AUDIOMUTANT: King Rhythm, Cars & Trains, Dem Atlas, more

- by Señor Editor, 7 March 2014

We haven’t done this in a long while, so welcome back to AUDIOMUTANT, Trash Mutant’s ‘music digest’ feature, as digested by yours truly. Today is a shorter, but action-packed edition: we got an album review, new singles and new artists, a video and a bunch of news, so let’s get right to it, baby doll.

REVIEW: KING RHYTHM – “ROCK STAR DEMENTIA”

For a website that’s only partially dedicated to music, we get a whole lot of random music submissions. Albums, singles, videos – you name it. As it tends to be in life, most of it is either awful, bad or various degrees of “not quite there yet”. But it’s not always like that. Sometimes you get surprised by a video of a thin dude rapping in a David Bowie mask (below).

The element of surprise was not enough, though. The song and theme mostly made me just think of this (yes), and then I forgot about the video. That is until I gave the full record a listen and had to admit that there is something good here.

King Rhythm AKA Frank Yaker is a rapper/producer from Baltimore, and “Rock Star Dementia” is a free album he dropped earlier this year. One of the themes of the album is classic rock – other than the Bowie song, the tracks are filled with samples from bands like Syd Barrett, The Who, The Doors, The Grateful Dead and more. There’s also a few nice bits taken from documentaries, interviews etc. 

The troubled lives of rock stars are not the only theme present in the lyrics of this very short album. Another one relates to Yaker’s own experiences taking care of his mother, who developed Alzheimer’s disease. The feeling of isolation is what connects the two themes. 

It’s the production on this album that first made me give it a chance. It sounds real good, the samples are used very cleverly (it’s not a copy/paste job by any means) and the songs really carry that classic rock style, while at the same time sounding completely fresh and new. The instrumental “Food Chain” and the song “Fucked Up Game” are both good examples, and among the best tracks on the "Rock Star Dementia".

As a vocalist, Yaker has an okay voice and it fits well with most songs here. He sounds a little blasé on some tracks, and a little slow... like he just got out from a crazy party in the 70s, actually, though that seems most appropriate. All the mannerisms present in his vocals make it kind of impossible to say if he’s a good rapper in the traditional sense or not. When I hear somebody rhyming in a very specific style, I tend to wonder if it’s completely by choice or whether its there to mask some flaws in their rapping, vocals or voice. But hey, I’m weird and you may not care at all.

Final verdict: this is not bad stuff, with some good moments and nice production. It certainly has character, a lot of people may be into it and King Rhythm seems to have some potential, so give the album a listen, it’s free.

SINGLE: CARS & TRAINS – “HISTORY OF THE NIGHT”

Tom Filepp, better known as the Portland folk/electronic artist cars & trains, just released a brand new 3-track single, titled “History of the Night” (free download). You can and should listen to the instrumental title track below. The single also features "Grass Grows Through Sidewalk Cracks", which you may know as the beat to Sole's "My Veganism" from last year's "No Wising Up, No Settling Down." It was one of my favorite pieces of production on that record, and I'm glad that it's included here. 

In addition to dropping the new single, cars & trains’ first album, 2007’s “Rusty String” is being released on wax this June. If you never heard it, it’s a really good record, featuring some of Filepp’s best work. Here, give the deluxe version a spin on Bandcamp.

IN OTHER NEWS... MORE PEOPLE ARE MAKING RECORDS!

People that Trash Mutant readers should already know, in fact:

• Since I just mentioned Sole... In a turn of events that should surprise nobody after his last four albums coming out within a year, he’s got a new album in the works. It’s called “Death Drive”, it’s exclusively produced by DJ PAIN 1. Looking forward to that. It’s being crowdfunded on Indiegogo.
  
• Ohio rapper and one half of Soul Position, Blueprint, drops his new record “Respect the Architect” next month, on the 22nd.
  
• Gregory Pepper and His Problems have a new EP, titled “My Bad”, coming out later this month.
  
• Also, since the time he disclosed to us the information that Leonardo is his favorite Ninja Turtle, Homeboy Sandman has also been very busy indeed. His latest record, “White Sands”, just came out on Stones Throw, but I haven’t checked it out yet. I soon will, though!
  

AUDIO: DEM ATLAS – “CHOWDR”

Closing out this edition of Audiomutant is Minneapolis rapper and brand new Rhymesayers Records signee, Dem Atlas (or “deM atlaS”). I heard of him pretty recently and the first thing I thought is that he reminds me of Pharcyde. That’s good, since I like Pharcyde a lot. Upon closer inspection he’s really good. He’s got great energy and this type of flows have been missing for a long while. This track is called “Chowdr” and it’s from his debut EP “Charle Brwn” (listen to the full thing here). Check it out, this guy seems like one to keep an eye on.

That's all, folks! Leave your thoughts on today's AUDIOMUTANT below. For more Trash Mutant music articles go here. Do you want to put me onto some good music I'm missing? Want to submit something for review? Email me, maybe put "AUDIOMUTANT" somewhere in the subject line. Just don't send me awful things. Enjoy your weekend!

Tagged: music, AUDIOMUTANT.

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