ALBUM: SherKnock Poems 2: Consoulting Detective

There's a brand new LP out this week from PreciseMC, a Burlington rapper by way of Sacramento, CA. "Consoulting Detective" marks his second collaboration with producer Scottie Royal, who hails from North Carolina -- always a sweet spot for hip hop. Fans of jazzy boom bap purism will find a lot to love here.

SherKnock Poems 2 is available on Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp.

Jarv & Thief - "The Boiler Room"

As we approach the halfway point of 2017, this right here remains my personal pick for Best 802 Rap Album. Beats & rhymes are rock solid over the span of 21 tracks. It's also fun to listen to. Is there anything else you could really want from an album?

The chemistry really works and these two should have started on the sequel by now.



Jarv will be performing in Burlington at the Sidebar on Friday, May 26th. Sidebar is a small spot with superb beers and they've finally figured out their sound system - go check it out.

Humble - "Premonition"

Bless the Child emcee Humble dropped a solo album outta nowhere last month, and hot damn, it is a solid piece of work. Thanks to a cool half dozen local producers -- and the mastering expertise of Zach Crawford, aka SkySplitter -- it nails the feel and sound of 90's rap tapes.

The big surprises on this album? Old Gold's long arc of beat tape experiments has really paid off. A number of the most impressive, future primitive bangers on Premonition are his. Humble's writing game continues to improve, too: check out his bars on Matchbook and, most especially, his monumental concept cut "I am America."

Overall, this is a great damn release and a big win for the Bless the Child / Anthill orbit, a crew that grows stronger every year.

(Should you feel that you need to read about this release even more, check out Seven Days. Got you covered, bud.)

Loupo - "Good Company"

The tag team of Es-K and Loupo have been racking up some serious accomplishments in the past year. Where Es-K's Building Bridges project plugged him into NYC's rap scene, Loupo's latest album covers very different terrain: wobbly, psychedelic jazz-hop experiments with a talented group of co-producers and live musicians.

This is much more than a beat tape. This is a serious album that will occupy your headphones for weeks.

Good Company was released on Melody Soul, a Baton Rouge based label with a great roster and a global rep. Loupo is already cranking on the next step, a collaboration he's calling "Noise Ordinance" -- more on that soon.

General Steele & Es-K - "Persistence"

Last year, Vermont producer Es-K released a world-class album called Building Bridges in collaboration with NYC rap legend General Steele of the Boot Camp Klik. Since then, their project has been racking up spins around the planet - actual radio spins of actual 180g vinyl, too.

Like any independent artist with quality product should, they've been pushing it hard ever since. This Cisco directed video for "Persistence" features VVS Verbal & Louie Skaggs and a whole lot of Green Mountain panoramic beauty.

The team at Bucktown USA have just released a followup bonus, the Building Bridges Cypha, which features 17 emcees going in on a theme. Maiden Voyage madman Jarv is included in the roster, fresh off tour with RA the Rugged man and joining the Royal Rumble here at lucky number eleven.



Rounding out the 802's contribution is Crusty Cuts on the scratches. All power to the DJs; the world needs more scratch breaks.

Colby Stiltz - Spacetime Tour

Colby Stiltz will be swinging back through New England in support of his new "Purple Universe" album with NH producer BeatsDaily. The biggest stop will be tonight at the Zen Lounge, with opening support from Somewhere in the Solution and the emerging mega-posse, Brain Gang.

Colby Stiltz - "Down to Earth" Kickstarter

Props to Vermont ex-pat Colby Stiltz for refusing to half-ass his crowdfunding: to launch his next album "Down to Earth" properly, he's looking for a five figure budget. Although this is one of the larger Kickstarter campaigns I've seen, it's also one of the most realistic. The cost of doing quality work is huge, and most artists in VT operate on slower schedules than we'd like thanks to budget constraints.

Music is wicked expensive. This simple truth has kept the "Music Industry" alive and well despite 10 years of hype about their impending death. They have scale, they have resources, you do not. A local engineer / drinking buddy who had no interest in speaking on the record told me "You could spend ten grand just on your album, the beats, the sessions, the mix and master. Easy." Folks like him are wary about talking prices in public, and for good reason, too. Artists have no realistic concept of what their money entitles them to, what they themselves need to deliver, and what constitutes a reasonable payment schedule.

So yeah...design, videos, promotion...it adds up fast. Colby Stiltz is going big, and I think it's dope to be transparent about how much that really costs. The kids have to know.