Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / March 6, 2018, edition 1 / Page 9
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Spaceman Jones and The Motherships release wavy new album SARAH SHADBURNE Arts & Features Editor sshadbur® unca.edu The fuzzy voice of a male an nouncer crackles over the airwaves as he counts down to lift off. The rocket propels upward from the Earth, creating audible clouds of smoke and exhaust as it lifts off. A robotic voice announces “Spaceman,” and kicks off the slow yet triumphant beat which will set the stage for the rest of the album. Spaceman Jones cfe The Mother- ships Vol. 2 has arrived. “WeTe trying to put substance back into hip-hop,” said Cliff B. Worsham, the beat producer and half of the Motherships pair. “We’re trying to take a classic idea and bring it back into what’s hap pening now.” Spaceman Jones and The Moth erships, formed by Davaion Bristol and Worsham, said their new album draws from their experiences and plays like an audio-chronicle of their realities, merely document ing the most recent chapter in their lives. The duo premiered their video for the first single, “Make A Slaughter” ahead of their new album via Moun tain Xpress, in which Bristol and Worsham takes their audience to a fictitious church sermon preached by Bristol and punctuated by hoppy, haunted-camival-ride-esque beats that blare over the ultra-saturated colorful light streaming in from the stained glass windows behind him. “One of the main offenders of society being the shithole that it is, is the church and religion,” Bristol said. “We worship money and not God.” Bristol and Worsham critique the role of religion and consumerism in society and describe the video as their take on the evangelical hawk er, attempting to sell false hope for profit. Worsham said he hopes Vol. 2 serves as a platform for Bristol and other marginalized voices that of ten become overlooked or ignored within the community. From the lADVISOItYI Spaceman Jones & The Motherships Vol. 2 tackles social problems within the Asheville community. outside, Worsham said, Asheville seems receptive and open-minded, when in reality it suffers from what the duo call “progressive racism.” “We’re trying to point a finger at the real issues that’s happening,” Bristol said. “There’s a whole gen eration of young people—black and white'—that are leaving the city because it’s too expensive.” Bristol said it is hard to be a reg ular person living in Asheville and in similar cities across the country with rising levels of gentrification. Bristol points out the hypocrisy of the industry, illustrating how busi ness people will buy property with depressed values and shiny histo ries, only to push out its original inhabitants and in turn flaunt the history of the location without any of its key players able to keep the spirit of the neighborhood intact. “It’s horrible we have people that actually think by such superficial means,” Bristol said. “They have a bumper sticker on their car that says Black Lives Matter, but still if a black dude comes to their neigh borhood, they still hide behind their curtains and call the police.” Though Bristol and Worsham still focus strongly on poignant lyrics about social issues in Vol. 2, they said it was a departure from their first self-titled album in that they create a lighter vibe. Samples of celebratory trumpets augment the beats throughout the album as Worsham said he took greater care on this project to let the music and lyrics have more room to breathe. “I allowed in the verses more space for Dave to say what he wanted to say, but at the same time I think he said more with less words in this album,” Worsham said.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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March 6, 2018, edition 1
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