A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Boombox Detox

Boombox Detox begins with a harpsichord sample, something Classical, and then drops a scratch and a dry boom-bap beat. Before I was writing about hip-hop, I scribbled a bit about Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and the gang, so I’m always pleased when an artist digs into that genre for samples and inspiration. That’s certainly appears to be the case with this instrumental full-length from Ear Dr. Umz The Metrognome. In November, an uploading error resulted in him leaking his own record before he’d intended to, reminding me of that famous quote that art is never truly done so much as it stops in some interesting place. “ANTARES” is a fav track, with sexy jazz horns and a fascinating reversal, as is the astro-space scratching on “CLOSETOTHECHEST.” Every one of these 13 tracks contains small, detailed moments that reward a careful listener: Pay close attention to all the subtle ways the funk bass is manipulated throughout “SYSTEMSOUND.” Two bonus tracks close out the record and add vocals to the mix, featuring rappers ALCAZAR and Gabriel Teodros, the latter of whom delivers some of his best, most relevant verses on “MOST WARS ARE STILL FOUGHT WITH STORIES.” The doctor has orchestrated a worthy prescription for your ears.

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Hear to Heal

On the song “Fly By,” featured lyricist Moka Only raps, “If vinyl could talk, it would probably say, what the fuck? Like why you put me through all the scratching and chops?” We throw around terms like “old school” whenever there are wax and jazz samples and turntable scratching. While those elements are all present here in abundance, there’s nothing old about Hear to Heal, a 2016 release from Ear Dr.Umz The Metrognome. This record is a 16-track prescription, where The Doctor collaborates with contemporary local cats to derive novel new approaches to boom-bap. This is a who’s who of the Seattle underground, featuring verses and beats from Able Fader, Specswizard, Silas Blak, Myka 9, and others. A standout track for me is “Whole ‘nother Level” with some special cool flows courtesy of Dex Amora and Zuke Saga, but really this whole record is solid from end-to-end, and a great response to “vinyl” on why all the scratching and chops.

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Nine Six Webisode #1

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