| Like the drunken uncle who showed up on your doorstep at 3AM after getting kicked out by wifey, West Coast instrumental hip-hop is here to stay, booze breath and all. With a flurry of recent outings from Daedelus, Jel, and now Omid, Mush Records seems to be leading the charge with the heavy stuff. Monolith, a touch bouncier than others, is like a vodka-soaked maraschino cherry buried among melting ice cubes. Omid, aka OD, has been stirring things up out West for years, most notably as sometimes producer for the left coast underground pioneers, Freestyle Fellowship, and for a series of very limited release beat tapes. Monolith is the logical next step, an even mix of evolved instrumentals and avant-garde rap tracks. The production here is in the moderate to heavy range as edgy beats compete for your attention with slurred synths, strings, reeds, and vocal samples. "Sound of the Sitar" is a funky, catchy little number which does justice to its title. "Research" falls just this side of tech house, plodding forward with its eyes on the prize. "Speakers Hot" is a nervous pirouette of chopped strings and vocals. The lyrical tracks are graced with a Who's Who list of West Coast emcees, such as Aceyalone, Abstract Rude, 2Mex, and Murs. The stand out, though, is "Double Header," Buck 65's ode to the solo male traveler, so vivid that you're guaranteed to have two day's stubble and a serious case of B.O. after listening to it. Drink up, this round's on Omid. - Re:Up |
2XLP/Out Of Print