Levyarvio|The Hai album has sounds of loneliness and the depth of the sea, writes critic Mikko Aaltonen.
Kristo Lantin alias Dj Kridlok’s from ten years ago Mutsi-album is still considered a landmark work of Finnish rap.
The album’s darkly rattling Memphis rap was still relatively new in Finland in 2014. Kridlokki’s new Twoalongside the album Mutsi-album’s underlined monotony and ironic gangsta rapping already sound almost sour.
Kridlokk no longer has to hide behind a voice converter and irony. The rapper, who has grown into his forties, opens Two– on the album, his feelings and views openly and directly, dredging from imaginative metaphors to direct poetry.
Every sound on the album is thought out and every rapped line has meaning. The richness of the mosaic-like texture formed by the beats is something that you are not used to hearing in Finnish rap.
From the phlegmatic and dark steps of Memphis horrorcore, Kridlokk is at the latest breaking away sonically into its own orbit.
Se what is perhaps lost in the homely looseness of the beats and soundscape, is won back in captivity.
Right away the opening track Otus immerses the listener in an atmosphere that is like Francis Ford Coppolan The Book of Revelation. Now. – in the film on the Mekong River, with doomsday light rockets flying recklessly around in the dark of night.
The album’s themes, nature’s struggle for survival and individual loneliness, define its sound. It is low pressure throughout and its claustrophobia has something in common with a trip hop pioneer Trickyn in the most impressive tracks of the first two albums.
Two is, as its name suggests, the art of metaphors. The most important metaphor is the name of the album.
The shark, a big and lonely animal that navigates the depths of the seas, is the alter ego of the rapper, who has proven to be sharp-toothed in his lyrics.
This is how Kridlokk describes his personal experience of loneliness Observationsin paragraph:
“Who wants to prove the passing of the years / I wasted a couple of years alone, and I don’t remember why anymore / I guess I thought you were immune to what happened / I don’t recognize myself from pictures from a couple of years ago / days were hot, days were cold, I was lounging in the marina / I was thinking about all the shit , I spent time, not with anyone.”
For Kridlokk, the sea is not only the shark’s habitat, but also a metaphor for the urban jungle and its endless suburbs, where the law of the strongest prevails. Both the jungle and the sea are rapidly being destroyed, because we don’t know how to navigate and behave properly in either, in a way that respects nature and each other.
Kridlokk does not float or paint rosy views of the future, but rather states that the end has almost come, both for the poor and for nature, as in the album’s title track.
“The crab party won’t go / Let the bugs in the sea be destroyed, but what do I see / I’m thinking in the swimming pool / why is everything so damn expensive / I just didn’t wake up, pay a hundred euros to be ready.”
Rap, hip hop / album
Edu Kehäkettunen: Gives faija jörn. Brokeback. ★★★
From Espoo veteran rapper and radio personality Edu Kehäkettunen we especially remember the Finnish rap pioneer group MC Taakibörsta.
Those who remember won’t be surprised by the name of the man’s new solo album – even if the album doesn’t even have a song matching its title. The name can be interpreted as an ironic comment on the current politically correct atmosphere. Or maybe it’s a roundabout way of saying, “let those of us who are approaching our fifties, too, have a blast.”
However, from this OG position, it is possible for Edu to freely slide down the flap without clinging to generations, target groups and values. Liberation can be heard in the background, in addition to the spiky humorous texts that are full of intoxicant references. They have enough soul, synth mats, disco comps and air.
Rap, hip hop / album
Stepa: Ghetto technique. PME. ★★★
Diligently publishing records Steppe works on his eighth album from Lapland’s down-to-earth Finnish rap into his own kind of humorous genre, which combines Kummeli, Jope Ruonansuu, Undersecretary of State and stripped down and homegrown electro reminiscent of 1980s old school rap. The simplicity of the latter’s underlined Kolho reminds me of Run-DMC’s first records; sometimes the beat just consists of a bass line, video game-like pimping or vague clanging.
The names of the songs tell a lot about the atmosphere: Yes, we have a gig, Go to work, As a substitute at school. The humor is witty and kind, there is no hint of rudeness.
The frame of reference for the story is a rapper waking up from a coma in the hospital, whose head is accidentally stuck between the fridge door. Stepan’s humor works best in doses of a few songs, stretched to the size of a three-quarter album, its nerdy witticisms can also get tiring.
Rap, hip hop / album
Eevil Stöö: Advanced Dungeon & Dragon. Catacombs. ★★★★
“Mainstream you need a countercurrent, the playlists are limited in coverage, they only scratch the surface / the detective will find it, but there is a shortage of Sherlocks.”
Eevil Stöö would seem to be in shock. On his eighth album, the balaclava-rapper’s voice transformer is still on the bends, and nothing else seems to have changed significantly since Tommi Liikkana recorded in the official papers, vastarantakiiski released its first recordings more than a decade ago.
Yet something has changed. Liikka has aged, and with that the trademark of Eevil Stöö’s narrative, the underlined depressiveness and gloom, have made room for light and calm reflections.
Uho is benevolent, like Tyson– in the song: “Bonnie & Clyde, let’s keep it to the end, let’s take care of this ball as well, otherwise the buffet table will sag / for the picker to know, it’s not easy to get rid of the wine stain / rappers are grapes, this is my vineyard.”