawls production is the real star of the show however, and he demonstrates what he learned on his Liquid Crystal Project albums, applying it to this disk with skill. This is a very nice background album.

Postcards From the Third Rock

by LoDeck & Omega One

This is a bit of a bizarre product. First, there's the album art, which is very reminiscent of mid-90s ambient projects - very Future Sound of London - promising a sound that is nowhere to be found on the disk.

Then, there are the songs themselves. Omega One is a gifted producer - his solo album was very nice when it dropped a couple of years ago. LoDeck is an average MC. He has some nice turns of phrase, but he doesn't switch up his delivery very much, and over the course of an entire album, he just starts to sound monotonous.

The sound here is kind of out of date. I like Omega One's beats - there is a second disk with the instrumentals, as he goes for a dark, Army of the Pharoahs type of sound. Most of the songs aren't too memorable, although 'Still Cambodia', with Jak Progresso, is brilliant. Other guests include Invizzibl Men and C-Rayz Walz.

Cosmic Headphones

by Eagle Nebula

When I bought this, I didn't know that Eagle Nebula was a person. All of the sites that I buy my music from made it sound like Eagle Nebula was a Georgia Anne Muldrow pseudonym, or was a group consisting of Muldrow and Dudley Perkins. I just need to see the names Muldrow and Perkins together in the same cd description to know that I want to make a purchase.

So, I get the cd, I put it on, and immediately think - that's not Georgia Anne. Further web research has not shed a lot of light on things, but, as it turns out, Eagle Nebula is a talented MC and poet. Georgia Anne Muldrow provides the beats on every track but one, and that one was produced by Dudley (Declaime) Perkins. The album fits with the G&D sound - it's spacey, funky, poetic, and really rather weird.

Really, that sums it up. Eagle Nebula is a decent MC, and, on 'Street Shrine', a lovely poet. That track, with backing vocals by Muldrow and Perkins, is a very nice example of spoken word poetry that isn't annoying when it tries to be street. 'Jitterbug Fonk' is a very funky song. 'Clear Blue Sky' is a plea for a cleaner world.

Eagle Nebula has a vision for the world, but also likes to sing about bumping Mobb Deep in 7th grade. A couple of songs might be a little irritating ('Ether Cash'), but this is a great album from a talented new artist. It's too bad they haven't done a better job of promoting this, and her.