If you’ve been downloading my playlists for the last year, you know that my love of Doomtree is a poorly concealed secret. Since the day I bought P.O.S.’s Audition album on a whim, it’s a love affair that I’ve only gotten deeper and deeper into. By now I’ve been to several Blowouts, countless CD release shows, and met just about everyone in the collective (all of whom are even friendlier than you could imagine). In fact, to this day Dessa is the only artist in my iPod who has also pet my dog.
Well, the spine of the Doomtree collective is the people behind the beats. Paper Tiger, MK Larada, P.O.S., Cecil Otter, & Lazerbeak provide an always stellar backdrop for the MC’s to shine. Today, one of those producers is stepping out on his own.
(Quick TPC sidenote: Sadly, I wasn’t able to make it to the TPC reunion show a few months back. My man Jesse went though and told me that people were throwing up the Wings & Teeth the whole show. So much for not being known for ex-members. Regardless, TPC, motherfucker, cop a feel or two.)
To help scratch that hip-hop itch fully, Mader christened himself “Lazerbeak” and started making beats with the fledgling Doomtree crew, which has gone a long way to helping redefine Twin Cities hip-hop as more than just Atmosphere (and if you’ve checked my last.fm page, you know I’m not hating. I’ve got nothing but love for Atmosphere).
Lazerbeak’s solo album Legend Recognize Legend comes out today and in celebration of its release, I’m counting down my Top 10 Lava Bangers. We keep it live, live, live…
First, 5 Bonus Lava Bangers:
15. Doomtree – Drumsticks
14. Mike Mictlan & P.O.S. – Shux
13. Dessa – Dutch
12. Doomtree – Coup For The King
11. F. Stokes – Soul Clap
Alright, Top 10. Turn ya headphone joints up.
10. P.O.S. – Let It Rattle (from Never Better)
I’ve spent so many words on this blog talking about my love for this album that I’m not going to get into it all again. It’s easily the most important album to me personally that’s come out in my adult life. Besides that, it’s a wrecking ball. The album has a bizarre dark/positive/punishing vibe to it and all of that is set up by this opening track. With its echoing voices, hammer of the gods drums, and quiet/loud/quiet/loud/louder/reallyquiet/loudest structure that pushes and pulls until it climaxes with P.O.S. reminding Steve Buscemi that he’s out of his element. Really, it’s the perfect way to introduce one of the most complex hip-hop albums of the decade.
09. Sims & Dessa – The Wren (from Doomtree)
While I don’t envy any producer charged with following “Gander Back,” Beak’s “The Wren” is just the left turn that Doomtree’s self-titled album needed after an intro and a couple of rap-boast tracks. Sims and Dessa paint a obtuse-yet-accurate portrait of failed relationships, although it never comes off that they were the two dating. More like two friends lamenting their own break ups over drinks, but not really talking to each other, more just talking to hear themselves say it out loud.
Lazerbeak structures the perfect backdrop for that type of conversation. The horn climaxes sounding both liberating and angry, helping frame the perplexing questions and lack of answers that with any relationship conversation.
08. Mike Mictlan & Omaur Bliss – Young Hunger (from Hand Over Fist)
This one is less about lyrical content (although Mictlan, as usual, absolutely kills it, and Omaur Bliss delivers a fine hook. I remember these three killing this one live at the CD release show) and more about that crazy guitar bit during the verses. I know it’s hard, since Mike’s going like a freight train, but try to listen to that guitar under the verses. Just listen to it! I can just picture Beak sitting in his house shredding his guitar and then looping, shredding, looping, over and over until it sounds like hip-hop & metal never heard of Fred Durst. Also, acknowledge that flute. Always acknowledge the flute.
07. Mike Mictlan & Dessa – Kid Gloves (from Doomtree)
One of the best live tracks Doomtree performs. Those horns fade in like your neighbor is next door listening to a Chuck Mangione record. Then they drop out for that killer bassline during the verses. As you’ve probably noticed a pattern developing, the song tops out hard at the end. I can’t help but think this is a lesson Lazerbeak learned during all those years in TPC. While most guitar bands end with a climax of guitar freakout, Lava Bangers are the hip-hop equivalent, hitting hardest at the end and leaving you wondering what you just witnessed.
06. P.O.S. – Purexed (from Never Better)
I’m basically out of things to say about this song. Just listen to it. Those keyboards that come in during the second half of each verse are the aural equivalent of looking at a world of stars through a clear, cold night.
05. Sims – 15 Blocks (from Lights Out
Easily the most laid back of the Lava Bangers on this list (Lava Lounger?). This is one of those great hip-hop tracks where the lyrics and beat match each other perfectly. That keyboard perfectly matches the feeling of walking and trying to cope with your struggles. They loop back and forth like an idea that you can’t quite shake, but you know dwelling on it won’t get you anywhere. Then the guitars start chopping around, equating the anger you’re bound to feel with yourself for not being able to let said idea go.
04. F. Stokes – Tickle Me Mars (from Death Of A Handsome Bride)
First off, this is easily the most slept-on hip-hop album to come out in the last 5 years. Beak’s beats kill and F. Stokes brings his A game throughout. Absolutely go get it now.
“Tickle Me Mars” is the rollicking freakout closer of the album and it’s like nothing else in the Lazerbeak catalog. It’s like when they sat down, they had the beats for the rest of the album and someone said, “Hey, what about that crazy beat you been working on?” It works brilliantly, somewhere between Doomtree and Outkast’s “B.O.B.” It’s just too easy to picture Lazerbeak sitting at home mashing the button his MPC that says “Mars” over and over with a dastardly smile on his face.
03. Lazerbeak – Legend Recognize Legend (from False Hopes 13)
As far as I know, up until today this was the only track released that was credited solely to Lazerbeak. It’s two minutes of a producer just killing it, making you wonder why MC’s are necessary to begin with. Honestly, when I heard Beak was going to put out a solo album I was hoping it would sound like 45 minutes of tracks like this. Sampling Jay-Z is always a good choice. I’ve seen Beak perform when he has that gunshot noise on the MPC and it always kills (no pun intended).
(NYC Sidenote: When I was living in New York Phil came and visited me while on leave from the Navy. Phil and I have a special set of inside jokes that are ours alone (as most male friends do). Thanks to this song, our phrase for the week was, “Yeah-ya-ya-ya-yeah Chuuuch!” Not sure if that’s interesting or not, but it meant something to us.)
02. Mike Mictlan – Prizefight (from Hand Over Fist)
The closing track from their collaborative album, Mike Mictlan & Lazerbeak sum up their story in just over four minutes with a song good enough to make you relate to them and make you want to go out and fight your own fight. The beat creates a jungle of noise as Mictlan tells his story of finding his way out of said jungle. The way the beat slides from that flute-y line into the horns and then into the sped up sample of the chorus is a perfect backdrop for Mictlan’s autobiographical struggles.
This alone would be enough to make the song an absolute banger, but, even from the producer’s seat, Beak manages to inject himself lyrically into the track with the sped up, “Think I’m gonna throw away all the chains from my heart ‘cause lately I’ve been feeling like I’m free…” The song cracks back, only now the horns and flutes have been replaced by a single guitar and some banging drums. It’s almost like this was the seed of this upcoming solo albums, combining killer beats, poignant lyrics, any instrument under the sun and then back to the rock roots of a guitar solo. Vintage.
01. P.O.S. – Stand Up (Let’s Get Murdered) (from Audition)
As I mentioned up top, Audition was my introduction to the Doomtree community, so this track was my introduction to Lava Bangers. Honestly, the first time you go through Audition, it’s a tough listen (especially if you’re completely unfamiliar with DTR.). First, you have “Half-Cocked Concepts,” which is a great track, but if you bought the record expecting regular hip-hop, it’s a lot to process. Follow that with, “De La Souls,” an amazing track that, by featuring Greg Attonito, which helped me get my bearings as a punk kid trying to figure out the album. However, when those horns come blasting through the car speakers at the beginning of “Stand Up,” you’ll quickly realize that this isn’t just the self-conscious rap of De La Souls or the difficult genre-bending of “Half-Cocked Concepts,” it is a fully formed, supremely confident album that is ready to redefine exactly what “hip-hop” means. To this day, those three tracks, in that order, are the best introduction to the Doomtree universe.
Back to this track. The horns obviously speak for themselves. I don’t know any track that gets my adrenaline going within the first 10 seconds quite like this one. While the horns are the star of the show, much like MC’s are usually the star of a track, the crazy backward guitar solo near the last refrain acts as a metaphor for producers in general. It’s one last stroke of genius to remind you that, while MC’s may be the obvious star, it’s the producer (and the little things) that make a track stand up and murder.
So there you have it, my list of Top 10 Lava Bangers. Lazerbeak’s solo album, Legend Recognize Legend, comes out today and I sincerely hope everyone goes and picks it up. He has a CD release show this Friday at The Fine Line featuring Paper Tiger spinning, TPC reunion, and Beak and his Ensemble Of Legendz tackling the album. I won’t be able to make it (sadly, $10 is outside of my budget), but I highly encourage everyone to get there if you can.
I’ll leave you with two last Lazerbeak solo tracks.
First, the mp3 for lead single “Salt & Sea” (be sure to catch the last 1/3 of the song, when all the pieces come together.)
