King Kashmere – “Sounds Like Home” review

This is the 4th EP from London, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer King Kashmere. Notable for being a part of several groups or duos over the last few decades ranging from Kingdom of Fear & Invisible Inc. to Gawd Status as well as Old Children & Strange U, he also has 7 full-length solo albums & a couple of extended plays under his belt. Making his debut for High Focus Records in 2016 off his 3rd album Woof, he returned to the label with TR3B & has brought Cuth in to fully produce Sounds Like Home coming off The Album to End All Alien Abductions.

“Change Your Energy” soulfully starts off talking about everyone having their own universe within ourselves whereas “Thick Bag of Slime” featuring Alecs DeLarge goes for a psychedelic boom bap vibe to speak of striving & getting little in return. The title track soulfully while talks about keeping it real when others pretend while “Door of Truth” grittily asks if one can afford losing the game of life. After the compositional “Places” intermission, the final song “Valhalla” wraps up Sounds Like Home crushingly remembering his brother Tom.

I’d have to put The Album to End All Alien Abductions & TR3B above Sounds Like Home, but I’m nevertheless grateful King Kashmere was able to give us a 6 track EP containing some of the most emotive material in a career spanning over 2 decades. Cuth’s production here leans towards a boom bap direction as opposed to Alecs’ experimentation during The Album to End All Alien Abductions providing a good soundtrack for The Iguana Man to back at simpler times, long lost friends & a new perspective regarding the beauty & brutality of the human condition.

Score: 3.5/5

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Jehst – “Mork Calling Orson” review

Jehst is a 43 year old graffiti writer, MC & producer from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom introducing himself by dropping an EP called Premonitions through his own label YNR Productions based out of London. He would go on to drop High Plains Drifter along with his debut album The Return of the Drifter & the sophomore effort Falling Down under the Leeds imprint Low Life Records, following the latter up with the Mengi Bus mixtape & the Nuke Proof Suitextended play. The Dragon of an Ordinary Familyas well as Billy Green’s Dead & Heathens would all come out independently as a result of Low Life’s collapse, returning for his 5th studio LP.

“Cornerstone” starts with this symphonic boom bap beat produced by Sonnyjim talking about being a foundation of the UK hip hop movement when there are no lies being spoken whereas “You” works in some pianos admitting he doesn’t give a fuck regarding this person who isn’t anything like him whatsoever. The self-produced “Footsteps” takes a jazzier boom bap approach instrumentally becoming unsure in the midst of finding his way back home while “Lonely World” featuring SINDYSMAN finds the 2 talking about finding hope.

Meanwhile on “Wild Herb”, we have Jehst exploring a bit of a g-funk sound for a look inside of his kaleidoscope leading into “Doctor” talking about life getting lonely without having anyone to hold down & him getting older. “Daily Planet” featuring Confucius MC finds the 2 linking up so they can observe the insanity occurring every single day just before “Flight to L.A.” embraces a more soulful sound thanks to Beat Butcha talking about wanting to hit up the west coast.

“Autumn Nights” featuring Confucius MC drumlessly reunites the pair to discuss making something out of nothing being a part of their daily lives while “1 Horse Town” featuring both Confucius MC & Eva Lazarus brings the trio together hoping a spot is saved in the areas they each call home. “Front Door” takes a slower approach in generally talking about looking out to find the antidote blowing ganja smoke & “Skylines” stripping the drums 1 last time asking who’s to blame for the thoughts polluting his brain.

Heavily sampling the Paramount Skydance Corporation owned sitcom Mork & Mindy, the YNR Productions founder continues to unlock Jehst’s superpower of making the melancholic incisively slice through all before him revisiting topics he’s explored in the past broken down from a brand new perspective. The production’s more jazzier & boom bap instead of continuing the experimentations of Billy Green’s Dead, employing a slower flow & reaching a typically supreme standard of syllables & similes over 2 decades later.

Score: 4/5

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Jehst – “Heathens” review

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom graffiti writer, MC & producer Jehst dropping his 4th EP. Introducing himself by releasing an EP called Premonitions through his own label YNR Productions based out of London. He would go on to drop High Plains Drifter along with his debut album The Return of the Drifter & the sophomore effort Falling Down under the Leeds imprint Low Life Records, following the latter up with the Mengi Bus mixtape & the Nuke Proof Suit extended play. Coming off The Dragon of an Ordinary Family as well as the experimental Billy Green’s Dead, he’s compiling 4 tracks ahead of his next LP.

The title track gives off a dusty boom bap suggesting the younger artists must’ve thought he was born yesterday whereas “420 Every Day” works in a horn sample to talk about smoking weed daily. “State of the Union” gets the 2nd half of Heathens going with my favorite track here, hopping over a boom bap instrumental from Pitch 92 to letting off shots using his pen & “Body Bag” wraps things up angrily asking if anyone’s looking for a war they can’t win.

I believe there’s a good chance High Plains Drifterwill always remain my favorite EP in Jehst’s discography, but I’d have to rank Heathens as the weakest of the 4 placing it behind Nuke Proof Suit & Premonitions. However, I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking I’m trying to call this wack when it’s one of the more average entries in his catalog. His penmanship isn’t an issue, although the production dividing itself between boom bap & the experimentations of Billy Green’s Dead could’ve been stronger than I hoped for.

Score: 3/5