Level Headed, Forcast, Slats, Hacksaw and Debate make up the Train Of Thought crew and combined they are bringing some high quality Australian Hip Hop to your ears, a highly impressive debut album that kills it on all levels………….That was something I wrote back in April 04 in a review for Moving Heads, the debut release and first I had heard of Train of Thought and an emcee named Level Headed, I liked it. Fast forward 5 years and Level Headed has gone the solo route, somewhat. His solo debut offering is “The Spice Of Life” and staying true to his crew features Debate on all the production, Hacksaw on the cuts and a slew of guest spots for Train of Thought as a collective and individual members, but how does Level Headed hold it down by himself?

First and foremost the chemistry created by being crew for a long time can not be understated. When Debates production is teamed with the relaxed drawl like flow of Level Headed you can see that each element from beat structure, verse structure and pace is purposely built for this album. You can tell that these two know how each other work and it creates a consistent vibe and relationship between producer and emcee. This is immediately highlighted with ‘Down To Earth’ and ‘Bounce’, both tracks providing a head nodding intro to the album with the drums on ‘Bounce’s’ hook lifting it to what would surely be an impressive live track.

Level Headed delivers an honest Australian hip hop album with themes throughout being relevant and positive to most, highlighted on tracks such as ‘Spice of Life’ and ‘Countdown’, featuring one of the most impressive Reason verses I have heard for a minute now. Lyrically Level Headed holds his own, with a lot of multis and flow being on point. Some of the hooks are designed for live shows and whilst they still work on the album they would be better pumping out live. The multi layered 4 bar hooks such as ‘Double Header’ ft Headlock, do hold an impressive flow. The ‘Bring ya back to life’ interlude highlights some early influences and is a good trip down memory lane trying to name every track played, fuck chewed tapes.

The second half of the album features Train Of Thought on a few tracks and Slats on a couple as well and again the chemistry makes these tracks solid. ‘Too late now’ is a morbid tale of a school massacre, possibly a Blackwood high gunman, that is delivered at a level that holds the listeners ear although replay value may be low. An interesting collaboartaion with 8th degree on ‘Bring them down’ is a little confusing. It sounds like a Hed Pe attempt but the hook comes off to me as a bit out of place, we are saved by the heavy guitars on ‘The hills’ to bring it all home though.

‘The Spice Of Life’ is a consistent solo release from Level Headed. The combination of Debate and himself is a winner and provides quite a few highlights. There are a few tracks that seem a little out of place but ‘The Spice Of Life’ is a quality offering from an emcee who has taken the time to put together a complete album rather than a rushed effort of half assed tracks. Pick it up and get down with the Level Head.

www.levelheaded.com.au
www.myspace.com/levelheadedmc

Goto to check the new Video from Level Headed titled “The Hills”

Pick up Spice Of Life from all good Hip Hop outlets and check the launch coming soon near you! Check the flyer on your right for gig details!

The debauchery filled Funkoars are back with “The Hangover”, their third full length release. Hons, Sesta, Trial and Reflux return with more punches, flow, laughs, drinking tales and sexual references than a dodgy stoner comedy. So is this a bad hangover or the type that makes you wanna crack a fresh one and keep going?

Well lyrically the topics are still pretty much the same, but why change something that they do so well? Trials still comes with lines that will either have you laugh or cringe such as “It can’t be/so big when ya piss you gotta shake more than Ali”. Hons spits about gambling and drinking. Sesta spits about how amazing he is and drinking. Trials spits about chicks scared of the dick and drinking. This is not to say the album is full of simple lyrics and topics, quite the opposite, all three emcees have untouchable flow and twist words around in ways that make you grin. The biggest testament to this is probably that they can make you listen and hang on each word even if it is on similar grounds in regards to topics and on top of this; shit is fun to listen to. This is the definitive get mates around, drink and play this shit loud album.

Production wise there is a fuller sound to this album, more of everything. Lots of guitar rock style licks, heavy drums, soul samples and big bass combine to deliver a full sound not really like anything released in this country but certainly with a signature funk that the oars always bring. Sesta and Trials share all the production credits bar one beat from Suffa. One thing that is notable are the hooks are a lot more intense this time around, anthem chants, big crowd sing along style hooks dominate in tracks such as “Reign on the masses”, “Lock Me Up”, “Bootleg It” and “Show Money”. You can easily picture the Oars on crowd control with quality shit like this, live, it will be huge.

The Hangover certainly will give Funkoars fans what they are after and will probably grab the ears of some new-comers. Full of big beats, quality quotable lines and an overall sense of fun, this album will certainly lead to few hangovers in itself and while the saying says “avoid hangovers, stay drunk”, I would say in this instance grab this hangover; but still stay drunk fuckers.

By Gareth M