Yesterday, Portland's finest, the Lifesavas dropped Gutterfly: the Original Soundtrack. I can immediately say that this concept album has not only a smoother listening flow than Spirit in Stone, but the production of the individual songs are far more complete. Spirit in Stone was like most debut albums for gifted hip-hop artists: a collection of excellent songs. With Gutterfly, JUMBO, Vurs, and Shines have given themselves the extra challenge of telling a story in film format, with only songs. They take on alter-egos throughout, but remain true to the essence of their hip-hop chemistry. Through only one listen, I heard references to Public Enemy, Tupac, Wu-Tang Clan, and many other lesser-known MCs. They don't bring in any other Quannum MCs which is odd, but they do have a wide collection of other underground stars like dead prez and Smif 'N Wessun. They even bring in Seattle's own Jake One to produce a few tracks, and if we know Jake One it is probably from his work on Gift of Gab's 4th Dimensional Rocket Ships Going Up, or his recent work with E-Real as Universoul. If you are an early fan of hip-hop this album probably wasn't made for you. I feel it was probably made for hip-hop heads, heads enveloped with headphones, hands busy scratching out hopeless rhymes, feet tapping to the snare. But it's great listening--so give 'er a spin!
The Lifesavas are celebrating their album release in Seattle on May 9th, at Neumo's. While Neumo's isn't exactly my favorite venue, the Lifesavas put on a great show (I've seen them twice) and it should be a ton of fun. There is a 21+ bar area and an all-ages area too, so everyone should come down with us and get crazy!
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