[Mp3] Conspiracy: “Stop Detecting”
As the end of the year draws closer, I’m trying to catch up on what I missed at the beginning of it while on blogging haitus. One record I unfortunately overlooked was Lee Harvey Oswald member Conspiracy‘s solo effort, which dropped back in March. As the lyricists of popular rap have all pretty much become parodies of themselves, the DJ side of hip-hop seems to be flourishing lately, moving more experimental and psychedelic. And this album is some of the best of what I’ve been hearing in the cornucopia of great independent, instrumental hip-hop. Go pick it up for free:
Download/Stream The Medium is the Message
- Posted by Davy Minor on November 17, 2010 at 3:03 am
- 1 Comment
Ohmpark’s Top 20 Atlanta Albums Of 2009
Most of the time in this city, bands rise and fall based on who they know and how exciting they are live. But for this list, I’ve considered only what is contained on their recordings. Over the course of the year I’ve given roughly 75 records from inside the perimeter a spin, and these are the essential twenty that I recommend listening to most. There are actually many records that I really liked that just missed the cut, so this was very tough to piece together, especially the final spots.
Looking at this list and comparing it back to my favourite local stuff over the two years before, it’s apparent that music in this city just keeps getting better. Atlanta’s independent music scene is running deeper than ever both in terms of quality and quantity of music being produced. Outside of Brooklyn, you’d need quite a compelling argument to convince me anywhere else in America has a better scene right now. Promising young bands keep popping up out of nowhere, and the veterans keep delivering the goods. It sure makes my job here a lot easier to have so much great music to blog about.
On a technical note, anything that has been released over the holidays I’m grouping in with my 2010 lists, and so a couple of albums on this list were released over the holidays last year. Take a gander:
20. Noot d’ Noot: Cash For Gold
19. Harken The Hands Askew: Thou
18. Slushco: Sometime Tonight
17. Sound On Film: The Eloquent Reginald
16. Thy Mighty Contract: Thy Mighty Contract
15. Club Awesome: Dynamos
14. Jungol: Places
13. Lee Harvey Oswald: Lee Harvey Oswald
12. The Selmanaires: Tempo Temporal
11. Tealights: Take Us By Sea
10. Deerhunter: Rainwater Cassette Exchange
9. Slushco: The Silver Surface Demos
8. The Orphins: Wish You Well
7. Mastodon: Crack The Skye
6. Lotus Plaza: Floodlight Collective
5. From Exile: Monolith
4. Nomen Novum: Paradises
3. Untied States: Instant Everything, Constant Nothing
2. Atlas Sound: Logos
1. Nomen Novum: November
In the Atlanta music scene, 2009 was the year of Nomen Novum. While most musicians take a whole year to scrap together enough decent songs to fill a good EP, the prolific Nomen Novum were able to drop two virtually perfect full-lengths, plus a great live EP, and they’re already posting new stuff to their myspace.
Although, all five records at the top of my list were legitimate contenders for Atlanta album of the year, and I would have probably been content with any ordering between them. The other 3 records to round out my top 5 each happened to be crafted over about 2 years, and the extra time and care in putting them together just right payed off. A big mistake I notice younger bands make is trying to push out a record too quickly on some arbitrary time scale and in the end get stuck with something that is less than what they are capable of producing. Atlas Sound, Untied States, and From Exile all spent more time than they probably wanted to on their respective albums, but the extra effort was well worth it in the end.
Looking back over this list after I finished it, I noticed that it is almost entirely dominated by veterans of the scene, and mostly by artists I was already familiar with before starting this blog. There is only one true first recording from its respective musicians to make the list. If I were to make a “Best Atlanta Artists of the Decade” shortlist, most of those artists would have an album included on this list, so I feel like it is a good snapshot of not just where the scene is at today, but where it has been heading for the latter part of the ’00s. There is so much diversity in sound and so much talent in this city, and if you have any interest at all in Atlanta’s music scene, don’t let anything on this list slip by you, because all twenty are well worth giving a listen.
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 13, 2009 at 10:20 pm
- 3 Comments
Free Albums!
It’s become clear that I’m not going to get very much more blogging done until I get back to Atlanta and have had some time to rest up, so consider it summer break around here at Ohmpark. To tide you over until then, here is collection of great records that the artists are giving away for free or by donation that you have absolutely no reason not add to your collection. Click on the album to download:
Adron (Atlanta/Brooklyn) : Burdwurld
Mice In Cars (Atlanta) : 53 Bicycles and a Dead Man
Nomen Novum (Atlanta) : Room For Rent
Russian Spy Camera (Athens) : Mutiny In The Kitchen With Knives
Prussia (Detroit) : Blessed Be, Yours Truly In Spirit & Soul
Slushco (Atlanta) : Sometime Tonight
Lee Harvey Oswald (Atlanta) : Lee Harvey Oswald
- Posted by Davy Minor on July 22, 2009 at 9:23 pm
- 3 Comments
Ohmpark Mixtape #7: Atlanta Outkasts
Operatin under the crooked American system too long
OutKast, pronounced out cast
Adjective meaning homeless, or unaccepted in society
But let’s look deeper than that
Are you an OutKast?
If you understand and feel the basic principles and
fundamental truths contained within this muzik, you probably are
If you think it’s all about pimpin hoes and slammin cadillac do’s
You probably a cracker, or a nigga that think he a cracker
Or maybe just don’t understand
An OutKast is someone who is not considered to be part of the normal world
He is looked at differently
He is not accepted because of his clothes, his hair
His occupation, his beliefs or his skin color
Now look at yourself, are you an OutKast? I know I am
As a matter of fact, fuck being anything else
It’s only so much time left in this crazy world
Wake up niggaz and realize what’s goin on around you
Poisonin of the food and water
Tamperin of ciggarettes
Disease engineering control over your life
Take back your existance or die like a punk
This is Big Rube, sayin right on to the real, and death to the fakers
Peace out-from Outkast’s “True Dat (Interlude)”
This week Creative Loafing dropped their yearly Music Issue. The theme was mixtapes, and they created their own rather lengthy list full of Atlanta artists. They are even having some shows next week and a 10 song LP available from the artists they showcased in the issue. They also had a bunch of random people drop some guest mixtapes. Although I wasn’t invited to the cool kids convention, I figured I would play along anyways. Below are ten songs from musicians that get me excited about what is possible in Atlanta. They don’t adhere to any sense of some monolithic scene because each act is pursuing their unique vision. Many of these musicians are a little too “artsy-fartsy” or “good” to get their fair share of credit from some of the hype-maker dinosaurs around the city, but hey, that’s what I’m here for. Of course I’m leaving out a ton of other great ATLiens, but I think this is a pretty good litmus test to determine if this blog is for you because this is what Atlanta music means to me:
Untied States : I’ll Prove You Wrong (Again)
Slushco : Photograph
Nomem Novem : Permanent Makeup
All The Saints : Farmacia
Tree Creature : Rise Of The Bear Thing
Lee Harvey Oswald : Slore
Lid Emba : Rib Cage
Tealights : Passport
Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun : The Lightning Exhibit
This Piano Plays Itself : There Are Segments Of Revolving And Revolting
The last three songs on the mix are from bands all playing together at 529 tonight so I recommend you join me in attending. Also, go check out the Creative Loafing music issue and download their mixtape.
- Posted by Davy Minor on April 30, 2009 at 6:50 am
- 2 Comments
FREE Download of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Debut LP!
Everyone seems to be digging the King Robot LP that I graced you readers with a couple weeks ago. Due to popular demand, I have now been given a new treat by Lee Harvey Oswald to unleash on our readers. It’s another taste of their Zone 7 crew which consists of producers Conspiracy, Mr. Fish, and Threepeeoh, emcees Reid Richards, Verbal the Erfling, Vinnie Del Negro, and Glympse, and those nasty cuts by the infamous DJ Spytek.
This time it’s Lee Harvey Oswald’s own self-titled LP that I get to bring you and it features the whole crew showboating their talents! I can promise you that this is only going to be up for a limited time so you better make sure you cop it while the getting is good!
And also, if you’re diggin’ their style of eclectic hip-hop make sure you go and check these guys out on April 10th as they headline a show with another group called the Deaf Judges at the 529 Bar down in the East ATL Village.
This album is absolutely fantastic but to truly understand the whole Lee Harvey Oswald experience you must go check these guys out live. You haven’t seen live local hip-hop in the ATL til you’ve seen a LHO show.
Here’s some of my favorites:
Lee Harvey Oswald : Government Chemicals (featuring Reid Richards)
Lee Harvey Oswald : Eagle Has Landed
Lee Harvey Oswald : Looking Glass Mirror (featuring Mighty Erfling)
And If You’re Diggin’ It, Here’s the .zip of the Whole Album!!!
Enjoy, and support local music!
- Posted by David McLendon on April 3, 2009 at 2:58 am
- 1 Comment
