Music Reviews
Artist:
First ManTitle:
Second to NoneLabel:
Silent SoundzWebsite:
http://www.silentsoundz.com
Silent Soundz has already seen success with Harry Love, Yungun and Mr Thing but with two new releases scheduled for June the label will be hoping to cement its place in UK hip hop.
First Man’s EP ‘Second to None’ seems set to help them do just that. The production duo (Adam Midgley and Jamie Reddington) began life as band, playing lead and bass guitar respectively, but soon began dabbling in the world of hip hop . They first came to attention providing tracks for Skinnyman’s ’Council Estate of Mind’ LP.
As Skinny puts it on ‘Set it Off,’ “The first rhythm that I chose for my first debut, has left you now with a thirst for what they do.” It was not just the buying public that was left with a thirst for more though as they have gone on to produce beats for Lemar and Hi-Tek.
The pair have earned a reputation for mixing soulful samples and cutting edge beats with live instruments, and have caught the attention of Giles Peterson and Ras Kwane.
Skinny is obviously a big fan and at times ‘Set it Off,’ which also features Tali, verges on an ode to the duo. He rhymes, “ They’ll even take a little skinny man and make him sound fatter. Trust me if you don’t believe it lets see what crap rapper they make sound as good as me on the remix.” The track is simply arranged but boasts well produced beats and an addictive piano loop.
Other UK hip hop stalwarts to pop up on the EP are Black Twang on ‘Help Them,’ Ayak on ‘How I feel’ and Charlie Brown & Yungun on ‘That Girl’. The energy of ‘Help Them’ makes it the forerunner for most airplay but my favourite of the bunch is the mellow old school soul track ‘That Girl;’ while the two vocalists are worlds apart their voices work strangely well together.
The second release ‘Satisfied’ acts as a sneak preview of Verb-T and Last Skeptic’s collaborative album ‘Broken Window.’ While it certainly leaves you yearning for more of Skeptic’s production skills the same can’t be said for T’s rapping. A lot of people have a lot of love for Verb T, and I‘ll admit he has flow and writes insightful lyrics, but there is just something about his delivery that doesn’t do it for me.
For the b-side ‘March’ Sway & Kyza have been brought on board where they spit over a military style loop.
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/firstmanproductions
http://www.myspace.com/verbt
http://www.myspace.com/thelastskeptikmusic
Words By: Joe Kent
