Peanut Butter Wolf - Straight to Tape (the 4-track years 1990-1992)

These recordings were made during a 3 year period when PB Wolf was living with his mom in the east foothills of San Jose. It was between 1990-1992 that PB Wolf made these tracks with the vocals recorded straight into headphones ran through a mixer and into the 4-track. All tracks are produced by PB Wolf but feature several emcees. There is a distinct rap style from this era. that one must be mindful of when indulging into this release. This is post Lyrical Prophecy and you hear Quiz One and Deshee on this release. Charizma makes a few appearances here and transcends the style he was to become known for, as these tracks are a bit rougher. Or maybe it's just that this whole release is a bit rougher. In the east coast New Jack swing was the style of the moment that was making it's way to the west. You can hear that on Quiz One's & Charizma's tracks. There is a bit of early gangster rap styles on N.O.T.U.'s tracks. Peace Maker has a ragga style that also came to the forefront in the early 90s rap scene. PB Wolf made beats from samples and loops and he details this in the liner notes. That said, PB Wolf didn't remix or taint these tracks for this release. There is a trajectory that PB Wolf and all west coast hip hop is affected by after these recordings. In 1993, Charizma was murdered while stopped at a light in East Palo Alto. Shortly after, PB Wolf started Stones Throw and put out "My World Premier" honoring Charizma. After Charizma's passing, PBW had no intention of working with any other emcees. Consider this an archive of an era that had little national attention and spawned the direction of what was to become of Peanut Butter Wolf.

Rakaa - Crown Of Thorns [Decon]

Rakaa (Taylor) aka Iriscience is one third of Dilated Peoples. This is his debut solo album. Although this is his debut solo attempt, it is full of guest producers and vocalists. The tracks themes and styles are equally diverse yet cohesive. Rakaa is not only an emcee, but a graff artist and advertising student. He shows his roots sharing the mic with Hip Hop's finest. He keeps his cadence solid and forceful, "calling it how he sees it". He touches on subjects like big business, love, survival, art, & hip hop subculture.



Producers include King Jahzzy[2], Evidence[3], Exile[4], DJ Babu[5,8], Oh No[6], DJ Honda [7], Eric Bobo & DJ Rhettmatic [10], the Alchemist [11,13], El-P [12]. Vocal guests include Aloe Blacc [1], Mad Lion[2], KRS-One [4], Krondon [8], Noelle Scaggs [10], Evidence, Fshawn, Defari [11], Chali 2na[12], and a whole lineup of players on track 7.

Lang 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 11

The Psychadelic Aliens

This Academy release is bound to please fans of blues, funk, and garage. It's less psychadelic but to the Lebanese and Ghanian's that made up the band and the time they emerged, it was this era of music that impacted their sound and success. In Accra, Ghana; they played with visiting bands and solo gigs as often as they could. They shared bills with big players, but early in their it was the Heartbeats who would change their path when they shared their equipment with the band. The Psychadelic Aliens began to purchase their amps and PA from touring bands whose contracts had ended and this is how they acquired their Vox Continental organ which you hear throughout this release. The booklet enlightens you to the depth of this equipment endeavor (fuzz and wah wah pedals) as well as their influences. Tracks 2 & 8 are instrumental, and track 3 is heavily influenced by Jimmy Hendrix vox. Enjoy this one with a bit of nostalgia for the times and you will not be let down.

Fat Worm of Error - Broods [ecstatic peace/open mouth]

What else would you expect from the instrumentalists who are Fat Worm of Error? Compost? Compositions, more likely. On 'Broods', FWoE work with additional players including Bhob Rainey (Nmperign) on soprano saxaphone , Jeremy Starpoli on trombone, Victore Signore on tenor sax, and Peter Bonos on Trumpet. Tracks are free and disjointed, like getting your shoulder dislocated by the bully who was doing you a favor, he could have punched your lights out. It will hurt, you may hear shrieks, black out and wake up to the angelic chants & the clanging of what you thought was pots and pans, but alas is simply FWoE and your shoulder is still attached. Bass, guitar, and drums fence in this zoo of roaming horns, samples, and sounds-which includes affected vocals thrown about. Things may be crawling and climbing along when suddenly the ground shifts and shards of glass rain down. Be warned, Fat Worm of Error will entice those who like the minimal with the unbearable.

ARCHITECTS + HEROES Sampler Vol.1

Architects + Heroes is a label & collective comprised of like minded musicians, producers, and sound artists based in CA. DJ Stephen R[uiz], William Rosario , & H.A. Eugene play many roles in this project. DJ Stephen R is part of the duo Zygote(not to be confused with the UK crust-punk or Czech noise-ambient oufits of the same name) and the Summer of Flux. Ruiz hails from the post bubble pop (internet and music) era of SF electronic music producers. Burbank International & Business 80 is SF's H.A. Eugene of the Electronic/DJ group, the Luxury Tax. Burbank Int'l has recently garnered some attention locally for his full length release, City of Burbank. Another main player is William Rosario aka Asymmetrical Head (IDM, ambient, electronic) and Quiliuq (his techno house project). The pairing of the singer-songwriter elements of Eugene along side Ruiz and Rosario's electronic based production works well, producing a collection languid and lush ambiance. In my opinion, too many artists, when merging genres (electronic, neo/electro folk, ambient, IDM) have fallen short with under produced-over production or macro minimalism; ultimately leaving my ears in want of more. In this case the A+H collective have a cross genre cohesion within the individual projects and the sampler as a whole.

You can check out the A+H V.1 Sampler on bandcamp.

Visit their blog for all the updates on Architects & Heroes