By Transmute

Published: February 28th, 2007

For those who love a night out on the town to see that local jazz band that can put on a show rather than just perform, The Octave Below is that band. As a three-member band, The Octave actually utilizes five instruments for their performances. John Kimock rocks the drums, Angelo Miraglia holds down pianist duties with a small organ and a keyboard, an finally, Peter Fritz rotates between two basses. So with an arsenal like this, one becomes interested in viewing the group live.The music that the band plays is comparable to a jazzy/funky, rock out instrumental session. It is not the traditional toe tapping, finger snapping jazz that is played, but rather a head-nod jam session. The up-beat ...

By Transmute

Published: January 17th, 2007

The fusion of jazz, funk, sampling and hip hop instrumentation has been undertaken by a few top notch individuals, such as Madlib, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. But most of the heads that do this type of fusion music are hip hop DJs/producers from the west coast. So the question is where are the east coast heads that want to showcase their musical diversity on record. The answer lies in the soul capital of the Atlantic coast— The Illadelph. Grimace Federation is a six-member Philly band playing the instruments of guitar, drums, bass, the keys and the vibraphone. Two of the members are drummers, two play the bass and two are guitar players (now that is a talented group). Originally, ...

By Transmute

Published: September 20th, 2006

After recently listening to some rap songs, this writer had somewhat of an epiphany. Since Freshout is not only about introducing dope music and new music to the general populace, but also introducing artists (dead or alive) the recognition that they deserve in a time in which harmful sonic waves radiate from televisions and radios worldwide. It was the song “Do You Know Him?” by Rise, of Demigodz/Axis 360 “fame,” that got Transmute thinking it is time to be fresh and change his writing direction. Instead of posts that focus on one song, it is time to focus on the artist as an artist over various songs. Once there is an understanding of the artist as such, then the music ...

By Transmute

Published: September 7th, 2006

When it comes to reggae music, there are a few record labels that have the reputation of delivering quality music for decades. Looking through Freshout’s reggae section, one can clearly infer that Studio One is one of those historical labels that have played a vital part in the history of reggae music. Treasure Isle is another label that has an important role in the history of reggae music. To round up the top three labels that stand as one of the cornerstones of Jamaica’s national music is Trojan Records. Trojan Records was founded in 1968, but was actually started in ’67 by Island Records, in conjunction with Duke Reid, who ran Treasure Isle Records. Trojan was a label solely used to ...

By Transmute

Published: August 22nd, 2006

At the birth of rap music, it was exclusively for Black males. As time moved on Puerto Rican took to the mic, then whites. For those who have been around for a number of years, they remember and give props to the Beastie Boys for rocking mics while keeping true to themselves. Or they look at MC Serch who did not try to “act Black” but was more of a product of his environment. For the younger generation, there is Eminem; the emcee that was known for his hunger on the mic and witty wordplay, and now is probably the most successful white rapper in hip hop history. And there is El-P, once of the legendary Company Flow, who was ...

By Transmute

Published: August 16th, 2006

Hailing for Orlando, FL, Sol.iLLaquists of Sound is what a hip hop band should be. With four members (Swamburger, Alexandrah, Tonya Combs, and DiViNCi) this group intertwines live instrumentation, intelligent lyrics, a fiery delivery, and harmonic singing into songs that range from entertaining stories to commentative pieces about the current state of the world. Their sound really cannot be compared to any other artist, as their style of instrumentation follows no formula, creating songs that either display a vivid understanding of music or lay the foundation for simple and pure boom-bap. The musical influences appear to come from jazz, soul, electronica/techno/or whatever the genre title would be for the futuristic, synthetic and digital sound that Afrika Bambaataa was know for, ...

By Transmute

Published: August 7th, 2006

When it comes to storytelling rhymes, the first name that should come to mind is Slick Rick. Uncle Ricky has been telling elaborate and well thought out stories since the 80’s; and if the authorities would leave the brother alone then he can finally drop another gem for his fans. But as an emcee, one should be about to construct and deliver a decent story.Detroit’s own Elzhi, of Slum Village fame, is most known for his witty wordplay, clever punches, and battlesque lyrics. On his solo effort, Witness My Growth: The Mixtape, the listener is taken through a double disc journey through the development of this Dirty District artist. The songs all show El in top form, even his earlier ...

By Transmute

Published: June 29th, 2006

When the average music fan thinks of Philly Hip Hop, names like The Roots, Will Smith (hee, hee; but he did drop some good stuff when he was with DJ Jazzy Jeff) and Beanie Sigel come to mind. For those a bit deeper into the music scene, artists like Jedi Mind Tricks, Bahamadia (who recently dropped an album after so long - thank you), and Reef the Lost Cauze (the man is nice if you didn't know) can be found in their music collection. But on the strength, these artists can be easily found in Tower Records (even though the prices are ridiculously high, Tower does sell independent rap music). It is well known that Philly is full of great ...

By Transmute

Published: June 5th, 2006

Over the past 30+ years Hip Hop’s main form of audible expression, rap, has seen various levels of commercial success. Since The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” single, rap music has grown from a street corner art form (though there were some rap records that were made prior to “Rapper’s Delight,” this particular single pushed the music into the foreground) to the current multi-billion dollar pimping of a cultural phenomenon. However this post is not a history lesson on rap music, but rather a promotional post for one of the newer tactics to merge popular culture and rap music. Truthfully, Fresh Out Media is not the site to find out popular culture; but real Hip-Hop music is real music, and that ...

By Transmute

Published: May 24th, 2006

Detroit is a city of soulful music. Beyond the golden era of Motown, The D is currently home to artist such as Slum Village and Dwele who have a soulful vibe as well as a boom-bap style. Though the hip-hop community has recently lost one of the greatest producers in music history, the Dirty District has to keep moving. Prior to the passing of Dilla, a production duo was on the come-up will a style that was similar yet unique in comparison to Dilla. This duo is the Platinum Pied Pipers. Consisting of Waajeed (who has also produced for the Slum and executive produced for Dwele) and Saadiq, the production team embarked upon a musical endeavor to display, not only ...

By Transmute

Published: May 12th, 2006

Scratched in at various point of the song, the listener is reminded “niggas like dough.” With that said, the title to this album makes some sort of sense, as this EP by Boston’s Count Bass D is so aptly called Begborrowsteel. The pun in the title implies that “niggas” are willing to beg, borrow, and steal (though “steal” is spelled “steel”) to make money in the music business. This EP is Count Bass D’s short, 16-track musical announcement saying “I’m still here making music, even though I have not dropped a solo joint is a while. And I’m still nice.” This multi-alias artist is known as the fire spitting emcee/vicious DJ [The] Beyonder, the cool, laid back rapper Dwight Spitz, ...

By Transmute

Published: April 23rd, 2006

The Hall of Justus is home to a number of superhero emcees and producers, consisting of Little Brother, L.E.G.A.C.Y., Nicolay, The Away Team, Chaundon, Joe Scudda, DJ Flash, Cesar Comanche and the headman, Big Dho. The Justus League is not just a team of hip-hop artists. There are a few soulful individuals that enhance the League's musical presence in musical culture, and lately one of them, Darien Brockington, has been shining. Featured on two joints on Little Brother’s The Minstrel Show, Brockington proved that he has the vocal strength to conquer his R&B opponents in the mainstream. Recently, Brockington released an EP, entitled The Feeling EP, full of soulful love ballets. The last song of the EP, “Listen,” changes the mood ...

By Transmute

Published: April 16th, 2006

If God were an instrumentalist and hip-hop DJ, his name would be DJ Shadow. The production genius creates soundscapes that equate to the divine awesomeness of the creation story found in Genesis. When Shadow brings sound together, it does not become music or a song, but rather a sonic painting that depicts the world. The mind-boggling combination of sounds in his soundscape provides a gripping ambiance that overtakes the listener. This is not the type of music that you should listen to as background music. His first official release was punningly called Endtroducing ….. DJ Shadow, and was released on the Mo Wax imprint in 1996. The title implies that his style of “music” on this album not only introduces him ...

By Transmute

Published: April 13th, 2006

When people think of Hip Hop, Rhode Island is not the first state that enters the mind. And if it does, Sage Francis is usually the representative of choice. But now another name is added to the list...SymmeTry. Hailing from Providence, RI, SymmeTry is the average man’s wordsmith. He started rhyming in high school where a few heads rapped for fun. Originally pursuing graff writing, SymmeTry soon picked up emceeing and began to develop his style. With support from friends, coupled with his own self-determination, SymmeTry began to get more serious with his craft. His influences span a range of music, including Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, J-Live and Aesop Rock. SymmeTry admits that he is not up on old-school hip-hop ...

By Transmute

Published: April 9th, 2006

As a number of reggae artist today place their energy into the dancehall, creating jams for thee people to dance and get wild to, those with a more mature ear are left to listen to classic reggae artists who never disappoint, but have the same familiar voice. To some listening to Beres Hammond or Frankie Paul records for that 20 or so years is all right, but there comes a time when a new voice must emerge. In 1999, such a voice arose out of London, England, backed by one of the most influential reggae labels in the world. Alpheus' debut album Quality Time, on the Studio One/Heartbeat label, gives fans of classic dubs and lovers rock faith that there ...

By Transmute

Published: March 25th, 2006

Jazz may have come out of the United States, but the world has taken its turn in embracing the music. In particular, Jaga Jazzist, hailing from Norway, have been exploring this genre for over ten years. The members of this ten piece band are almost single handedly responsible for the majority of all of the significant records that have come out of Northern Europe. Each individual in Jaga Jazzist is accomplished on his own and/or with other groups. In a sense, Jaga Jazzist is like the Weathermen or Wu-Tang Clan of Norwegian Jazz. Though they are mainly popular in Europe, Jaga Jazzist deserve recognition for embracing their soundscape. Thanks to Ninja Tunes, and a recent license/collaboration deal, the Americas can ...

By Transmute

Published: March 20th, 2006

When it comes to instrumentation, one of the best was Lee "Scratch" Perry. With his studio band, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Perry has delivered hundreds of musical gems that solidify him as a musical genius. The song "Coca Macca" helps to show how great The Upsetters and Perry were. The slow tempo introduction to this song gets the listener's head bobbing, having them feel as if they are listening to a Madlib beat. In fact if one were to listen to Madlib's jazzy projects like Yesterday's New Quintet, then listen to "Coca Macca", he would be able to hear where some of Mad's musical influence comes from (check out Madlib's Blunted in the Bomb Shelter mix if you either like Madlib, reggae, ...

By Transmute

Published: March 13th, 2006

For all my true hip-hop heads and cratediggers, you'll find this jam familiar (check out MF Doom's works). For my b-boys and b-girls, you'll dig this jam, too. Cymande is a music band. This sound like a facetious statement, but how else should a band be categorized that plays soul, funk, reggae, psychedelic, and blues and whose vibe is appreciated by hip-hop heads? Cymande dropped a number of fiery gems throughout the 70's which have been forgotten through the rise of the synthesized era. "Brothers on the Slide" is only one example of the fire that time is trying to extinguish. This nine member band of self-taught musicians dropped this song in 1974, on their Promised Heights album on Janus Records. The ...

By Transmute

Published: March 5th, 2006

For those who listen to Roots Reggae, Conscious Reggae, and dub, the Heptones will definitely hold it down for you. And Mr. President is an example of the Heptones holding it down. On the dub side, the musical genius Lee "Scratch" Perry handles production for this tune. The song is quite mellow; the bassline really won't rattle your subs, the drums are a lite reminder that percussion is the backbone of reggae music, and the flanged electrical piano and guitar riffs add a mellow, ambient feel to the song. Lyrically, the Heptones, with the help of Jah Lion, address the issue of aristocracy, especially by those who have the responsibility of helping the common man. The song seems to have ...

By Transmute

Published: March 3rd, 2006

Jaylib is the brainchild of two of the greatest hip-hop producers in hip-hop history: Oxnard, California's Madlib and the late Jay Dee out of Detroit, Michigan. The album, Champion Sound is somewhat of a concept album in which the idea was to see which producer can out produce the other. On dawgs, they both won this production competition. The album starts with the intro produced by both Madlib and Dilla; then the rest of the album goes back and forth between the producer/emcee in which, for instance, Mad would do the beat and Jay would rhyme, and the next track would be vice versa. The last two tracks have Madlib producing and spitting on his own track and Dilla doing the ...

By Transmute

Published: February 18th, 2006

Opening up as a convergence of Phantom of the Opera and mid-90's boom-bap, listeners beware of one of the dopest joints to come out of the Stones Throw camp (and Stones Throw only drops music that is a centimeter short of divinity). In honor of the legendary J-Dilla, this post brings to light one of hundreds of examples that show why he is such an awesome producer. The instrumental for this track is straight up sick. The Phantom of the Opera theme is played out nicely on a synthesizer, as in an interview by Y'skid conducted with Dilla exposes that he turned to a synthetic sound due to sample clearances. The interpolation of a classic horror theme song underlayed by an ...

By Transmute

Published: February 12th, 2006

On February 10, 2006, one of the greatest producers of our time passed away due to liver complications: James Yancey better know as Jay Dee. However, to post up on one of his many classic joints would not do him justice. This will not be a news article about what his cause of death, nor will it be a biography of his legacy. Instead, this post is a small personal tribute to greatness and a means of introducing people to the genius named J-Dilla. Back in winter of 2000, my rhyme partner put me up on a group out of Detroit by only playing me an instrumental interlude found in the middle of the album. I asked who this group was, ...

By Transmute

Published: February 11th, 2006

Illogic- (n) a lack of logic; invalid or incorrect reasoning. Ill- (adj, Slang) awesome; possessing the characteristics of being great or above average. Logic- (n) A system of reasoning; Valid reasoning; Reasoned and reasonable judgment. These word mean one of two things, the emcee by the name Illogic is either a mad ranter of words that lack a sense of correct reasoning or an awesome lyricist whose words display a valid system of poetic reasoning. After hearing Verbage, one can make a definite decision. Verbage acts as a two way manifesto both denouncing wack rappers from the art of rhyming as well as proclaiming his prowess as an exceptional lyricist. The beat in itself is a mellow backdrop to this lyrical dissertation as it ...

By Transmute

Published: February 10th, 2006

This song is the musical definition of fire. Carnage, a Definitive Jux and Atoms Family affiliate, attacks this Nasa produced gem with the type of hunger that will leave hip-hop heads nostalgic for rap music of the mid 90's. First, the instrumental is an insane sonic platform that creates a futuristic militant aura like Han Solo meets RZA (circa mid- to late 90s) in 2030. This beat solidifies the fact that El-P is not the only beatsmith at Definitive Jux (or any independent label) that can take a sci-fi influence and make a beat that sounds good. Beyond this, this beat also proves that Nasa is more that a sound engineer, as he is so frequently noted within so many inlays ...

By Transmute

Published: February 7th, 2006

Bronx emcee C-Rayz Walz is one of the illest and most talented emcees out today. Member of the Strong Hold crew, Walz has recently released his second solo effort on the Definitive Jux imprint entitled Year of the Beast. The album contains a number of fiery tracks, including the social commentary "BlackOut." The instrumental on this track is on point. Produced by Myk Defy, the track opens with a short electric guitar solo, which explodes into a bouncy head nodding beat. Throughout the song the guitar *switches up (?confusing)* , as well as the bass line for the song, keeping the beat interesting. But it's the lyrics that make this song shine. Walz spits the first verse from the perspective of ...