Listen Here – Spotify
“A playlist of tracks that were featured on MattsMusicMine.com from the week of January 4th – 10th. From Reviews to Streams, never miss a track with these playlists that are uploaded every single Sunday till I drop dead.”
Featuring: Bob Vylan, Run The Jewels, King Woman, Ramirez, Obreezy Beats, Havukruunu, Lou Reed, Navy Blue, P Almighty, Countless Skies, Ulcerate, Your Old Droog, R.A.P. Ferreira, Scallops Hotel, Abigor, Oranssi Pazuzu, KRS-One
Track List: Down, Run Up, Walking In The Snow, Hierophant, Hunnids, Early Riser, Kunnes Varjot Saa, How Do You Think It Feels, Sad Song, Self Harm, P Almighty From Medina, Tempest, Inversion, Ukraine, Babushka III, Sips Of Ripple Wine, The Saint Of Murder, KUulen Ääniä Maan Alta, Black Black Black
Listen Here – BandCamp
Featuring: SUN-One, Pascal, S.U.N. One, G Simone
Produced By: Mlody, Bennie ‘DJ B Original’ Williams, SUN-One, KPrymeTheJäger, KRS-One
Bass: Edward Nappi
Drums: Peter Hines
Guitar: Peter Mengede
Original Engineers: Pat Dillet + Ted Wholson
Executive Producers: Simone Parker, Tyme Journey, + KRS-ONE
Accounting: Kristine Aleksandryan
Recording and Mix: Vladimir Castor
In-Studio Video Recording: SUN-One
In-Studio Video Recording: Pascal
Mastering: Nick Chahwala
Cover Design: KPrymeTheJäger
Cover Photography: Jonny Guardiani
CD Art: Serna 1 (Christopher Bennett)
Product Manager: Tyme Journey
In Memory: Scott La Rock, Randy Parker, Jam Master Jay, Big Pun, Kwame Ture and Love-Bug Starski
Track List: Opening Remarks, Tight, Don’t Fall For It, Black Black Black, Boom Bye Bye, Murder She Just Saw, Turn The Volume Up, Stay Real, Medu Neter, We Are The Gods, Organize, Free (The Book List), See The Exit, Opeen Your (((|))), Who You Are
Listen Here – BandCamp
Track List: Ilmestys, Tyhjyyden Sakramentti, Uusi Teknokratia, Oikeamielisten Sali, Kuulen Ääniä Maan Alta, Taivaan Portti
Listen Here – BandCamp
Track List: The Roads, All About, Bobblehead, What’s On Your Mind?, Monovariety Hell, Everyone’s Earth, We Can Go, Memory, Love, King Of The Jungle Gym, We Lose You?, Bizarro World, That Old Wind, We Lost You, Close To Home, Couldn’t Believe It, Overtime/You & I, Versions, Little Bit Longer, Ya This One’s Dope, Today, Fat Cats, 10 Steps To Easy Gardening With Court Dracula
Listen Here – BandCamp
Track List: Gomorrha Rising – Nightside Rebellion, Silent Towers Screaming Tombs, Orkblut, The Saint Of Murder, Scarlet Suite For The Devil, La Plus Longue Nuit Du Diable – Guiding The Nameless, Tartaros Tides, Flood Of Wrath, Terrorkommando Eligos
Your Old Droog has undergone these musical transitions since first appearing on the personal radar with Kinison. As his 2019 string of trifecta-esque championship run with It Wasn’t Even Close, Transportation, and finally Jewelry; there were always moments of Eastern European flair that never was fully utilized until Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition.
Always the outsider in the modern sense of hip-hop, Your Old Droog was one of the first rhymers that combined the raw lyrical skill with verses that sampled Frank Zappa or had allusions to Lou Reed. It felt as if every time Your Old Droog was on the wax or coming through the loudspeaker, there were these reminiscent throwbacks to hearing the mysterious artist like the late MF DOOM or Droog’s partner in the rap-game heist, Mach-Hommy.
With this lean into the Eastern European background and influence, Your Old Droog assembles 12 tracks over 39-minutes as something to be enjoyed with a pastry and coffee in the morning. Especially when he peels back the Ukrainian curtain with these flutes and Russian narration before his vocals overpower and become the centerfold of the attention.
Your Old Droog and Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition is a prime example, there have always been these instrumentals that feature little to no percussive production but immediately capture the attention. With It Wasn’t Even Close, “Babushka” was one of the strongest pieces off of that record for the way that it was something for the grandmother to love. Straight poetry and lyrics over a sample that had the vinyl fuzz etched into the needle.
Now with Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition, Your Old Droog has “Matryoshka” which almost sounds as if it samples the original Dracula with Bela Lugosi. Personally, when Your Old Droog is accepting of this sound and able to capture a unique essence without becoming corny, it is dominating for the memory.
When Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition ends, these moments like “Matryoshka” or ”Babushka III” are tightly glued to the head like a Carhartt skullcap. And in the same fashion, Your Old Droog is still comedic and charismatic. On “Pravda,” which features Mach-Hommy, El-P, Tha God Fahim, and Black Thought, those four lyricists are enough to make the internet shatter in a tornado tag-team match in rap heaven.
When focusing in on an artist as versatile and deeply layered as Your Old Droog, it takes multiple listens through a track just to fully hear his delivery. Understanding what he is spewing takes weeks to months as even on Transportation, a record that I spun once a day for three months straight after its initial release. I still found rhymes to click and become realized later.
If you are going to jump into listening to Droog, this is the perfect time to start. Now especially in a time where lyricism and obscure production seems to be more accessible than ever because of the internet, there are no excuses.
Listen Here – BandCamp
Vocals + Guitars: Ross King
Guitars: James Pratt
Vocals + Bass: Phil Romeo
Drums: Nathan Robshaw
Cello: Adrianna Mahsayeh
Piano: Marcello Ciciriello
Drums Recorded By: Forbes Coleman
Choir Recorded By: Chris Stroud
Artwork By: Carl Ellis
Mixed + Mastered By: Juho Räihä
Track List: Tempest, Summit, Moon, Zephyr, Glow – Part 1: Resolution, Glow – Part 2: Awakening, Glow – Part 3: Reflection
Listen Here – BandCamp
Featuring: Deathsnake, Dretti Franks, Baker, Cvrsxd
Cover Art By: Preston McKee
Shout Out: DJ Sound, DJ Zirk, DJ Squeeky, + Tommy Wright III
Track LIst: Side A + Side B
Listen Here – BandCamp
Featuring: Maxo, Billy Woods, Yasiin Bey, Zeroh
Produced By: Roper Williams, Navy Blue, Alexander Spit, Evidence, Animoss, Nicholas Craven, Chuck Strangers, Jacob Rochester
Mixed + Mastered By: Zeroh
Artwork By: John Singletary
Track List: Dreams Of Distant Journey, Tired, Post Panic!, Memory Lane, Certainty, Poderoso, Deep Water Blue, Self Harm, 1491, Breathe, Sea Bass, Aunt Gerry’s Fried Chicken, Back To Basics, Pressure Points, Alignment, Moment Hung, Enough, 224
In one of the orchestrated times that falls from the incredibly under-loved artist Lou Reed, Berlin is the third solo record and for good reason belongs cemented like fragments of the wall.
Revolving around drug addiction and depression-like many of Reed’s records, Berlin is more of a sluggish delivery but is almost ornate during the trudge. Following Transformer and the mostly rock-based undertones that filled that record, Berlin is the hangover, it’s the withdrawal from the raging night before.
Opening with “Berlin,” the curtain peels back on two lovers, Jim and Caroline who instead of following the pattern of Reed’s writing where characters appear for only a verse and disappear; Berlin follows the life and death of love. After waves of sound and walls of distortion drown out, only a gentle piano from Allan Macmillan and Reed can be heard in a somber, but reminiscent tone. He describes, “In Berlin, by the wall, you were five foot, ten inches tall. It was very nice, candlelight and Dubonnet on ice.”
As Reed continues, the music instead of picking up is focused on these major chord strikes that instead of comforting, actually illustrate a sense of panic that churns into “Lady Day.” With a catchy instrumental and hook, “Lady Day” is best performed under one single spotlight that resonates with the audience on-looking toward Reed for his tragic hero delivery. Berlin is able to both simultaneously enthrall and emotionally capture, but then in the same swing can wash the audience with razor-esque cuts of seeping misery.
While there were no real commercial hits through Berlin, “How Do You Think It Feels” is one of the tracks off the record that could be accompanied to a live performance where Reed can unleash this animalistic attitude. Telling of an addiction to speed, Reed illustrates, “How do you think it feels when you’re speeding and lonely. How do you think it feels when all you can say is ‘if only.’”
While Berlin is fictional storytelling in operatic fashion, Reed’s way of lyrical storytelling and description is passionately vivid and feels personal to a pain known too closely. He illustrates later on, “How do you think it feels when you’ve been up for five days. Hunting around always, ’cause you’re afraid of sleeping.”
Where the final roses being thrown is on “The Bed,” far after the love affair of Jim and Caroline ends. Similar to how the tale begins, only Reed is the focus of interest. He describes a horror show of suicide, memories being broken, and almost bordering on the fact of reality. At first, it becomes over-the-top with lyrics that describe, “And this is the room where she took the razor, and cut her wrists that strange and fateful night.” But as Reed continues on, the work of Berlin and “The Bed” especially is actually numb and comes from a narrator in disbelief.
With ghastly heartbreak, Reed finds a home in Berlin and honestly is more poetic than Rock ‘N Roll anti-hero here. Where tears hit vinyl, Berlin is still one of the records that changed minds about the unearthing of ancient bleeding onto the stings.
Listen Here – BandCamp
Recorded + Mixed By: Stefan
Mastered By: Robert Brockmann
Illustrations + Cover Art By: Heidi K
Cello, Tambourine + War Drums By: Anni
Track List: Uinuos Syömein Sota, Kunnes Varjot Saa, Ja Viimein On Yö, Pohjolan Tytär, Kuin Öinen Meri, Jumalten Hämär, Vähiin Päivät Käy, Tähti-Yö Ja Hevoiset
Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
Featuring: Maurice ‘Mo Betta’ Brown
Video Shot + Edited By: Chino Chase
Produced By: Antwan ‘Amadeus’ Thompson + Trilogy for PlatinumBoyMusic
Mixed By: Ricardo ‘RickyStrings’ Ramos
Choreography By: Lilyshepardmoves