Spacesuits

indie hip-hop/backpack rap

A very capable group of MCs and producers puts together a set of short, loopy, weird rap songs. Hazy, sometimes lo-fi, lots of non-sequiturs. Blunted backpack rap, as you might’ve guessed from the name. Might want to play a couple tracks at a time since they’re pretty short. Also good for transitions/interludes between other disparate weird things, since it’s got a bit of a sample collage feel.

RIYL: Count Bass D, MF DOOM, Madlib

FCC clean

1. bouncy break, smeared bells and chimes, rumbling bass, scratches. bit of a stop/start feel, but not too hiccupy. quick flows with a bit of swing, but not speed rapping. phone call outro from 1:30 to end. 2:06
2. slow soul snippet to start. for main beat, slips into loop of classic sample (“just the two of us”), but cut up and filtered in a way that feels fresh. clipped vocal samples, slightly clattery drums. 1:50
3. “eastern” string samples, loping drums, rising lo-fi bleeps interspersed with cut up syllable samples. lines on the verses start fast and stop a little early compared to if they were right on beat, playing with space a bit. 2:45
4. random samples of the “double rainbow” guy and the “i like turtles” kid and other sounds. whispery vocals over spare drums, a bit frantic in the middle. funny not-quite-successful robbery attempt. 2:03
5. sampled tv newscasters, rippling harp loops, cut up vocals, hiccupping lo-fi drums and bass. slow laid back flows. lyrics namecheck old jazz guys. 2:14 float
6. ethereal vocal loops and low chimes over simple drum break. occasional strings, watery guitar accents. 1:48
7. bouncing drum machine with rippling bubbling percussion and whistling loop. buzzing bassline comes in, whistling loop develops into longer version of the sample, and it turns out it’s shinehead’s cover of MJ’s “billie jean”, which is probably my favorite cover ever, so that’s cool. bouncy shifting flows play w/ reggae chatter, drums and bass stay shifty, ebbing and flowing. ending sample of news report about asteroid almost hitting earth and another reggae sample (which i can’t place). 2:57
8. hazy chilly glowing pads, lo-fi muffle drums, bleepy accents, occasional horns way in back, quick verses in the middle, no hook, glitchy end. 2:10
9. loping lo-fi drum machine, spinning synths, vocal samples, echoed raps. verses kick in around :30, nice use of internal rhyme and occasional echo effects. 2:25
10. slow strutting soul sample and drums for a bit. then bright plucked strings, muddy loping drums, sampled “aahs”, low guitar strums. jokey laid back raps about girls. 2:14
11. short intro of distant voices, jetsons computer sounds. gives way to buzzy bassline and quick shuffling drums with vocal loop of “what now?” in the background. breezy verses. feels like it’s constantly rising. sounds from the intro flit in and out. evaporates at 2:15, then ambient sounds and samples about finding extraterrestrial life, and other dialogue samples. 3:35
12. swaying vaguely middle-eastern string loops, muffled drums, quivering wordless vocal loop (or maybe it’s a sitar drone?). muffled stop/start drums. 2:01
13. swaying (maybe backwards) strings, chopped sampled vocals, quiet sparse drums. clear RZA influence, but clearly not RZA. 1:57
14. clattery hiccuping drums, horn stabs, constant low volume/mid pitch pulsing synth line, intermittent electric piano hits. 1:58
15. very prefuse-esque undulating wordless female vocal loop dominates. shuffling quiet drums and rubbery bassline. ends in chant about “three piece space suits”. 2:26

recommended: 7, 15, 13, 11, 5, 4, 6, 12