Vinyl Life : Vinyl Life :: Review

Remember when ghetto blasters and popping and locking were all the rage about 30 years ago?  I guess it’s not politically correct to call portable stereos that anymore, but I believe Vinyl Life would prefer if you did.  Vinyl Life is a little group from NYC that predates the Ipod and trades in the vintage sounds of classic hip-hop, house, and the antique analog equipment that produced some of the finest bodyrockin’ beats known to man.  Vinyl Life consists of three core members, Butcha MC Phaze Future and Keyboardist Ritchie Roxx who are seeking to bring the party back to music on their self-titled debut.

The album crackles with energy the moment that the vocodered “Hot Sauce” begins instantly reminding me of a wood-paneled roller rink anthem.  Who wouldn’t want to get down to this while going round the world?  Or chill to this song as they played Joust and some phat pinball machine?  I can almost smell the cheese on those delicious square pizzas.  Maybe I’m dating myself in that last sentence, maybe not.  The siren wail of “Hi Tops” follows bringing the album into rave territory, glow sticks and pacifiers not included.  The rhymes on this track feel like someone has listened to The Real Roxanne one too many times as a youth and that’s definitely not a bad thing.  MC Future Phaze has a lot of flow in his delivery which is usually centered on the classic braggadocio style of past MC’s.  Vinyl Life don’t get caught up in the empty-handed gangsta claims that dominate too many hip hop albums.  Just make sure your Kangol is turned the right way when listening to this album.

Giorgio Moroder synths dominate the majority of the album especially on tracks, “Innovation” and “Etch A Sketch.”  Elsewhere on the album, Vinyl Life does battle with Kraftwerk on “Good Life (It’s More Fun To Compute).”  Vinyl Life are also content to pilfer from the past with an updated cover of De La Soul’s “Take It Off” with the assistance of Prince Paul’s collaborator J-Zone.  Similar to Edan and DJ Shadow, Vinyl Life offer a trip back to the golden age of dance music and hip hop, give it a listen and you might learn something too as Vinyl Life deftly acknowledge the past while bringing it into the future.

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This post was submitted by greg.