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LP
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HAM 015LP
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Very occasionally you stumble across a digital album that stops you in your tracks - Mahatma X's A Mobtown Suite Vol 1 is exactly that. Home Assembly put matters right and put this excellent album on vinyl. Mahatma X was formed in 2013, initially as an instrumental beat-tape project by producer MALK in St. Andrews, Scotland. He would later be joined in Philadelphia by Jhana Gumption as live drummer and Jahred as MC. The group mixes live instrumentation with samples to create hip-hop reminiscent of its golden age. 17 instrumental tracks have the flow of a beat-tape, with tracks bleeding into one another, going off at right angles, or colliding bumper-to-bumper. Deep and soulful, phat, jazzy and funky - all delivered with a bucket full of punk attitude. From the Adderley sampling opener "Come Thru" to the flutes and breaks of "Mahatma And The White Devil", flutes (again) and warm, gospel organ of "This Hustle Game", and the spacey synths and deep, dubby bassline of "Worddagawd", you know you're in for an exhilarating ride. But there are also other elements that seem to elevate this record above, what is now, a fairly crowded genre. Notably, there's the languorous, stoned guitar refrain on "We Live In Bawlmer, Baby". And it's there again amongst the snares and samples of "Bright Moments" and the sun-kissed "Mad Poetik". RIYL: Dilla, Madlib, DJ Mitsu, Onra, Stones Throw, Jazzy Sport.
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