THE ROOTS - Rising Down
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 09:00AM
soundscapes in Hip Hop

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With ?uestlove reportedly forcing Kamal to lay off his trusty Fender Rhodes and stick to his synthesizers, Rising Down is at very least one sinister-sounding collection. Fela's "Mr. Grammarticologylisationalism" gets flipped for "I Will Not Apologize", making the high guitar sound like downhome picking and G-funking up the organ solos. Maybe more compelling than the actual songs might be the messy incidental bits left for us snoops to scrutinize, namely the screaming or confiding (but always frustrated) phone banter bookending things, as well as forty-second backwards-masked "Becoming Unwritten", its snare dragging across the beat like a junkyard chain.
Article originally appeared on Soundscapes - 572 College Street Toronto (http://www.soundscapesmusic.com/).
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