(4hero are back with a stellar album, out Feb 20 on Raw Canvas/Milan)
Its true. The posts have been scarce in the past few weeks on ForwardEver–but its not because F.E. don't love you–rather I've been submerged, writing multiple bits in publications such as San Francisco Bay Guardian, XLR8R, Earplug and others.
Some highlights of the recent scribing:
Reviewing the new 4hero album for SFBG. Its an amazing piece of music, symphonic soul at its best in the spirit of Charles Stepney.
"Over multiple mood shifts the album keeps it’s soul-revival thematic thread intact, conscious not to drown in sentiment. Instead, McFarlane & Clair hit us with futuristic dancefloor tracks like “Something In The Way,” featuring Co-Op Club regulars Bembe Segue and Kaidi Tatham, and “Look Inside,” with vocalist FACE, England’s answer to Chaka Khan. Grammy-winner Jody Watley, chill-inducing poetess Ursula Rucker and even jazz legend Larry Mizell add to the album’s prestige. In short, 4hero’s change opens the door for brilliance."
Reviewing Detroit emcee Black Milk for XLR8R Issue 106:
"Milk’s style recalls RZA or Method Man’s surging, visual poetic verses that hit your cranium with acute urban imagery and vicious metaphors. “Sound The Alarm” with roughneck emcee Guilty Simpson is signature “313”-area code hip-hop: distressed snares, spacey soul samples and dropouts that punctuate the track like aural potholes."
Prepping for a review of the 8-disc King Jammy retrospective Selector's Choice by interviewing Jammmy on the phone in Kingston: The man was gentlemanly,generous with this time and dropped the following nuggets: 1) He's recorded a brand new album by Ninja Man 2)Jammy has voiced his own first album in his career. That's right, Jammy singing.
What else is new in the Forward Ever camp? Well if you scroll down, you'll see my up coming gig with New York's DJ Swingsett. Should be a wild night of outer-dub explorations, including some live business.
I volunteered at the San Francisco Half Marathon, this past Sunday, taking on the roll of finishing line course monitor. That meant directing 5K runners one direction and half marathon finishers another. It was a super successful race, but questions linger about how accurate the length of the course was. The winner came through in a time of 1 hour 5 minutes, which is damn fast for a small local race with few elite runners. Hmmm...
Ahight, much more in store for you. In the meantime, check out the link on the left of this page for Ninoy Brown--he's moving his dope 'ol hip-hop blog! Catch the next gen now people...
Upcoming: What I thunk of the new Eternals album, Studio One Groups comp and, my News Desk assignment at XLR8R.com.
Forward!
