Luke Blair came out of nowhere last year with swirling mixes of instrumental hip-hop and experimental ambience with his debut Onandon. I'm delighted to say the success of that album hasn't gone to the young man's head. Follow-up Foma is probably a more challenging a work to the hip-hop status quo than Onandon, especially given the emerging trends championed by Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke. This is what Autechre would sound like if they really did channel their hip-hop influences. Quite simply, calling this hip-hop isn't giving Lukid enough credit. The album opens with an ambient soundscape that is eventually populated with a repetitive, almost afro-meets-minimal-techno beat, setting the stage for an ambient experience moreso than an MC rhyme. Once you hit "Veto", the heavier beats start to begin, kind of as a gutcheck to the ambience preceding it, yet maintaining the unique style of beat that makes Lukid's music so easily identifiable. Heavy bass emerges on "Slow Hand Slap", which might be Lukid's only nod to current trends in hip-hop, but is turned on its head via a vocal sample drowning it out. The heavy bass remains on the next couple of tracks until the ambient interlude title track, followed by album stand out "Fall Apart", which loops a compelling vocal sample over Lukid's trademark beats. Another winner from an emerging talent of the new hip-hop scene, and a must-have.

Style: Instrumental Hip-Hop, Ambient

RIYL: Lone, Madlib

Buy from North South Divide  MySpace

Download: Slow Hand Slap

Tags See All Tags

2008  Ambient  Foma  Instrumental Hiphop  Lone  Lukid  Madlib  Werk  onecaseman 

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