**Official Strange Music Inc Thread**

[AussieChiefsFan]

Everything STRANGE MUSIC related will be in this thread. Enjoy!

I'll be adding more as we go along, but to start off:

2013 Strange Music Sampler: http://strangemusicinc.com/sampler/

Older Releases:
2013: http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...87&postcount=7

Latest Release

Artist:
Album: Therapy
Release Date: November 5th



Tracks:
1. The Ghost (Therapy) (Skit)
2. Public School (feat. Krizz Kaliko)
3. Head Now (feat. Bernz & Wrekonize of Mayday)
4. Hiccup
5. Therapy (Skit)
6. Shame on Me (feat. Caroline Dupuy Heerwagen)
7. Jacob Wells Message (Skit)
8. When Demons Come (feat. Tyler Lyon)
9. Therapy Skit Three (Skit)
10. I.L.L.
11. Stop the Sailor

Producer:
Ross Robinson

Next Release

Upcoming Releases

[AussieChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Dubstep done piano style:

Please read the OP.

Originally Posted by 9er guy

Do you have a reivew of that Rittz Album? I hear it was pretty good.

It was an amazing album. I'd recommend taking a listen to it.

[AussieChiefsFan]

Added Why Me music video to OP.

[Priest31kc]

A few more Something Else reviews...

Review: Tech N9ne's 'Something Else' Goes Pop Without Selling Out

The Kansas City MC adds a broad LP to his sterling catalog

After 20 years in the game, Tech N9ne is having a moment. The fiery lyricist out of Kansas City, MI was once derided as a rap outsider obsessed with painting his face and believed to be a devil worshipper, but in recent years has been championed as an independent rap icon and embraced by popular artists who previously would have nothing to do with him. Now that’s Strange. But with acceptance comes challenges. Like how Tech can continue to trade upon his misfit status when he’s slowly transitioning out of being a rap misfit.

That’s the question the Strange Music co-founder most likely had to answer when he went in to work on Something Else, his 13th studio album, and first solo project since 2011’s All 6’s and 7’s (which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart in its first week of release). A concept album with the songs slotted in three acts—Fire, Water, and Earth—the LP is framed around the story of a meteorite striking downtown Kansas City. Very crafty.

Faced with impending doom from said meteorite, the first act, Fire, features songs like the judgment day-inspired “Straight Out The Gate,” where System of a Down’s Serj Tankian sings: “We are the children of your rivals/Holding guns while reading Bibles/Go ahead and seal your fate.” Deep stuff. Then there’s the brazenly unapologetic “With the BS,” about the physical dangers of pushing a person past their limit and “Fortune Force Field,” a poignantly sung-rapped tune about the riches Tech presumably deserves, but somehow can’t grasp. “Fragile,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, Kendall Morgan and Mayday! is a brutal ‘**** you’ letter to music critics, which may dissuade writers from ever saying anything about these guys ever again, lest you hurt their feelings.

Water is the section of the LP where things begin to lighten up, albeit only briefly. “So Dope (They Wanna)” is all tongue-twisting Midwestern rap—essentially Tech’s calling card—about, well, ****ing. It’s a brilliant display of lyrical mastery. But then he’s diving right back into the deep end on “Burn The World,” which addresses gun control (“Why did Adam [Lanza] shoot the school up?/Maybe cause the way he grew up... cause mama loved to pick the tool up”) and the stellar Cee-Lo, Big K.R.I.T. and Kutt Calhoun parenting ode, “That’s My Kid.”

With its somewhat bloated tracklist (debatable, in a day and age when we can cherry-pick what songs to listen to by just removing a track from a playlist; Tech also has a history of releasing long albums), things drag occasionally. Like on “Meant To Happen,” a Scoop Deville-produced cut which never gets off the ground, faltering at the hands of skittering drums and a top line melody that sounds like it isn’t really sure what it wants to do. And he slips on “See Me,” a generic Wiz Khalifa and B.o.B-assisted cut that might sound at home on one of those artists’ LPs, but comes off woefully out of place here.

That said, the final portion of the LP, Earth, which deals more with the idea of hope, is where things take off and show Tech’s artistic growth. “Believe” is the album’s standout track—an inspiring tune about overcoming racism, and probably a bit more pop-inflected than die-hard Tech N9ne fans have ever heard him before—featuring an incredible vocal performance from local Kansas City vocalist Kortney Leveringston, doing what sounds like the best Beyoncé impression of all time. And then there’s “Strange 2013,” a reworking of The Doors “Strange Days,” produced by Fredwreck and featuring all the members of the band, including Ray Manzarek, who passed away in May. A ballsy collaboration like that could have sounded forced, but here it doesn’t, with the Doors stepping more into Tech’s world, sonically, than he into theirs. It’s very cool.

Is Something Else a milestone in Tech N9ne’s career, the quintessential album he’s been waiting to make his whole career? Tough to say. The LP has a cornucopia of guests, but they all show up in force and only occasionally detract from the material. There aren’t any blatantly bad songs, but sure, you might skip a few. It happens. And do all the tracks fit neatly into the project’s conceptual arc? No, but even attempting something like that is a tall task, and the album as a straight listen certainly exhibits a noted change in musical direction as it plays, which is a commendable. Though he’s not exactly the outsider he once was, Tech N9ne fans—the die-hards and the johnny-come-latelys—should really enjoy this album. —Paul Cantor

http://www.vibe.com/article/review-t...ut-selling-out

[Priest31kc]

Album Review: Tech N9ne- “Something Else” (All Access Edition)

By Elle Fleming on August 1, 2013

Tech N9ne, born Aaron Yates in 1971, grew up in Kansas city with a dead-beat father and a mother who suffered from epilepsy and lupus. He began to search for God at a very early age to find comfort and hope. When his best friend was shot and killed, Tech N9ne reached even farther to reach God and started using his rapping skills to relieve his frustration. This is probably why most of Tech N9ne’s music is apocalyptic, yet spiritual. Something Else is no exception.

At first glance, twenty-six tracks seem like an over-ambitious feat that seems impossible to make work. Most artists can barely make an album with a dozen tracks without letting a few slip, and Tech N9ne has created an album with almost double the amount of tracks on average albums and every single one brings it.

Something Else begins with a breaking news report of a meteorite that hit Missouri, the skies have turned burgundy and eerie fog has crept in. This reporter comes in and out throughout the album to tell the story of a changing world. The first track, “Straight Out the Gate” could not be more accurately named. It is powerful and displays his disgustingly amazing rapping skills. The beats, instrumentals, and team up with Krizz Kaliko & Serj Tankian make an unreal combination that will lead the listener amped for the rest of the album. “Love 2 Dislike Me” starts with the ethereal voice of Liz Suwandi that is halted by strong rock guitars. Tyler Lyon then comes in and the mash up between the three creates such an unusual sound and genre that it is hard to classify.

The eighth track “Fragile” features Kendrick Lamar, ¡MAYDAY!, and Kendall Morgan. It is a beautiful infusion of jazz, rap, and blues that exemplifies the musical mastery Tech N9ne is capable of. “That’s My Kid” featuring Kutt Calhoun, Big K.R.I.T. and Cee-Lo Green, shows that maturity that only a rapper of his age could have. He admits his faults in the past, and that he is committed to his children’s future. Again, this song combines both rap and gospel sounds that create something that is uniquely Tech N9ne.

This album is easily one of the best of the summer, and possibly the year. It is rare to find an album with so many tracks that is also so beautifully created with such craftsmanship. Cohesiveness of an album is often over-looked in today’s industry, but this album flowed so smoothly from song to song, it was hard to tell when one began and one ended. Tech N9nes consistent use of oppositions, whether it was good vs. evil or deep aggressive rap vs. fragile high voices shows his intelligence, artistry and understanding of music. He knows exactly what he is doing. Something Else is exactly that, something else

Grade: 9/10

http://network.yardbarker.com/all_sp...ition/14190206

[Priest31kc]

‘Something Else’ Is Some of Tech N9ne’s Best Yet

By Chris Shalom

Album Review – Tech N9ne – Something Else (June 25, 2013 on Strange Music).

If you don’t like Tech N9ne… well, you’re not alone. The Kansas City rapper tends to alienate some listeners with his dark tone, some with his aggressive Chopper style, and a bunch more with an odd sort of silliness that comes out in his lighter tracks. Tech N9ne’s rap has never felt tidy or entirely market-driven; for better or worse, he seems to do what he wants.

Tech’s new album Something Else is probably the best bet yet for hesitant or hostile listeners. A strong and eclectic effort, the album might not turn all naysayers into N9ne-players, but most will probably find the album’s passion and energy to be at least a little bit infectious.

Something Else is divided into three parts: Fire, Water, and Earth. Fire is the first half of the album, aggressive and dark, running a horror-show gamut through the seven deadly sins with murky beats, heavy metal guitar, and utterly obnoxious T-Pain hooks. Those who dislike Tech might find the first ten tracks tough going; a lot of it feels like old-school Tech in a slick 2013 package. That said, though, with guest artists like Serj Tankian on the blistering opening track “Straight Out the Gate”, and everyone’s favourite terrible rapper Kendrick Lamar rhyming “anus” with “heinous”, this definitely feels like new territory.

Three tracks in the middle of the album make up the “Water” section, which is to say that Tech had a couple tracks that didn’t fit the album and shoved ‘em in anyway (the album’s first single, “So Dope (They Wanna)”, falls in this section). Thank goodness he did, though – after the Fire section, some Caribou Lou-style fun is definitely in order. The new equivalent to Tech’s drink-recipe classic is the ultra-obnoxious “Dwamn”, a gleefully stupid love letter to big booty strippers obviously designed in the hopes of making the word “dwamn” a lexical mainstay.

“Dwamn” is also the first track of two in the Water section where “bikini” is rhymed with “my weenie”, so if Something Else starts off seeming too serious, worry not.

“So Dope” is the second track with this questionable honour, and it’s a bit of an oddity itself. The first three verses of the song, from Tech, Wrekonize, and Twisted Insane, are pretty standard hyper-masculine sexual swagger with typically creepy overtones (“Position the bitch and dip in when I mention slip in submission…”), but the fourth verse is a surprise. Up-and-comer Snow Tha Product rounds the song out with a verse that’s tight as hell but definitely incongruous. Her lyrics, about unwanted sexual interest and pressure – “He want to bang I want to wait / So he get at me he want to say shit that make / Me think that he goin’ rape me if I don’t stay” – are a bizarre counterpoint to the song’s general vibe.

The third section, Earth, is meant to be the uplifting part of the album, and despite its dark content, it does seem to achieve this goal. Despite several extremely personal tracks based on dark experiences, the latter half of Something Else is redemptive. And it’s here that the album really becomes successful, when one realizes that it gives a far more complete and sincere sense of Tech N9ne himself.

This is true of the whole album, though it may take a moment to realize it. Where Something Else is angry, there’s a sense of bruised fury and personal hurt – fragility in anger. Where it’s violent, there’s a sense of helplessness. Where it’s uplifting, it’s with a sense of regret and remorse lurking nearby.

Genuine self-expression isn’t always a necessity for a rapper’s success, though the greats have shown us over the years that it definitely helps. If Something Else is any indication, Tech’s best work may still be ahead of him.

And heck, if you couldn’t care less about any of that and you’re just looking for something new to bump with the bass up, Tech’s got your back. In his own words:

Ain’t nobody got time for that
But I got time for gettin’ your behind to clap
DWAMMMN!!!

http://www.vancouverweekly.com/somet...n9nes-best-yet

[Priest31kc]

TECH N9NE: 'Something Else' [REVIEW]

BY Ryan Book, Mstars News (R.Book@MusicTimes.com) , Mstarz reporter | Aug 01, 2013 11:08 AM EDT

Tech N9ne wrestles with a tri-polar personality whenever he records. The rapper shifts gears from partying to raging to moping almost as quickly as he changes the pace of his delivery mid-verse. All of Tech's emotions make an appearance on "Something Else," but the "else" is important: There's honesty here.

The anger and laments produced on Tech's previous albums are genuine, but echo what every rapper up to Jay-Z's income level preach. I'm disrespected by critics. I'm disrespected by other rappers. I'm disrespected by the industry. Tech has always justified his product with to-die-for flow, but it left room for contemplation. The rapper opens up on "Something Else," and no matter how many guest spots he crams in, Tech's revelations force listeners to consider his lyrics, a first. The rapper's odes to living large still make for a hell of a party, but there's more to the story this time around.

Tech catches the listener's attention with "I'm Not A Saint." The previous six tracks put the "horror" in "horrorcore" (a classification the rapper hates), amping the goth with "Phantom of The Opera" instrumentals and frightening imagery. He downshifts for "Saint" and pours out 12 albums worth of self-analysis. He calls out for help, apologizes for his transgressions, and then admits a seventh grade teacher molested him. The latter line forces a rewind; the rapper, who delivers at a fully-automatic clip otherwise, slows to a crawl, afraid to come forth with the confession. Hip-hop advertises itself as a game for the manliest, but Tech demonstrates a backbone stiffer than most so-called gangsters via his admission.

Having graduated from self-reflection, Tech escalates the album's surprises by delivering conscious rap as the record nears its end. Tech considers Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook school shooter, and contemplates what could've been done to prevent it. "That's My Kid" combines sage advice on raising a child with fatherly pride as Tech, Big K.R.I.T. and Kutt Calhoun express gratitude that their children will grow up better than they themselves did, all while Cee Lo Green raises the hook's uplift high. "I'm Not A Saint" both impresses and depresses, but "That's My Kid" warms the ears for multiple listens.

Of course Tech displays rage ("B.I.T.C.H." featuring T-Pain), and still parties down ("Dwamn"), but he demonstrates that his thoughts run deeper than the shallow end. The inconsistency in themes doesn't ring false, as Tech built upon his existing emotions to arrive at the higher plane toward the end of the album. The rapper needs to maintain this balance now that he's found it; Kanye West showed both sides of the spectrum during masterful "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," but only his Hyde emerged for "Yeezus." Tech made "Something Else" something better by finally including his Jekyll.

http://www.mstarz.com/articles/17299...lse-review.htm

[Priest31kc]

Music video for "B.I.T.C.H"

[AussieChiefsFan]

IMO, Stevie Stone is a much better artist when he's featuring on other songs (singing just the hook), than when he's solo. Perfect example of this is the song Colorado. Anyone who thinks this?

[AussieChiefsFan]

Added B.I.T.C.H. music video to OP.

[AussieChiefsFan]

Added My Life (Feat. Irv Da Phenom) Official Music Video to OP.

[Priest31kc]

Titties!

[AussieChiefsFan]

Added the traclist for We All Fall Down to the OP.

1. Devided We Stand
2. Audio Barricade
3. Just Like Nothing
4. The Ghost of Injustice (Interlude)
5. Blood Paved Road
6. Fading Away
7. Three, Two, One
8. Vendetta
9. Nowhere To Run
10. Distress Call
11. Darkest Shade of Grey
12. We All Fall Down
13. The Shadow of Mortality (Interlude)
14. Time
15. Before We Say Goodbye

[Priest31kc]

Heres the tracklist for Kaliko's Son of Sam (Dont know why the features aren't listed)

1. Intro
2. Titties
3. W.A.N.S. (We All Need Sex)
4. The Finger
5. Reckless
6. Girls Like That
7. Schizophrenia
8. Do You Drink
9. Inside
10. Kill For Your Lovin'
11. Send Your Love
12. Night Time
13. Why Me
14. Why So Serious
15. Scars
16. Thank God

Deluxe Edition:

17. Unable
18. Love Me Bad
19. Beer Goggles

And snippets: http://www.amazon.com/Son-of-Sam-Exp...6246895&sr=8-1

[Reaper16]

Anthony Fantano (IMO the best music reviewer on the web) destroys Something Else:



(and, honestly, while I like the album more than he does, I share many of his concerns.)

[AussieChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Anthony Fantano (IMO the best music reviewer on the web) destroys Something Else:



(and, honestly, while I like the album more than he does, I share many of his concerns.)

I feel he was a little harsh at times, but he definitely knows what he is talking about. One of the things I personally think is that there were too many features by mainstream artists (although Kendrick was quite good) and too many features in general.

Ill go and check if this guy has reviewed any other Tech N9ne/Strange Music albums and see what he says.