Category Archives: Recensioner

Recension: “PH3 Löser ett fall”

PH3 - Löser ett fall

Hela fem år har gått sen sist. Friskt vågat hälften vunnet heter det ju. Det finns nog inget som är så vågat som att syssla med det som lite luddigt kallas experimentell hiphop. Det här abstrakta som gör att vi för det första inte riktigt hänger med på vad Profilen och Eye N’ I pratar om, och som för det andra gör att våra öron spetsas lite extra när livestämningen bunkras upp.

Det är svårt att bestämma vad som är bäst på PH3 Löser ett fall. Det kan mycket väl vara egenvärdet i att göra något som känns nytt och spännande, eller det faktum att flowet hos de två rymdfararna är helt sinnesjukt (lyssna på Tillbaka i tiden och få ett smakprov på en minut), eller att Jag trodde jag va han och Osynlig gör att man tappar fattningen.

I universum finns inget upp och ner. Det gör det inte hos PH3 heller. Som lyssnare förstår man inte riktigt vad man är med om, men man anar storheten i det ändå. Texterna är finslipade till sin yttersta spets och de lyckas vrida och vända flera gånger om i hjärnan på den passiva lyssnaren. Det är det som är grejen: Det är fullständigt olagligt och fel på alla sätt och vis att lyssna på PH3 Löser ett fall och vara passiv. Man måste vara där. Fiska efter och grabba tag i den där känslan som är PH3. Det här är för bra för att låta glida förbi.

För dig som gillar snygga texter: här har du. För dig som älskar snygga beats: här finns dem. Bättre blir det inte. Kasta då in Jocke Åhlund (från Teddybears), Skizz från Stockholmssyndromet och Salem Al Fakir och du har ett fantastiskt recept på en space cookie.

Det finns en liten klick på den svenska arenan som tillhör samma skola som PH3. En skola som vi härmed kallar Aaron Phiri-skolan. Det handlar om Funkenteller (Skizz från Stockholmssyndromet), Supahumans samt Oliver Def och Bjarne B. Det är astronauter från samma universum som PH3: en rymd som inte riktigt kan kategoriseras eller sättas i fack. Varför? För det är för konstigt bara. Funkminimalistisktabstrakthiphopmedliveband. Vad ska man säga? Det är magiskt. Låt dessa strömmar skölja över oss, och låt dem göra sig hörbara. Låt PH3 visa vägen.

Bit inte sönder rymddräkten! Skivan släpps idag, 10/11!

Henok Achido – Almaz Charming Child

Almaz Charming Child
Henok Achido first entered the spotlight in 2001 when he featured on the group Fattaru’s debut single “Mina hundar”. Henok, who stood out with his fast rap and different flow, joined Fattaru on their tour through Scandinavia. It looked like he had a bright future in hip hop, but instead of riding on the hype he chose to take a step away from the spotlight to work further on his skills.

Nothing new was to be heard from him until 2007 when he released That Fucking Guy EP for free through his homepage. The EP was well received and he quickly gained a reputation as one of the most promising rappers on the Swedish scene.

Two years after his return to the spotlight the debut album is finally here. Henok has managed to build an incredible hype around this album and he even gained the attention of some of the biggest hip hop blogs in the world, like NahRight and RealTalkNY. Because of this my expectations were set very high when I received the album. To my big relief he manages to meet these expectations and delivers confident lyrics with an amazing flow.

The electro-wave that is currently taking Sweden (and hip hop in general it seems) is also present on the album, but instead of club-friendly disco the sound on Almaz Charming Child is instead rather dark and dystopic. The beats and, for such a large group of producers, the surprisingly held-together sound of the album is produced by some of Swedens most talented producers such as DJ Large, Filthy, Astma and Michel Rocwell.

The very frequently used auto-tune effect can also be found on the album, and is used on the dark track “Heartbreak Hotel” which is reminiscing to the sound on Kanye West’s latest album. But whereas Kanye, according to me, uses auto-tune to the point where it’s unbearable to listen to Henok manages to make it almost seamlessly float into the sound and lift the song.

Everything about Almaz Charming Child isn’t great though. Because even if he has a flow that can lift an otherwise mediocre song and he has some of Swedens most talented producers featured on the album I can’t help feeling that the lyrics are a bit repetitive after a while. There’s to many lyrics about his own greatness and to few lyrics with a bit of depth. Henok’s got swagger that some only dream about and because of this he shouldn’t have to tell you that in so many of the songs. It’s in the songs with a deeper meaning he really shines and shows you what a talented artist he really is. Like on the powerful track “High On Life (When The Drugs Don’t Work)” where the beat is scaled down in favor for his voice and lyrics, which reflects what I wished there was more of on this album:

“It seems like everybody loves my flow, but what’s a flow without a heart, I must touch your soul”

Despite all this, Almaz Charming Child is a very strong album which undoubtedly lives up to the hype and will follow me throughout the year!

4 out of 5

A swedish version of this review (which is slightly longer) is avaliable through the Whoa Blog!

Other Reviews:

City (5/5), Dn (3/5), GP (4/5), Kristianstadsbladet (4/5), Metro (3/5), Sydsvenskan (4/5), SVD (3/5), Sonic (8/10), Dagens Skiva (8/10)

Chords – Live at Stockholms Kulturfestival!


Brunkebergs Torg, Stockholm
Saturday, August 16
21.00 – 22.30

Tracklist:

01. Night time comes
02. Stay hungry (end of the song with the “Bad Boy 4 Life“-beat)
03. No time like The present
04. Wrap your chops (end of the song with the “I got 5 on it“-beat)
05. Places to go
06. On The grind (chorus and his verse)
07. På din grinn feat. Organism 12
08. Andrahandskontrakt feat. Öris (T.R)
09. Allt jag vet feat. Mofeta & Jerre (Chords kicking “Bara när jag är full”)
10. Det brinner i paris feat. Timbuktu
11. Det löser sig feat. Timbuktu
12. Internet friends
13. Strangers in the light
14. Luckiest man alive

Extra: Knockin’ on my door

I’m a very big fan of Chords but I’ve only managed to see him live 2 times in 5 years, well I’ve seen him as “Helt Off” and of course together with Timbuktu but solo concerts by Chords is still a pretty rare thing. So when i found out that he was doing 2 gigs in Stockholm (one on my first and only day off in 2 weeks!) I was psyched!

I went to both gigs, the first was at “Club Spiderdogs” but I’ll not go into details about that concert since it was nothing in comparison to the gig he did the day after (it also might have to do with the fact that I was a bit drunk during the first gig).

The show kick-starts with Moe and Spider Dogs gradually building up the beat to “Night Time Comes” and by the time Chords enters the stage the crowd is already wild! Spider dogs really does an amazing job and it really ads a lot of extra energy to the show. Wrap your chops is really something extra when you see it with a live band and when the whole crowd is screaming “high, high, high” during the chorus and Spider Dogs stats playing the beat to Luniz classic track “I Got 5 On It” I find it hard to imagine that the show will get any better than this. Wrong!

This gig is full of guests and when he’s done with his verse and chorus from “on the grind” he suddenly starts to sing the chorus from “På din grinn” and Organism 12 jumps up on stage, followed by Öris and then Mofeta. We’ve been promised a secret guest and after Mofeta has left the stage the band starts to play “Det brinner i Paris” and Timbuktu runs out on stage, by now the crowd has gone ballistic! You can really see that these two guys has shared a stage hundreds of times, they could probably jump up on stage together without rehearsing and give one hell of a gig!

The whole show was amazing and it makes one really wonder how anyone in the right mind can choose “Broder Daniel” before Chords. All I can say is that if you went to “The Voice 08″-show (why the hell would anyone do that!?) or just stayed home you really missed out on something! Big up to JuJu Records for the photo from the show!

I can’t record video clips with my phone and I don’t have access to a camera so to really show you how good “Wrap Your Chops is with a live band I thought I would give you a clip from the gig at “Joe’s Pub” a couple of years ago, enjoy!