Hip-Hop Cornered

Rip It Up, Issue 211, 1 March 1995, Page 37

Hip-Hop Cornered

f PETE ROCK AND CL SMOOTH A The Main Ingredient The main ingredient is the second album from Pete Rock and CL Smooth. The first, Mecca and the Soul Brother, was highly acclaimed and launched Pete Rock on a solo production run for acts from NAS to Michael Jackson. He offers a very accessible style, sampling from well known oldies, which makes for a musical, tight, polished overall feel. Main ingredient has more of an R&B feel to it than most hip-hop, it’s almost too clean. - - CL Smooth appears most on the album and is a positive, highly skilled brother who obviously thinks about his lyrics and their effect on his community. He's not using any of the trendy ‘fillers’- that plague rap. Being a father, is a recurrent theme, along with his obvious love for his wife. Overall CL and Pete Rock are milky and Main Ingredient is refreshing, positive and without a body count. Check ‘World Wide’ for vintage Pete

Rock and ‘Main Ingredient’ for most innovative KRS One sample. Well worth the thirty bucks. r BRAND NUBIAN ~ A Everything Is Everything ( (Elektra) " \ j This is Brand Nubian's third album. The first was an up-beat classic, the second was a ward militant classic and this one is... different. ", ‘Word Is Bond’ is the single and shows the trend of the whole album. There is a female vocalist who appears in a good percentage of the songs, giving them a soft, almost mushy feel. ‘Alladat’ is really the only stand-out, and features Busta Rhymes in the chorus and outstanding Sadat X verses. The posse cut is blah, with a brother calling himself Snaggle Puss' (a pink lion!?) making a feeble attempt at a ‘new style’. The Brand Nubian rawness has been replaced with musical slickness, making for a mediocre album. I hate to say it, but Everything Is Everything lacks something.

f BLACK SHEEP Non Fiction A I (Mercury) J Finally! I’ve been waiting for this for years. After their debut, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, I was itching to hear part two. Disappointed is the word to describe my feelings when I heard it. Dres is still an excellent rapper, who amazes me with his brilliance, and the songs where he is solo are great (‘Autobiographical’ and ‘Do Your Thing’) but every other song has the DJ producer Mr Lawnge rapping as well. He is an average rapper and put next to Dres he is blah! His annoying rhymes pop up all over the album and render it almost unlistenable. There is none of the humour that was ever present in their debut and no really outstanding beats. It’s like they are painting by numbers. If I could make an edit without Mr Lawnge it would be better. AG guests on ‘E.F.F.E.C.T’ and the Legion guest on ‘Weboys’ but on the whole this is pretty ordinary. Dres needs to go solo!

OLI GREEN

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32 country in April ... Bilge Festival have a European distribution deal for Cape Goat ... the new Antipodes Bar is quickly gaining a reputation for its eclectic range of bands on offer. Recently their acts have ranged from the bouncy CCDs, to a Cook Island dance troop, to Emulsifier ... the Wellington Fringe Festival has started, bands of a ‘fringe’ nature performing this year include the wonderful Wendyhouse, doing weird things in the Wendyhouse, Electric Puha and Stefan Wolf, with a band that includes members of Apollo 10, the Justin Payne Orchestra, the Skin Darlings and Skapa ... Banana Revolution have kicked off 95 with their operation World Domination, starting with a show at Antipodes. They plan to take over the entire Southern North Island by April ... the Brainchilds have been cruising back to their jazzy roots, entertaining eaters and drinkers at Downstage Theatre’s cafe during the fringe shows ... founding member of Robber’s Dogs, Rob Joass has been busy performing unplugged shows the Dubliner. Playing with him have been members of Banana Revolution, Banshee Reel and good old boy Wayne Mason ... once New York, now Wellington resident, Tim Strong has been performing monthly jazz shows at Circa ... the Desert Road band are about to head to America for a tour around the southern states ... reggae/soul artists Southside of Bombay are embarking on a tour of Australia ... Access Radio in Wellington has a new New Zealand music show on Saturday nights, covering new and old material, all with that sharing - caring Access Radio approach. DONALD REID CHRISTCHURCH Warners Hotel was the venue for a fitting tribute to the late John Greenfield. The likes of Leonard Nimoy, I & I, Snort, Loves Ugly Children, 147 Swordfish, EST, Trawler, Al Parks, Jeremy Taylor, Atomic Blossom and Chameleon donated their time for a night that showed the respect and friendships John had within the city. John will be missed by all of us ... Salmonella Dub have received the pressed copies of their second CD for release in the near future, while it appears that drummer Dean Deacon will remain involved with the band ... recording at the moment (or just finished) are Trawler, Squirm, Ape Management, and Loves Ugly Children, who recorded 16 songs in 23 hours as demos for their follow up album to the Cold Water Surf EP ... Creely have also finished mixing recordings for their second of three cassette releases, which is due out in March ... Hampster are (or have just finished) touring to promote their second CD Syzygy and the re-issue of their first release Hampsterdam ... a new band to look out for is Holocene, featuring former members of Shyster, Two-Bob Bit, and Squirm’s old drummer ... Pouamu have released an excellent second cassette called Uha, and have further recordings targeted for a CD release in the future ...a success for RDU were the live to air performances of Snort, Trawler and Loves Ugly Children. RDU will also be producing the second of their The Sheep Technique cassettes for the

student radio network. Any bands with demo recordings interested in being a part of this promotional compilation phone 379-6320 ... anybody who has a piece of the ceiling that Trawler managed to dislodge from the roof of Warners Hotel during their set at John Greenfield’s wake, or who understands why Dave Wernham believes that pressed trousers and short sleeved shirts are a hot fashion item, or has any rumours for this column, phone 379-6320. HAT DUNEDIN Dunedin is once again full of musical activity after the usual festive break ... venue news: The music community will soon mourn the loss of Viv Crowe, who is to leave her job as the manager of the Empire ... the Empire is also currently up for tender but looks set to continue as one of the best intimate venues in the country ... the Crown has been attracting large crowds to touring bands over the past few months, including a blistering and sweaty Sticky Filth gig last month ... the Provincial is booking original bands again, with the Puddle playing there regularly ... newish group the Cheeseband has built up a sizeable following by playing support gigs at the Provincial with high profile local acts ... the Wharf Hotel played host to Gate, Handful Of Dust and the Dead C in late February. The gig was set up because Mac, founder of the Philadelphia based Siltbreeze label, has been in town for a few weeks. The noise loving crowd drank the pub dry of draught beer — a great night all round. The Dead C will tour the States later in the year to promote new album The White House, out on Siltbreeze ... Recording news: Trlnder compilation Does It Float has been selling well in Holland, UK, Germany, USA and even NZ. Future releases from Trinder include Fats Thompson’s debut CD, Loneliness Is OK As Long As You’ve Got Someone To Share It With, and limited edition 7”. Trinder Music will also be releasing Geraldine pressings of Omit, Stephen Kilroy, Nigel Bunn, Melita Johnston, (West Coast) and maybe Crude (Christchurch) ... the Clean have just finished their new album at Fish Street, which will be out on Flying Nun in May ... Loves Ugly Children are also rumoured to be recording there soon ... Volt Studios are fully booked until June. Recent recordings there include Sandra Bell’s new CD Net, to be released through IMD in June. Other musicians involved include Kathy Bull (ex Look Blue Go Purple), Shaun Broadly (Chug), Matthew Thornicott (Nimrod Diabolique). Look out for a tour in June ... Two Foot Flame (Michael Morley, Peter Jeffries and Jean Smith from Mecca Normal) are mixing a four track recording which will be released soon ... Snapper have recorded a new album which will be released through Flying Nun ... Cloudboy (Demarina from Mink), is busy completeing a CD which will be released through Infinite Regress ... Deadboy, who are Demarnia and Volt engineer Brendan Hoffman, are soon to release a CD ... Trash are recording four-track material and will mix at the Volt in March ... new Gate album available through IMD soon ... Nimrod Diabolique are recording their debut album for IMD ... Puddle single ‘Power Of

Love’/‘Mamelons d’Amadou’ is out on Acetone records and available on mail order from IMD, PO Box 730, Dunedin ... Swarm are about to release a split CD on Atomic Action with US band the Laurels entitled Rabbit Vs. Pig. Their full length CD Forever Bled Hollow, also through Atomic Action, will be available March/April, and is preselling well — Cargo Distributors in Chicago have made an initial order of 3,000 ... Trash, Swarm and Nimrod Diabolique are touring nationally in April — not to be missed ... what’s happening in Port Chalmers? Well, a lot of material which was recorded last year is due for release soon. Here are some edited highlights ... Doramaar and Rain are both releasing Geraldine singles, and Doramaar are releasing a CD on Hermescorp (Bruce Russell’s new label). Doramaar’s second CD will be released in August on Siltbreeze ... Flies Inside the Sun’s CD, An Audience Of Others (Including Herself), is to be released on Chicago label Kranky. They also have a single coming out on Siltbreeze ... Pieters Russell and Stapleton are to release a CD, Last Glass, on Hermescorp ... the Renederers new CD, That Dogs Head In The Gutter Gives Off Vibrations, is out now on Ajax ... local weirdo D Baser is releasing his debut 10” Un-Plug, with three acoustic and three experimental pieces ... Gaylene and the Undertakers have released a single, ‘She Could Cause Death’ ... new group Drugs Vs. Grandchildren (Shaun Jury and Kez Bizarre) are expecting a single soon ... Andrew Spittle is pressing Dating Godot’s back catalogue through Geraldine ... Das Phaedrus have been playing around town again ... Piers Graham’s collection of drum kits is expanding still ... Critic editor Victor Billot has been promoted to band publicist ... Polyp are releasing a single soon through Dutch Label Rotten Windmill ... local cult heroes Too Many Daves are now a three piece ... metallers Axiom, will tour the South Island over Easter. Come stoke the velvet thunder... Mantis have split ... Bungalow have lost another drummer ... Liquid Chaos need a bass player. Contact Radio One for info ... there have been a series of successful dance parties held around town recently, the largest of which was She Comes In Colours, a free all-night dance party in the Octagon during festival week ... Friday wet lunches at the university are to be broadcast live on Radio One this year ... Operation Music Storm entries close March 24. QMS starts in Christchurch at Warners April 6, with the final at Sammy’s in Dunedin on Friday May 12. Prizes include a single to be distributed through Festival, an NZ On Air funded video and heaps of recording time. Spaces are limited. Contact Doug Nuttall (03) 455-1462 ... the Super 8 collective have lost their permanent home, but are to continue at a number of different venues in town. The University of Super 8 is conducting the inaugural Sex and Drugs in New Zealand Literature symposium from April 1-9. If you are interested in participating in this multi-dimensional festival of activity, openess, cheap thrills and hedonism write to: PO Box 459, Dunedin ... if you have any info to share phone David on 477-6115.

DAVID MUIR