UK Round-Up (02/03/2010)

Here's a chance for me to drop some great new downloads for you from new UK artists on the scene. Recently there have been a large amount of mixtapes and albums surfacing on the net for free from UK emcees trying to get into the game so here's a few of them I've been sent and been impressed by. Some are being covered in more depth on other sites but I felt it necessary to offer my own blog for more exposure for these deserved artists.

Without a massive background on some of this first emcee I'm going to let him do his own background bio's and rest my wanking hand for a bit. Enjoy the free albums and support your local artists!

No Change - Land Of The Lost (2010)

Welcome to the truth and the very real world of 'No Change' without argument one of the most exciting prospects for UK music!

The story begins back in 1997 when the BBC broadcast a half hour documentary on him living the life that most kids either dream of or have nightmares about. He was smoking weed, skateboarding and humourously exposing the theme park he worked on as a "dangerous place...this provided a very funny story and sent this artist on the path he follows today!

Three years and two broken legs later, sacked, kicked out of home onto the streets (homeless) living anywhere from bushes to YMCAs to halfway houses, he wrote his rhymes on cardboard and stolen paper sweet bags for three years (probably why he does not write anything down to this day). No-Change was a very fitting choice of artist name - doing nothing and dabbling in all sorts of low-level criminality, he decided to move to Leeds to pursue a rap career....

Leeds studios and producers started to jump on his talent - jobless, he stayed on floors and was given free studio time wherever he went - coz he was the best! Fathering a baby boy and surviving a rocky relationship (which culminated in No-Changes stabbing in 2008) provided the fuel, inspiration and sincerity for the fire and depth of his music.

Fast forward to 2010, No Change - the street poet is here.... older, wiser, and backed by the infamous crackhouse recordings, he now has a formidable back catalogue of 200+ studio quality songs made with some of the top producers and MCs in the North of England. Known locally as the gentleman rapper and collaborating with the likes of Defenders of Style, Danny Pig, Alphabetix, Instance and Mike D, gigging with major names such as Masta Ace, Skinnyman, and Blackalicious he is now an well respected and established name amongst Leeds' finest.

Welcome to the land of the lost, the debut LP from No-Change.

Click the link below to download the full album.

Download

Charlie Sloth - The Black Book

This next one is from an emcee who has recently gathered a huge buzz in the UK scene from his hit single "Not Like You" featuring UK stalwart and legendary Taskforce member Farma G, and also Black The Ripper.

He releases his first full album through his own website http://www.charliesloth.com/ and the LP features pretty much a who's who of the UK scene, with appearances from Million Dan, Skinnyman, Rodney P, Stylah, Genesis Elijah, Wretch 32, Ramson Badbones, Mystro, Scor-Zay-Zee and many more.

That shouldnt distract you from the artist himself though because quite frankly, this album bangs harder than Mandingo in a porn flick. Check out his website for a background on the man to get familiar, but before you do that download the album and enjoy what I think might be one of the landmark releases of 2010.

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.charliesloth.com/v2/theblackbook

And here's the video for the single "Not Like You"

Revelations & Recommendations

The first few months of 2008 didn't really spark much interest in me in terms of new releases, but things seem to have picked up of late with some real corkers coming out in the past few weeks or months.

Firts off, I HAVE to give a very special mention to 'When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold' by Atmosphere. I'm always been a little bit of a fan of Atmosphere and Slug especially, but their albums have rarely impressed me too much as a whole piece of work. However, I am going out on a limb and saying that their new album is not only their best album to date but it's also my favourite album of 2008 so far.

A few factors contribute towards this album rating so highly. The first is that this albm is the definition of slow-burner. The first listen brought up one or two favourites and a few duff songs, but on second and third listen I started to love every single song and now the album rarely gets listened to if not in one entire go.

Songs such as 'Dreamer', 'Glasshouse' and 'In Her Music Box' are true lyrical achievements, with Slug painting a picture of realism and the way people think and live perfectly. In fact, one of the brilliant things about the entire album is that every song and line is beautifully observed and will strike a chord with someone.

Ant's beats never outshine Slug, but that is a very good thing in this case, as each song is solid and leans towards the content rather than rhythm, which is something hip-hop has lost in recent years in my opinion due to increasing impatience in listeners and an eye towards the 'fast buck' from the artist. Its a truly great album, but one that needs to be fully absorbed.

Another great spect is the fact that album's design is brilliant. My copy came in a CD 'book form with the CD slipped inside a 'page', along with a 36 page lyric book and 'children's stroy which ran alongside the themes of the album. It also had a bonus DVD with live performances and such on it. If more artists and groups took so much time and put as much effort into their album's aesthetic qualities as Atmosphere have, I'm sure retail sales of albums would increase ten fold.

Another album to look out for is 'Spektrum' by Million Dan, formerly of the classic group Demon Boyz. Its been a long time since a full release from him, but it has came along at just the right time, as the shift from UK's urban out put has shifted to grime and the market has been saturated with it. My hatred of 99% of grime can be covered on another day, however.

Million Dan has collected a lot of his singles such as 'Dogs N Sledges' & 'Spektrum Ride' and added them to some new tracks to create one of the most versatile and interesting sets to come from the UK this year. The guy deserves all of the plaudits and I fully recommend you at least check this guy out. In fact, I must remember to upload his Infra-Red mixtape from last year as a taster later on in the week.

Two years since the release of 'The Borrowed Ladder', Huddersfield's Asaviour is back with his second full length album entitled ''The A-Loop Theory', this time alongside DJ IQ, who he has released some mixtapes with. Here's hoping he builds on the momentum gained from Savior Faire and The Borrowed Ladder and become the leading light in British Rap that we all know he can be.

Another album I'm really looking forward to is 'It'll Never Catch On' by DPF, which to my surprise and delight seems to be getting quite a bit of shine in the UK blogosphere and media. DPF is one of the best (and underrated) emcees in England and I've been salivating over a full release ever since I heard 'Jelly Bellied Eels' and 'Dis Cuss Peace'.