AUDIOMUTANT: Spark Master Tape, Ratking, True Deceiver

- by Señor Editor, 14 March 2015

How you feeling? I was planning to write the ultimate, best and most amazing Lando Calrissian article on the internet today, but that will wait a little longer. We haven’t really been doing much of music articles this year, so it’s time for another AUDIOMUTANT, getting everybody up to speed on what noteworthy things have happened, will happen, or should happen. Mostly rap things happening in this one.

WHERE IS SPARK MASTER TAPE?

If you don’t know who Spark Master Tape is then we’re all on the same boat. At least as far as his actual identity is concerned. He came out in 2012, released two mixtapes and a bunch of tracks, nobody knows who he is and all his vocals are pitched down. This may sound gimmicky, and that’s really not my usual thing, but whatever – he’s not exactly launching a whole promo campaign on that, it just seems anonymity is in his style. And it sounds real good. 

Whoever Spark Master Tape is, he makes the type of music that makes your head grow helicopter blades and your arms change to machine guns. 

All of his songs are produced by Paper Platoon (that also seems to be the name of the whole collective that SMT is with), they are all hard as hell, in a way that’s over the top, so don’t take it too serious… but take it serious. It’s all good raps, great beats with some really clever samples (+best use of a Tupac sample in the last 15 years) and the whole thing is crazy entertaining. It will make you wanna smash shit, but will still have enough intriguing references, cool concepts, good verses and unlikely samples to keep you checking.

That’s all well and good, but after dropping tracks frequently for two years or so, it’s been a year now since there’s even been a tweet from his or Paper Platoon's Twitter account, nevermind any new tracks. There was apparently a third mixtape on the way, but they sorta disappeared into thin air. A lot of people have been leaving comments on social media, asking what happened. It's a little harder to find out since nobody knows who that dude really is. Plenty of conspiracy theory types around.

So I did some complex investigative journalism, meaning I went to Twitter and looked for a while. And I may be wrong here, but it seems he's still there and just has a new account with a different name. So I may be wrong, but I do think I found him. I thought about putting the link to that account here, but then I thought the profile is kind of low key and if that's him then maybe he's not exactly planning to come out and say it yet. Maybe he's doing some Inception-level "already anonymous rapper using a new, anonymous account" thing for some purpose. Whatever, I am not really aiming for some sensationalist shit to get hits here. So this is an anticlimax here for the article... but if I'm right and you're mad cause you've been looking for Spark, then sorry, you suck at looking - it wasn't hard to find. And if that's him and he wants to come out and just say it, he can do it any time, so just wait.

Anyway, we need some new Tape (if you still remember my intro after all that, that's in the "SHOULD happen" category). Right now, here's the Soundcloud page (that GASINMYLUNG track seems to be the latest solo thing and it's real nice).

ALBUM: RATKING "700-FILL"

In other news, Ratking got a new record out, and they decided to skip the middle man and just release it for free on BitTorrent. It’s called “700-Fill”, it has Despot on a track, and it’s apparently been recorded in the span of days. It’s got some good stuff on it, and Wiki sounds good as ever, even if I’m not completely into some of the beats here. It’s free, though. And some songs, like “Flurry” below, I welcome with open arms. It would be nice if the NY trio released music more often. If they’re hanging out with Despot, I really hope his working pace isn’t rubbing off on them. 

You can get the whole record right here for free. Give it a go, see if you like it. Ratking has been one of the more interesting groups in the past few years, so I'm always looking out for more stuff from them, especially since each release is very different and they are clearly onto some good stuff.

NEWS: TRUE DECEIVER - SELF-TITLED EP

Switching lanes completely and moving into non-rap teritory, we got news about a brand new project from Tom Filepp AKA Cars&Trains (who you should know by now from other AUDIOMUTANTS).

The new project is called True Deceiver and it comes out on March 24th on Bandcamp. It's self-released and it's a big departure from the Cars & Trains folk/electronic sound, going into much heavier territory. The self-titled EP is four tracks long. I won't be sharing any of them just yet, as they are all private for now, but you probably should follow C&S on Twitter to get to listen to it riiiiight as it drops.

I had the pleasure to get an early listen to the tracks, and here are some of my initial thoughts on the 4-track EP.

It's a much different, heavier and trippier sound than previous works by Filepp. Even the vocals are different here, which suits the heavier, rattling guitar-lead tracks quite well. I am not sure yet what kind of project True Deceiver will end up being in the long run, though, as each track is very different. You might say, it's quite deceiving (I apologize for that, I already regret it). I realize that this format of short releases is how C&S has been approaching his music lately, but in the case of something brand new, I would love to hear more. I'm interested though, and will keep an eye on things there! My favorite so far is the really chill, four and a half minute long insrumental "Neutron Star". That gets me good. Mark your calendar, man. It's coming out on the 24th. That's in the WILL happen soon category.

VIDEO: BIZ MARKIE - "SPRING AGAIN"

THAT happened in '89, but that doesn't matter. It's pretty much spring already, man. Nothing to complain about here. If you're gonna whine about it, get out. 

Leave us a comment about whatever, we don't care, as long as there are some comments. Comments are nice.

Tagged: music, AUDIOMUTANT.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Loading

---

Follow @TrashMutant