UPDATE 2011.03.27 8:32 PM EST
First off, this is an album that merits multiple listens. (Click here to check out As Above So Below on Windmills' SoundCloud.) Samples are tastefully sprinkled throughout with several grouped in the first track that serve to introduce the theme that the mainstream is mediocre and people are no longer encouraged to pursue excellence. This message from Windmills is cemented by track #09 "Reborn of Thought" - a complex lyrically-tight song with a message from the underground for the mainstream, which also features clutch scratching of hip-hop samples. Scratching and samples don't overpower the listener though. Oh and the samples that are used aren't necessarily those you would expect to hear in rap, as you can see from the video posted below that, at least for me, recalls Don Quijote tilting at windmills.
Noel Harrison - The Windmills Of Your Mind [Live Performance]. "The Windmills Of Your Mind" Wiki here.
Track #07 "Outside My WIndow" has a concept that is pretty cool; take another look at the title of the song for a clue. Track #10 "Customer Service" has a chorus that is different and while that may turn some off, it's another song with an ill concept. Be sure, before you abandon this album to the annals of your mp3 player's Shuffle, that you check out track #11 "Small Town Better Blues" where Windmill goes in the hardest with an emotional flow and lyrics that can't be ignored.
Oh and download the whole album here until March 28th, 2011. Peace, peace y'all. One Love.
Framework (emcee and DJ formerly of the Vermont hip hop crew The Loyalists) & Rex Rey (producer, multi-instrumentalist from Los Angeles) got together and formed Windmills in March of 2010 after answering a Craigslist posting. Combining their finely tuned skills, Rex & Frame finished their debut album, "As Above So Below" a year later.
First off, this is an album that merits multiple listens. (Click here to check out As Above So Below on Windmills' SoundCloud.) Samples are tastefully sprinkled throughout with several grouped in the first track that serve to introduce the theme that the mainstream is mediocre and people are no longer encouraged to pursue excellence. This message from Windmills is cemented by track #09 "Reborn of Thought" - a complex lyrically-tight song with a message from the underground for the mainstream, which also features clutch scratching of hip-hop samples. Scratching and samples don't overpower the listener though. Oh and the samples that are used aren't necessarily those you would expect to hear in rap, as you can see from the video posted below that, at least for me, recalls Don Quijote tilting at windmills.
Noel Harrison - The Windmills Of Your Mind [Live Performance]. "The Windmills Of Your Mind" Wiki here.
Track #07 "Outside My WIndow" has a concept that is pretty cool; take another look at the title of the song for a clue. Track #10 "Customer Service" has a chorus that is different and while that may turn some off, it's another song with an ill concept. Be sure, before you abandon this album to the annals of your mp3 player's Shuffle, that you check out track #11 "Small Town Better Blues" where Windmill goes in the hardest with an emotional flow and lyrics that can't be ignored.
Oh and download the whole album here until March 28th, 2011. Peace, peace y'all. One Love.
Produced by Rex Rey.(Via.)
Emceeing and cuts by Framework.
Mixed & Recorded by Rex Rey.
Mastered by Dave Cooley.
Songs by Windmills.
