MUSIC REVIEW: THE KICKDRUMS - 'THE GHOST MIXTAPE'

Something For The Weekend: A Free Download of Sweet Beats & Britpop-Infused Hip Hop

This week, to serve as a precursor to their upcoming album of originals, producer duo The KickDrums released The Ghost Mixtape.

The Ghost Mixtape includes KickDrums originals, KickDrums productions/beats, and KickDrums remixes. In that sense, this tape is merely a compilation of recent works. In a deeper sense, however, this tape is a detailed portrait of The KickDrums in transition. It is the tip of a very wide blade that introduces us to The KickDrums as a band while referencing the band-like aspects that have always run through their production work. This is a somewhat diverse tape in terms of fusing influence, but is very uniform in sound, reminding the listener that accepting The KickDrums as stand-alone artists is not at all a stretch because...well, like Timbaland and Danger Mouse before them, they already have a unique sound.

The Ghost Mixtape opens with "Ghost Intro." This is a very interesting track. It was obviously produced solely to serve as the amuse bouche to a piece of work, and really makes a nice thesis statement about this tape. "Ghost Intro" sounds like what you would hear if late-'70s Scott Walker had scored Scarface...that is, until Busta Rhymes' voice-over begins. And I suppose that's a good way to describe The KickDrums in general. I find it interesting that this track brings to mind Scott Walker -- a Midwestern artist who everyone, on first listen, assumes is English. I'll circle back to that later.

The next track, "Perfect World," follows suit entirely. It sounds like Romeo Void's "Never Say Never" performed by first-album Blur...that is until RZA enters the picture.

I think their fusion of Britpop songwriting/arrangement and Hip Hop/electronic sensibilities is what makes The KickDrums such a popular and unique producer team in the Hip Hop world. They are unique as hip hop producers because, by all rights, they should have always been an indie band. Remember in the last paragraph when I mentioned Blur? Well, here's the elaboration on that point: Hearing The KickDrums' originals, one can't help but think of Damon Albarn or, maybe even more appropriately, Richard Ashcroft. Even in their production work, you can hear Britpop melodies and arrangements. And Fitts sings with a vague accent. If you told me that Fitts' vocals on Machine Gun Kelly's "Stereo" were actually sampled from a B-side to Ashcroft's "Check The Meaning," I would've bought it. If you told me that 1993 Jonny Greenwood played guitar on "Take Shape Automatically," I'd buy that too. And here's the elaboration on the Scott Walker thing I wrote earlier: I had no idea The KickDrums were from Cleveland.

All of this is not to say that The KickDrums' sound is purely Hip Hop-meets-'90s Britpop. Other aspects trickle in. The slightly-too-reverby-to-be-ska bass, funk guitar, and synth horns give the track "How To Disappear" an entirely original sound. "Open Your Eyes" sounds a good deal like a house mix of "It's All Too Much" (handclaps and all). There's a lot going on here.

I suppose the all-encompassing and obvious endorsement I would give to The KickDrums as artists is that they aren't your run-of-the-mill sample producers. This isn't saying that their productions never lean heavily on sampled melodies (see the "Strawberry Letter"-scented Peter Bjorn & John remix on this tape), but they have a very real musician side. They are as adept at creating and executing a melody as they are at identifying one. All too often in Hip Hop and electronic music, DJ/Producers try to blur the lines and make laymen believe that they are musicians who can write and play instruments but instead CHOSE to be DJs and/or sample producers. At least once a week, some DJ friend of mine will tell me he wrote a new track, and I'll, by mandate of the songwriter code, have to remind him that no...no, he did not write a song. And this isn't to undermine the talents and ears of a non-musician producer, but even the greatest non-musician producer can't fake his way through it convincingly. Even when an absolutely brilliant sample producer like Kanye attempts to write a record of originals, it bears no resemblance to his producer work. There is a very clear disconnect created by the sheer inability to write/play/sing. The KickDrums display none of that disconnect. As producers, they infuse Britpop into their beats; as artists, they infuse Hip Hop into their Britpop.

This is a great tape, and it makes me excited to hear The KickDrums' official album.

Standout Tracks: "Perfect World," "Ghost Intro"

For Fans Of: RZA, Blur, Scott Walker, Danger Mouse