Anyone else into Noise Rap/Left-Field Hip Hop?

[Scott Dolan]

Having grown up in the 80's, I listened to the original Rap and Hip Hop artists and had absolutely no stomach for any of the more contemporary artists. That was until two days ago when I heard a phenomenal album from a group named clipping. called Splendor & Misery. No average Rap album, it's essentially a space opera about an escaped slave and a sentient ship computer. Discernible beats are mostly absent, but the sounds used really enhance the mood and story. 

That was so incredible that I stumbled upon another group called Dälek while researching the genre. I picked up their album, Abandoned Language, and it's easily just as good. 

Anyone else into this genre? Any suggestions? 

Edited September 14, 2016 by Scott Dolan

[WD45]

You might check out Shabazz Palaces and Death Grips for some of those abrasive sounds.

[Scott Dolan]

Wasn't all that high in the few things I heard from Death Grips, but haven't heard Shabazz yet. Even though their name has popped up multiple times. Any good starting points for either of those groups? 

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Ex-Military was my entree to Death Grips. You can (or could) download it for free on their website. You might like Dalek, I would highly recommend "From Filthy Tongue Of Gods and Griots" and the collaboration with Faust. 

 

[xybert]

I haven't followed hip hop for many years but in the late nineties/early two thousands i was massively into stuff which i'm not quite sure if it qualifies nowadays but seemed quite left-field and noisey at the time. Stuff like El-P, Cannibal Ox, Nephlim Modulation Systems, Infesticons, Antipop Consortium etc.

El-P's Fantastic Damage is one of my all time favourite albums.

 

 

[Stefan Wood]

Great, another rabbit hole to fall into....

[Scott Dolan]

Exactly what I thought when I heard those two albums...

[Scott Dolan]

Title track from the Dälek album I got the other day. What a beautiful outro. 

 

 

[JSngry]

Please allow me to advocate for Georgia Ann & Shafiq.

 

 

[Scott Dolan]

Sounds more like Left-Field Soul than anything. 

[JSngry]

Chopped beats gets you to "hip hop", imo. Ymmv.

 

 

[Scott Dolan]

All Music has Shafiq listed as Left-Field Hip Hop, but Ms. Muldrow as Neo Soul. Interesting. 

Though some of her later albums are listed as Left-Field Hip Hop. 

[JSngry]

Georgia Anne is a world untobherself, really. One of the more consistently interesting voices of today, imo.I

 

 

That last one is interesting from a counting standpoit, the drum loop is 15 beats, 7 then 8, The effect that has as everything else moves on top of it is strong 

[Scott Dolan]

Very nice, but I'm still looking for more experimental stuff.

 

[l p]

these are the only rap albums that you need to have 

 

and maybe this one

 

[Scott Dolan]

If only Doo Bop didn't completely suck ass. 

[l p]

actually,  Doo Bop has about 2 or 3 excellent tunes. give it another try if you can. maybe while driving.

[Scott Dolan]

Alright, I will.  

[rostasi]

...and even tho he's not really "noise-rap", but more abstract,
I still like Open Mike Eagle's style.

 

[Scott Dolan]

That Shabazz Palaces tune was really good. As is the Open Mike Eagle! That's right along the line of what I'm looking for. Thanks for posting. 

Still not liking anything from Death Grips. 

[Scott Dolan]

Hahaha... This is gold! 

 

 

[Scott Dolan]

It's funny, I posted a "debate" question this morning riffing off of Joel's attempt to fire up a political thread, which Jim thankfully shut down. 

It was a simple question: Experimental Hip Hop, or Gangsta Rap? 

I have to say that Gangsta Rap was the catalyst that made me leave the Rap genre behind. I grew up on Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC, and finished it off with Public Enemy's socially and politically conscious material. But Gangsta Rap hit, and I had to tap out. 

Seriously?! Yeah, dude. You're the baddest ass motherfucker that ever lived. Please tell us more about your unchallenged badassery, and all the "bitches" you have at your disposal, not to mention how money simply flows from your asshole...

*sigh*

Whatever happened to having something of substance to say? 

[JSngry]

I'm with you on Gangsta. Although I can appreciate the "personas" and the narratives as a part of all the different entertainment/cultural traditions of badassery, at some point it seemed to me to devolve into a fatalistic/nihilistic/whatever negation of the game rather than a sly reflection on it.

Take Hustlers Convention from 1973, full frontal gangsterism, bloody, profane, brutal, and entertaining as hell. Why? Because there's always hope, people be doing all this extreme extreme stuff with hope at the root. It's a dark hope to be sure, but...

Then again, Gangsta started getting the play about the time we had our first kid and I started to get more concerned about "desensitization" and stuff like that. Plus, we moved to the burbs, not out of flight or fear or anything, far from it, but just because that's where the  new houses we could afford were. Got tired of apartment living, especially with a kid, so we moved into a house, established equity blahblahblah. Totally non-Gangsta. So I was not the market, obviously. Old Fartdonm ensued, and continues to ensue.

However, I do believe, based on both principle and experience, that it takes brains and awareness to see "the life" as the trap that it is, and to play only as much as you can afford to lose. Losing freedom is bad enough, losing your life is, like, more than just a bad decision, you know. Unless it's not, in which case...damn, how did you get THERE!

Thuggery and such...seems like it used to exist as part of a push-pull dynamic where hope might be dim, but still visible. Seems that at some point, hope just got fucked away. The hows/whys of that are outside the scope of a music thread, and I'm fully aware that a lot of Gangsta is/was mean in a cartoon-ish type way, so ok, let it be that, but...it failed to appeal to me. I'm of the opinion that the reason the coyote falling off the cliff was so damn funny because we never saw him actually hit the ground.

Here is where the coyote falls, but lives, and every damn road runner for miles around pays the price. This I like.

[Scott Dolan]

I don't know about the cartoonish angle. Once Biggie and Tupac were shot down in cold blood, shit got way more real than it should have been. 

But hey man, east coast vs west coast! Take your sides and place your bets! The glorification that led to that, AND stemmed from that, was just a little too much for me. 

Tell me about where you came from, where you're going, and all those left behind to a fate that deep pocket record companies couldn't save them from. Hell, I'll gladly listen to that! But really, where you are right now? Yep, keep blowing through that cash faster than you can make it. I just don't find the bragging that will lead to your demise all that compelling.