Last year Joakim “Budji” Buddee” released the album “Eldsjälar och bananskal” (“Driving spirits and banana peels”), a hip hop album which doesn’t sound like I would expect hip hop would sound like, seen from my perspective as someone who just occasionally dive into the genre. Here I don’t find any drum machine beats or synth backgrounds; instead the sound is built upon drums , bass, piano and foremost acoustic guitars.

It works perfectly well, and I guess it’s a sign of the span in hip hop today. The formula of the songs is the traditional verse-rap + pop refrains and he does both really well. There are sticky, melodic refrains where he gets help from a number of singers like Hilda Dahlberg, Lovisa Birgersson and Tom Goren, and tight rap lyrics performed in a nice relaxed way by Budji himself plus a few guests like PelleP and Adam Opinio, lyrics that add a needed sharpness with social criticism about shallowness, comersialism and cynical politics.

You can download “Eldsjälar och bananskal” for free on Whoa, and you can listen to the album on Budji’s site, the Facebook page or on Spotify. Here are two songs:

Sjukt kallt
Dygnet har vänt på mig

In the beginning of this year Sidewalk released the excellent EP “Wonderland Sessions”. Now you can also listen to three tracks from the new EP “Houdini Sessions”. Three songs of different character, where Eboi joins them in one song and Swingfly in another. Below you can listen to the Zappa-vibing “Jack” and if you’d like to listen to the other tracks you can visit Sidewalk on Soundcloud or on Spotify.

You can also find Sidewalk on Facebook and on their site.

Jack

Burlin is a rare bird in hip hop, I’d say. It’s the poet who’s chosen hip hop to carry his lyrics rather than the hip hop artist that’s become a poet. This is empasized even further in the poetry readings in between the songs, as poetic comments to the sharp, hard song lyrics, which shows us seriousness as well as gallows humour.

Stefan Källström (Dirty Cannibal Peasants) has created the music and Burlin’s father, Christer (sr) Burlin excels in the dramatic readings (all in Swedish I’m afraid).

The EP, with it’s 10 tracks is available on Spotify. You can find Burlin on his site.

Jävla Burlin
O Gudar

Zonen is a tight hip hop-trio that have produced music together since 2003. As late as last year they changed the band name to Zonen (“The Zone”). They play an energic hip hop with a nice sense of humour and they vary quite a bit between styles often including nice samplings and fun hooks.

Listen more on Spotify and on their Soundcloud page. Follow their blog or their Facebook page to keep track on new songs.

Vidare, Snabbare

Riff Knives is back with a new EP, “Ape Flip”. And their own mix of  funk, rock and hip hop continues to impress me. It feels like an obvious step forward; like a wine that’s maturing into something exquisite.

To point out something specific that has happened, I feel that the harder gangsta-vibes has been replaced with more rock- and funk warmth, which I think is positive; it feels closer and more “us” than “you”.

They have a special ability of coming up with efficient hooks in guitar riffs, bridges and chorus melodies and to make it all work together with a really nice drive. From that perspective “Put Me On the Ride” is a pleasure to listen to; the song has everything and they even find space for blues harmonicas and a funky guitar solo. “I Miss You (Honestly?)”, which you can listen to here below is another brilliant example.

You can listen to their music on Spotify, Deezer or Grooveshark. You can also find them on their site.

I Miss You (Honestly?)