Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of October 13th-19th, 2014:
Sims - Field Notes
01. L'Audace
02. Sims Jong Il
03. Uh Huh
04. Scope Or Claw
05. They Don't Work For Us
06. The Whale
07. This Is The Place
At this point you're probably all well familiar with Sims. He's the socio-political voice of the Doomtree crew. He's also, relevantly, one of the most thoughtful MC's in the crew in the sense that he tends to take quite a bit of time in between releases.
Field Notes represents Sims first solo release since 2011's Bad Time Zoo and it's accompanying leftovers EP Wildlife. Obviously he's been working within the Doomtree universe since then (most notably his star turn in Doomtree's full crew album No Kings).
So what's changed in the four years since we've heard from Sims? Field Notes represents addition by subtraction. On his first two releases (Lights Out Paris & False Hopes 14), he found a balance between the personal, the boastful, and the vaguely political. Bad Time Zoo continued this style, though he began phasing out some of the personal for a sharpened take on the political side.
As he grows older, it appears Sims has lost almost all interest in sharing his personal problems with his audience. Field Notes, perhaps appropriately considering its title, is his most pointedly political record yet. "L'Audace," "Uh Huh," & "They Don't Work For Us" take aim not only at society's ills, but at the perceived indifference of his audience to affect any real change toward solving them. Lyrically, Sims is decidedly on point. His arguments are no longer the grey-area complaints that dotted those early records. He's angry and thoughtful on this EP, but more than anything, he's focused. Like many of us easing out of the twilight of our youth, he's been around long enough to see the cycle played out repeatedly with a helping hand from American indifference.
He still takes time to talk up his own skill ("Sims Jong Il") and dip into his own psyche ("This Is The Place"), but the overall impression of Field Notes is that Sims is no longer concerned with matters of his heart as he is with matters of the same hands that he once claimed would, "take it brick by brick, fist over fist, with or without 'em."
To check out Field Notes for yourself, head over to Doomtree's Bandcamp page.
