Articles
The Fun Years
Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia
James Blackshaw
Lullatone

Albums
@c
Antenne
Antripodean Collective
Rudi Arapahoe
Black Gold 360
Brael / Tokyo Bloodworm
Richard Chartier
Jack Dangers
Rae Davis
Depth Affect
Taylor Deupree
Engine7
Emanuele Errante
Force of Nature
Gel-Sol
Glissando
Hardfloor
He Can Jog
Hulk
Adam Hurst
Kenny Larkin
Loco Dice
Mad EP
Maju
Marc + Hillage
Izumi Misawa
Nico Muhly
Toshimaru Nakamura
Organum
Maja S.K. Ratkje
Nicola Ratti
Recue
Renfro
Sawako
Seawalker
Raoul Sinier
Spyweirdos et al.
Svartbag
Tape
John Tejada
Tietchens + Chartier
Transitional

Compilations / Mixes
Ai022LP
Buzzin' Fly 5 Golden Years
Cielo-Cinco
Deconstructive Music
Om: Miami 2008
Sounds of Om Vol. 6
Traum 100
Underscan Now

EPs
Claro Intelecto
Funckarma
Tanaka Hideyuki
Jona
Alton Miller
Move D
saidsound
Sebastian San
Scott vs. Vaz
Philip Sherburne
Vakula

Mad EP: Bass.hed
Ad Noiseam

Having previously scored with the ambitious Madlands Trilogy, Mad EP (Matthew Peters) takes the total hip-hop plunge on Bass.hed with help from guest vocalists Shadow Huntaz, MC Equivalent, The Gutterbyrds, and Jahdah. Fourteen bass-heavy low-riders comprise Mad EP's fourth full-length, which also gets a considerable boost from Peters' cello playing on four cuts. The material is largely stripped to its bass-and-drum essence, allowing ample space for the MCs to serve up their head-spinning rhymes.

Thirty seconds into “Madvision,” a humongous backbeat, accompanied by plummeting bass throbs, roars into position, testifying to the heavy hip-hop road that lies ahead. “Bass.hed Revenge” offers up a tasty beat workout, while a slippery head-nodding groove ignites MC Equivalent's vocal turn in “Throw Your Towels”; The Gutterbyrds' flow is likewise intensified by dizzying boom-bap in “Down in the Gutter.” The slow and mournful cry of the cello acts as a contrast to hyperactive beatwork in “Menuet” while “Leaving Brooklyn” closes the fifty-five-minute album with a sampling of cello-laden trip-hop. It doesn't all work—“Pressure Cooker” is undone by a too-busy arrangement and the snarky snickering in the Mad EP remix of Puppetmastaz's “Clones” verges on annoying—but Bass.hed nonetheless registers as a largely solid foray into hip-hop music-making.

July 2008