EPPS, Stacy - The Awakening (Japanubia) Comentários: Best known for lending her soulful vocals to artists like MF Doom, Madlib, Oh No, and John Robinson, singer/emcee Stacy Epps steps out on her own with the full-length debut "The Awakening" Short and sweet, this 11-track long player features production and guest appearances from Flying Lotus, Muhsinah, Nick Speed, S1, Apex, Bilal Salaam, and Finale. Even with these notable producers and guest artists, she shines best on the lead single, "Floatin." Check! in rushhour [Para Ouvir/Samples]
ONRA - Chinoiseries (Label Rouge) Comentários: Brilliantly odd instrumental hip hop album here from Onra, compiled and constructed around vintage Vietnamese pop records picked up in flea markets on a trip to the far east. 32 short tracks make up "Chinoiseries", each of them clocking in at the 1 or 2 minute mark and delivering a tight selection of beats that somehow bring to mind J Dilla, Rza, Madlib, Moondog, MF Doom and the Sublime Frequencies label rolled into one beautifully incoherent package. Having a ravenous appetite for the "Radio Transmission" style beloved of the aforementioned Sublime Frequencies crew, we might be perfectly primed for this sort of thing, but while the dusty exotica, folk and plastic pop of the source material here could so easily have ended up sounding like the sterile plunderphonic coffee table beats that typified so much instrumental hip hop in the late 90's, Onra manages to harness the mystifying magic of the original material and
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