photo from MySpace
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Morning Show host John Richards, is Brand New Vandals
by Rob Sonic from his 2007 Album Sabotage Gigante on Definitive Jux.
This second album from Bronx hip-hopper Rob Sonic picks up where its predecessor left off. Like Telicatessin, Sabotage Gigante is lyrically and sonically heady. And even though Rob self-produces, his albums fit so naturally into the Def Jux catalog. Like other Def Jux albums from ’07, Sonic’s latest carries a little more moodiness and incitement. Sonic himself has listed his music’s ability to stir rebelliousness as a creative benchmark. In the process, instead of using the latest gear, Sonic likes to go back in time, using old synthesizers and drum machines in addition to live instrumentation. What comes out of the speakers in the end is raw emotion, hard-to-surpass beats, and intelligent lyrics that pay homage to what hip-hop once was and still can be. After doling out his production services earlier this year to Aesop Rock and others, the favor was returned, resulting in collaborations with Aesop Rock (Smoke If You Got’Um
) and Busdriver (Spy Hunter
). Do not miss a fabulous opportunity to see both Rob Sonic and Aesop Rock 10/28 at the Showbox. To feel rebellious, check out his MySpace page.
If you’re wondering how you remember Rob Sonic, he also backs up another Def Jux artist, Aesop Rock, as he did here, at our Musicfest NW broadcast:
