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Name: Skylar Home Page: http://www.last.fm/user/skyl4r Member Since: Jan 07, 2006 Rank: 4043 Average Vote Received: Correct (4.02, 205 votes) last 10 days: Correct (4.03, 39 votes) Rated 1014 releases, average: 4.26 Location: Palos Verdes, Southern California, USA Profile: 
I'm currently living on a college campus for most of the week, so I won't be able to access my physical collection or answer any questions until I find time to drive home on a weekend. I'm a freshman at USC, record collector, crate digger, drummer, aspiring producer, and all-around music addict. My main genre interests are jazz, old school & underground hip-hop, soul, and downtempo, but I also listen to house, indie rock, reggae, bossa nova, thrash, and world music. My production page can be found here, for any interested... Moderator for all genres: July 17, 2007 - March 10, 2008. Once upon a time, I was a moderator here... it's unfortunate how the management doesn't realize what has happened to the reliability and accuracy of Discogs since V4, and how so many veteran contributors have left. I'm still around, but I only use the site as a database for myself. I generally only use my voting abilities on changes that affect my collection.  | |
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Uyama Hiroto - A Son Of The Sun - 29-Jul-08 02:30 PM
Multi-instrumentalist and veteran Nujabes collaborator, Uyama Hiroto finally steps out with his solo debut, A Son Of The Sun. The album's style is very reminiscent of Nujabes, filled with multi-layered piano, guitar, saxophone and keyboards, but still sets itself apart by increasing the jazz factor and keeping things mostly rap-free. The album blends the borders between live instrumentation and samples. Aside from the occasional vocal sample, it's often very difficult to tell whether a melody was taken from somewhere else or made from scratch - often it sounds more like you're listening to a live jazz solo over a hip-hop beat. Once again, like Nujabes, Uyama takes hip-hop production to a higher level, bringing actual musicianship and performance to his songs, rather than just repeated loops. The result is an amazing album that is unique and deeply relaxing... and further evidence that Hydeout really needs to release its material outside of Japan!
Diferenz - Jazz Workshop - 14-Jan-07 12:13 AM
A mostly uptempo fusion of jazz and hip-hop, lots of funky basslines and ample use of various instruments such as the saxophone, flute, trumpet, and electric piano. The two slower, darker songs, "Deep Thoughts" and "Morning In The Sub-Basement", divide up the album nicely. It's a wonder this album wasn't ever released on Ninja Tune, like the other early Shadow releases were - it fits in perfectly style-wise.
Beyond (4) - Comparison - 14-Jan-07 12:13 AM
One of the earliest Rhymesayers releases and an impressive underground debut that's both minimal and intense at the same time. Ant keeps the beats relatively simple which allows for a greater focus on Beyond's impressive lyricism and extremely aggressive delivery. For me it draws a lot of similarities to Atmosphere's "Overcast!" which came out shortly after this album did. "Flesh Against Concrete" is my personal favorite track here, but interestingly, "Invisible Villains" would probably have taken its place if the song hadn't been pointlessly divided into three interlude-length parts.
Anti Pop Consortium* - Tragic Epilogue - 05-Jan-07 05:50 PM
Dense, abstract, and very unconventional hip-hop album from an equally unique group. Even if somehow you're able to understand the nearly indecipherable lyrics, it's likely you won't be able to make any sense of what the MCs are talking about. It's a nice change from mainstream rap both in lyricism and production, but it definitely requires a lot of listens to fully appreciate.
Smashing Pumpkins, The - Zero - 04-Jan-07 02:17 AM
Interestingly, "Zero" is probably the worst track on its single. Songs like "God", "Mouths of Babes", and "Pennies" should have earned spots on Mellon Collie instead of existing simply as B-sides. An obviously noteworthy track is "Pastichio Medley", a massive collage of short outtake clips from unused studio recordings that pushes the single's length to one that could apply to a full-length album. The medley overdoes it a bit though - unfortunately almost the entire second half of the song consists of three heavily distorted guitar notes slowly repeated over and over.
