I just bought Whiskey Blanket‘s It’s Warmer Down Here (2004) on the basis of a few tracks they offered on MySpace.
It’s hip hop, socially critical hip hop (crit hop?), set atop a well constructed downtempo trip hop music bed (yeah, I’ll cut it with the hops already). It immediately brought to mind MC 900 Ft. Jesus‘s The City Sleeps and other tracks, but with better, sharper raps and without the MC’s somewhat whiny voice.
Land of the Free stands atop a woody-sounding synth asking us who or what we’re willing to die for, while Cultivation hooks us with a cello trick while speaking of economic and political inequality. What’s the rest of the album hold? I’m looking forward to finding out.
Looks like WHisky Blanket’s performing Saturday night in Boulder, so close and yet so far away from my conference in Denver.
Top photo by Sarah Cass.