April 19, 2005
The Clarion
Page 15
Since We Last Spoke an improvement for RjD2
by Matt Rutherford
Entertainment Editor
RjD2, recently came back into the
music scene late last year with their
, , . ———. release of
“Since We
Last
Spoke”.
'*« This album
is all you
need to
make a
swank. The
pure vinyl rifts and old school scratches
make the dance floor come to life.
His first album, Deadringer, which
was unmistakably his own, lacked the
quality that is shown in “Since We Last
Spoke”, Deadringer is almost like listening
to a CD of your friend’s most terrible
music and wishing it would end but it
never does. However with “Since We Last
Spoke” we can see a wild evolution
occurring. The music is just plain better.
“Since We Last Spoke”, opens with a
hip-hop beat that is extremely reminiscent
of Rj’s earlier works. This is the point of
no return. You immediately get sent into a
crazy mix of “rocked-up”, Neptune like
grooves. The Second track “Exotic Talk”,
starts with an electric guitar but adds a
few scratches and club beats to make it all
come together. My personal favorite.
“1976” is the absolute essence of disco
bounce. Just add a latin beat and a hook
that sounds like “New York, New York”.
The only draw backs to this entire
album are the tracks with vocals. One
would think that being a hip-hop DJ,
would mean that there would be little
singing. Instead RJ himself sings a few
tunes, in a kind of hybrid emo pop
approach. These are just tracks to be
skipped to keep the beat constant.
Though, overall his newest album “Since
We Last Spoke” is a great improvement
from the first, I’m still looking for a little
more to see just why RJ is so great. I’d
give this album an 8 out of 10.
Leftover Crack perfects their unique sound
song deals with the “mediocre trends” deals with overpopulation in the world
by Hall Penn
Editor-in-Chief
Formed from some of New York City’s
most veteran punk musicians, members of
bands like Choking Victim, INDK,
Morning Glory and No Commercial Value,
Leftover Crack has nothing but experi
ence in writing music. LOC’s music
brings ska,
hardcore,
punk, metal
and even
some
acoustic
and piano
into their
songs.
From
the beginning of the first song, Clear
Channel (F*** Off), the lead singer Stza
sets the tone when he introduces the
band "From all the way in the back of
the food stamp line / and straight outta
nother******' rehab, it’s the good, the
bad and the Leftover Crack. ” The first
that pass for music on the radio these
days. Not a second of this song grants
any forgiveness to those in corporate
America. The lyrics point to the failings
of a centralized media “Told what to eat
& drink & buy and whom to hate &
fear" and poke fun at “artists” like
Brittney Spears “auto-tune the bottom
line as a mean to meet the ends. The
buildup of Stza’s intro and then the
speeding, driving guitars as the song
kicks in takes the lyrics and crams them in
your ears. You can t help but get the
feeling that even though there’s a good
message in the song, something about
the situation is terribly wrong so that
when Stza sings "Deregulations raised
the edge of exploitations bar /Politics
replaced by “bling and clothes and
fancy cars" the message sticks.
I should mention that some of these
guys have been squatters in New York
City, as it might explain where some of
their lyrics come from. The next standout
song on the album is Life Is Pain, which
The music is a pretty catchy ska beat
interrupted by some more straightforward
punk guitars during the chorus. LOC
even brings in some strings in the
prechorus and build up to the guitar solo
over the chorus.
The next great song, which just
happens to be the third, is Bum Them
Prisons, an argument that we now live in a
police state. The music doesn’t stand out
so much on its own, but coupled with the
lyrics, the song soars to an anthem. One
of the guitar players, Ezra, adds to the
vocals in the song, singing "swat police
in riot gear, are bombin’ us tonight / and
all our civil liberties will die by
morning ’s light / while crooked politi
cians lie and rig the ballot book / we
whitewash fake democracy and paint
another coat”
Song after song on this album stand
apart. The band could have made an
album around each. LOC is lucky for the
first Amendment, in that songs like One
Dead Cop and Super Tuesday wouldn’t
jffii