re-cap-ish

Finally 2012 is here, the year in which the world will be reduced to ash and civilization as we know it will cease to exist. It better be a good year for music then, right? Seeing as we're only four days into the new year I haven't listened to many 2012 releases, thus I would like to take the time to go back and highlight some 2011 artists/releases you may have missed.

Has-Lo - In Case I Don't Make It

I mentioned Has-Lo in my earlier 2011 hip hop post but I still feel he is being slept on. I've heard his music referred to as 'rainy day rap,' which I suppose is a fancy way of saying that Has-Lo makes chill, slightly melancholy hip hop. Here are a couple tracks from the album.





While I'm on hip hop, I should mention that if you haven't been paying attention to the Green Ova Undergrounds collective this past year you've been missing out. Aside from Main Attrakionz laying down 808's & Dark Grapes II we've got the Blackberry Kush EP, Chandalier, Squadda B's I Smoke Because I Don't Care About Death, and more. Here is "Swaggin' Hard" from the Chandalier EP, followed by "On Deck(Remix)" from the Blackberry EP.





My apologies for the huge contrast in material for this post but I haven't taken any time to mention Esoteric (the UK psych-doom act, to be clear). Last year they released the soul devouring The Paragon of Dissonance which is quite the addition to their discog. It's more of what you might expect from these guys but the quality and craftsmanship is unflinching. There is no doom band on the same level as Esoteric. I promise. Slow, monolithic walls of psychedelic, noisy doom.



Kreng is an artist I've been watching closely for a few years now. Although he has mostly done difficult to find music for many theater and dance productions, in 2009 he released L’Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu and now in 2011, Grimoire. Excellent darker ambient that contains modern classical elements, maybe even a bit of free-jazz.



Next post I will continue to expand on music similar to Kreng, highlighting other great ambient/experimental/modern classical releases from the past year. Stay tuned!