(Stones Throw Records)
While Madlib has been busy producing loads of material, including the 2000 masterpiece The Unseen and upcoming projects with both Jay Dee and M.F Doom, Wildchild, the other half of Lootpack, has been below the radar screen since Soundpieces: Da Antidote! dropped. But with the recent release of his solo debut, Secondary Protocol, it's like he never disappeared.
Aided by excellent production from Madlib and Madlib's brother, Oh No, Wildchild fires on all cylinders with songs like \Heartbeat,"" ""Code Red"" and ""Kiana,"" the last which is a nice tribute to his daughter. While his flow and delivery are above average, Wildchild is best when bouncing his lyrics off of other rappers, which is likely why there are just enough guest appearances on the album to keep his flow from getting stagnant.
Collaborations with Tha Liks and Phil Da Agony (""The Come Off""), and Percee P. and Medaphoar (""Knickknack 2002"") are both successful endeavors, but the best collaboration of the album is easily ""Operation Radio Raid"" with LMNO. Over a Madlib beat that sounds like a head-nodding theme to a spy movie, the two rappers take plenty of shots at commercial radio, chanting, ""Never have, never will pay for radio play.""
Though Wildchild impresses with his debut, the big draw of the album is Madlib's production. Not only was nearly every song well produced (""Bounce"" missed), but most tracks are ended with alternate instrumentals that keep the listener on their toes. While Secondary Protocol is excellent, its standing as a solo debut is moot as Wildchild is secondary on his own album.
(Chemikal)
European success can be a vacuous hole. The success that Arab Strap generated in Europe has yet to translate to American popularity outside their hit with a simultaneously heartwarming, inviting and creepy remix of David Holmes' ""Don't Die Just Yet.""
Arab Strap has suffered the ill fate of the secondary artist in all good reconstructions of songs. Known as an asterisk after a masterpiece, they may never be known as they should be, the rightful heirs to Bis' throne as the best band in Glasgow. Arab Strap's first post-secondhand celebrity album, Monday at the Hug and Pint is yet more evidence that Scotland has more to offer than Brit pop and memories of the Coctaeu Twins.
Arab Strap has not only developed one of the most distinctive sounds in music, but also one of the most rewarding. Through a thick Scottish accent, Adian Moffat sings vulgarly blunt yet heartwarming monologues. Behind him, Malcolm Middleton plays each instrument into a elaborate clash of music. Perhaps the fullest sounding two-man band in existence, they display a mix of guitar, violin and bare knuckles abrasion; a sound both dissonant and beautiful, brash and inviting, emotional and intentional. Track after track on Monday at the Hug and Pint, Arab Strap produces some of the most simultaneously drunkenly ugly and staggeringly beautiful music available today.
Aside from the ill-chosen techno beep used as rhythm section on the album's first song, Monday at the Hug and Pint is a magnificent album. The record's highlight track, ""Fucking Little Bastards,"" is a dark, beat-driven rant, played authentically angry and brooding. Arab Strap successfully places a drum machine over an orchestral string section on ""Serenade,"" an adorably depressing story of realizing nothing would come of unrequited love. ""Flirt's"" heavy drum beat and increasing layers of guitar builds to a suffocatingly tense climax as the song fades. Monday at The Hug and Pint genuinely changes the listener's mood from song to song, from the angry tracks to the wistful ones, and produces immense music throughout.
Arab Strap has created an album worthy of attention. While the White Stripes may have released the most acclaimed album of the year, there is no album that will be so gut-wrenchingly charming as Monday at the Hug and Pint.
