There’s a drawl to social media, every cat and hot dog stand has a page of somewhat, and as if I wasn’t lonely enough, now it’s an imperative to follow my office cleaning company on Twitter and my ex’s dog on Instagram… cos research, fap fap.
But, what I’m getting at is, with so much junk in the trunk, when you’ve got a flat tire, where do you find the spare? Under all the rubble of options, there are some credible labels and artists putting out dope material, yeah Yeezy put out 12 tapes this year, but I missed the release radar on Spotify, so now I gotta scoop it from a dodgy upload on YouTube that has a pixelated photo of Drake’s left nipple.
Anyway, Vanity Press, who’ve been steadily gaining a reputation on and offline for releasing jams, they might not be in your face on the socials, but they keep putting out solid and intriguing records, and that’s enough. So when they sent us across Black Noi$e’s ‘Illusions‘, well… the album is exactly why I was spewing the last 2 paragraph’s of shite for – we found a little gem, ain’t we. Cos when you open up the album with a track like “Wake Up”, then god damn, ya’ll motherfuckas need to wake up. How you missing this shit?
Regardless, welcome to the Detroit native’s full-length effort under the guise of Black Noi$e… a man who wears many hats, and with an admirable steep in the music industry that’s been brewing longer than an Earl Grey needs to, it’s definitely about time. Cutting a lot of yayo in the hip-hop scene with experimental artists as it is, this is Rob Mansel’s nod to more up-beat tempos and house notes, to label it as house though, doesn’t quite fit the bill, think of it more as a tumble-dryer of sounds and influences, precisely folded into neat tracks.
Case in point, the track premiere below of “Pandemic“, packing a weighty one-two, slide, jab, uppercut smash… all up in your grill. “Pandemic” is the epicentre of ‘Illusions‘, where all of its ideas meet in the middle, the faster-paced kicks melded with haunting melodies, its experimental aura pumping gas through the speakers… enough meat to spill onto the dancefloor and disrupt your safe bubbly space, and left of centre enough to question your awkward dance moves. Peep what we’re talking about.
Usually, mixing it up and folding genres like Origami, Black Noi$e is prone to and involved respectfully in hip-hop’s more interesting artists, ‘Illusions‘ sees him play with the same notions, focusing more on electronic numbers, fused with some gorgeous trippy house – Swash-buckling moments arise from the sabres of “B LVDE III” & “Xchange“… which is disgusting. Aside from the crack tho, there are some excellent moments that grab you in this album, Oizo is another stellar track packing weight and oddly different from what’s currently HypeBae.
If you’re out for a new find ‘Illusions’ is appropriately released on Black Friday (November 23rd), grab a copy on Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
1. Wake Up
2. Ninety6
3. Jump Off a Building
4. Sunrize
5. Under Interlude
6. Pandemic 04:42
7. B LVDE III
8. Oizo
9. XChange
10. Nite Drive
Discover more about Black Noi$e and Vanity Press Records on Inverted Audio.