Henry Canyons
Cool Side of the Pillow

Manonmars is back again, alongside O$VMV$M on instrumentals with the 2nd full length, titled ‘In Colour’.Building on the foundations built over years of mutual understanding and musical endeavours as part of the Young Echo team, the London-via-Bristol rapper has been climbing that MC Escher type lyrical ladder for years now, painting pictures with word-sound in the coolest & deadliest ways, and forming his very own style.Somehow he makes it sound easy when these intricate rhymes and words spill across O$VMV$M’s skewed symphonies, dropping slapdash punchlines in the midst of highly real observations about life in the city, lights off, lights on. Manonmars, to us, depicts a lens of someone who isn’t about to conform to any stream, not about to give in to the relentless pace of capitalism, not up for the rat-race, more up for slowing time, and seeing things for what they are, a surrealist take on what could otherwise be a mundane world.I guess it’s fair to say that life can be grey sometimes – so for our own sanity, we need to make sure to add colour. Manonmars does this, with heaps of imagination and witty real-talk, fired off in bullet time, perfectly hitting that fine-line between entertainment, and deadpan seriousness – a balancing act, juggled with verbs & conjunctions, over a backdrop of timeless rhythm & melody.Perhaps a less insular album than the first self-titled record, this LP sees guest appearances from Young Echo’s ‘Guest’ and Bogues (both voices of Jabu) on vocals. Fresh Bristol blood ‘Birthmark’ and ‘Axel Holey’ appear with lyrics too, and there is a special vocal injection from Paulina Korobkiewicz, reciting writings by Polish painter and colour artist Wojciech Fangor, and drawing a connection between the music and the visual aspect of Manonmars’ practice.Mastered & cut by Lewis at Stardelta, pressed on 180gsm heavyweight vinyl at Optimal.Photography by Paulina Korobkiewicz.Design by Joshua Hughes-Games.

Laminated Skies is the new album by Jason Moore aka Raw Poetic, produced alongside friend and frequent collaborator Earl Davis aka Damu the Fudgemunk and featuring guest musicians Pat "P" Fritz on guitar and Luke Stewart on bass. Sessions for ‘Laminated Skies’ took place in the sweltering summer heat in 2019 at Windom Road studio in Brentwood, Maryland; with Damu’s production adding a tapestry of instrumentation including live and programmed drums, strings, vibraphone, kalimba, melodica, vinyl scratching and synthesizers. Musically pulling from the genres that make hip hop; the multidimensional work also draws inspiration from Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible Man, spirituals, and their individual influences -, on which Jason says “I was an English major, Luke is a jazz bassist, Pat a classically trained guitarist, and Earl brought in a wealth of knowledge that funneled us through a direction that worked.”

An unexpected combination. Sophisticated production meets scaff bar delivery. Classical Hip Hop arrangements host train of thought philosophising while deft turntable athleticism brutalises a thousand crates, revealing concepts, barbs, humour, pathos and insight in equal measure.Krash Slaughta, legendary DJ/ Producer of Two Tone Committee and Monkey Mafia and the critically acclaimed MFDOOM/ Bjork/ Sugar Cubes LP, ‘Sugar Coated DOOM’, not to mention many and varied production and remix work, caught a blistering live performance of Junior Disprol (Fleapit and Dead Residents MC) at a festival, sometime in the mid noughties. Connections were made and an EP collaboration soon evolved into a full length LP.Hung, Drawn & Slaughta’d is the result of hours of discussions and a shared love across multiple genres, the inspirations and references through music, film and literature forming the basis of the cover art design, skilfully illustrated by Junior Disprol himself.Krash and Dis have created in many ways a traditional Hip Hop LP, in the widest sense of the term. The DJ track (a staple of classic Hip Hop LP’s) is delivered unlike any other, ‘Scratch Terminator’ sitting comfortably alongside the undead, paranormal reflections of the ‘Ghost Writer’. The life navigating ‘stay on target’ grown business of ‘Wickedest Discipline’ perfectly at home with the almost throwback UK stylings of ‘U Is for Underground’.Guest features include Roughneck Jihad, (who along with D-Styles and Dufunk, make up West Coast legends Third Sight) on ‘World Renowned’. The upbeat, unadulterated joy of Ska Borough featuring Afrocluster MC Skunkadelic and the barnstorming verbosity of ‘Special Delivery’ sees JD joined by Malachai/ Stepisode genius MC, Stepchild and long-time Glaswegian Hip Hop royalty, Scottish Hip Hop historian and social commentator Loki aka Darren McGarvey.Hung, Drawn & Slaughta’d looks as good as it sounds and boasts a full lyric sheet, 12 tracks deep

Après avoir travaillé pendant de nombreuses années avec la crème du rap indépendant US, le prolifique producteur Kyo Itachi est de retour avec Solide, son premier album rap français sur lequel il propose sa vision du rap basée sur le fond et la forme. Solide offre des collaborations de haut niveau avec une sélection de rappeurs qui retrace l’histoire du rap francophone, d’Alpha Wann aux X-Men en passant par Dany Dan, Hifi., Faf Larage, Rocca, Rocé, Roméo Elvis, Jean Jass et bien plus !