Advertising The Invisible Hiding In The Spotlight LP
This longplayer presents a collection of instrumental tracks from earlier vinyl-only EP's - those EP's being the product of a collaboration between graf artist Cept 148 and The Nextmen's Brad Baloo.
For an LP that is essentially a 'best of' compilation it has a remarkably coherent sound and identity. Closest to the surface are Cept's grafitti influences - but there are a lot of elements which make this record feel quite mystic and cinematic. These mild themes are dragged together through very drum oriented boom bap production - every track is really driven by huge industrial sized breaks. Whilst this doesnt sound like a Nextmen LP it does have some tracks which go through the motions of hiphop formula. I felt the best tracks appeared when things got slightly paranoid - when the music became atmospheric and dragged its hiphop roots into blacker areas. I think it can be best described as 70's thriller music - like the music that flips during the big car chase scene. There isnt one filler or bad track on this LP - all twelve of them are well mixed, use nice layered instrumentation, clever vocal snippets and synthbox effects. I cant front - I love my drums and this record hits with some earth shaking meaty shots. Its the big, gritty n' chunky drums which stop the record being easy listening sofa music as the instrumentation on each track moves in a chilled direction. My personal highlights came during the guitary snare laden 'Knee Deep', the rolling stabbed orchestration on 'Theme From...', and the squelching b-line/sweeping string fiesta of 'Night Walker'.
Overall, whilst Advertsing The Invisible cant yet sit alongside other instrumental hiphop heavyweights like DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, RJD2, etc - they have stepped up with a good set of b-boy oriented but still atmospheric cuts. Its a really enjoyable record that moves along the thinline between heavy dancefloor bigbeat/boom bap and edgey lounged out hiphop. Theres enough diversity in sound and layering to keep you properly interested for the full 50 minutes.
- Smiffy | profile
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