My Latest Musical Discoveries: 11/14 – 11/20

Beyond the world of radio and music television, there exists an overwhelmingly vast but obscured world of music where musicians strive to take music of all genres in different directions. Sadly, many of these musicians will never crack the surface and receive the exposure they deserve. In this series of articles, I share with you my favorite weekly musical discoveries. The music described herein can take on of many forms, including various styles of heavy metal, hip-hop, reggae, rock and classical to name a few. There are zero limits and no set amount of how many artists I will preview, thus things will vary greatly week by week.

If you’re up for the ride, I hope you will find something to your liking.

Enjoy.

1. Silent Knight – Hunger Strike [2006] (Hip-Hop)

Cover of Hunger Strike

Silent Knight is an underground rapper from New Jersey. Underground rap is ofttimes described as real. This term is usually associated with rappers that touch on more personal subjects. The lyrics can be part political, part true to life or a mixture of the two. But very rarely is conscious Hip-Hop very ‘real’. Silent Knight’s lyrics however, come across as very genuine and unapologetic.

Hunger Strike’s lyrical content ranges from embarrassment going out on a date with no money, sociopolitical issues and the usual lyric aimed out the mainstream Hip-Hop world. Best of all, they all carry with them a high level of conviction. And this is mostly due to Knight’s vocals, which have a jazzy smooth feel them.

His flow also compliments his vocals as it’s almost effortless sounding but it’s a confident kind of effortlessness, which I feel is lacking in Hip-Hop today. Every rapper talks and raps about fitting the Hip-Hop lifestyle but Silent Knight actually lives it. Not to mention his vocabulary is above average. Silent Knight is to conscious Hip-Hop what Ice-T was to ‘matter of fact’ gangster rap. This album was a nice surprise and a breath of fresh air.

Samples

2. Dälek – Absence [2005] (Experimental Hip-Hop)

Cover of Absence

More underground Hip-Hop from New Jersey, only of the experimental type. Absence sees Dälek going for a rough sound, replete with dark industrial screeching and subtle visions of shoegaze. There are times when they will juxtapose this with an uncommon (at least compared to other east coast Hip-Hop) jazz-y background.

Lyrically, this deals with political issues and sentiments about religion but the approach is wise and instead is more fleshed out and poetic than terse. Deep, dark, abrasive and captivating, Absence is somewhat of an unknown gem in the Hip-Hop world.

3. Gomma Workshop – Almanacco Moderno Sul Linguaggio dei gatti [2004] (Avant-garde)

Cover of Almanacco Moderno Sul Linguaggio dei gatti

A gem I discovered through rate your music.
Where to begin with Gomma Workshop.. It would be extremely difficult to describe the moods and ideas on display in this oddity in words. What I can say, though, is that these songs are amazingly fun but perhaps that’s just me.

Almanacco Moderno Sul Linguaggio dei gatti aims to achieve an overall feel that I can’t link to any artist. It’s very circus like and drenched in fantasy; sometimes like a collection of dreams in 8 bit. One could even call it a collage of sound.

This ‘group’ makes use of a wide range of sounds as well, including odd tape experimentations, lounge music, folk and soundtrack music. Simply put, Almanacco.. is eclectic music. It’s an album that’s even far removed even from Avant-Garde (or the experimentation of multiple genres within the course of the song and more).

Also check out:

Five great albums you’ve never heard of pt. 1

Five great albums you’ve never heard of pt. 2