Album Review: Ancient Astronauts – "We Are To Answer"0
Posted by - In Music, Reviews
Ancient astronauts are said to be intelligent aliens that have visited Earth in ancient times and, by coming here, they are connected with the development of human cultures, technologies, and/or religions. With that being said, Kabanjak and Dogu make up the German hip hop duo, Ancient Astronauts. They are signed with Switchstance Recordings. Their sound is a mash-up of old school hip hop, downtempo, funk, and dub reggae.
After spending a few years remixing for artists such as Ladybug Mecca (Digable Planets), Zion I, Dr. Rubberfunk, Fort Knox Five, and Up Bustle & Out, they finally brought forth they’re debut album, “We Are To Answer“. It was released in June of last year on Eighteenth Street. It features artists such as The Pharcyde, Raashan Ahmad, Azeem, DJ Zeph, Phat Old Mamas, and a few more. It can be purchased for $12 on ESL. All the tracks can also be previewed at that same site link.
The album starts out with two instrumentals. The first is “From The Sky“, which has a heavy bass vibe and a bunch of record scratching. “I Came Running” was the first song I heard from the group that made me want to hear the rest of the album. It begins dark, and then leads into drum snaps and guitar strums. It kept my attention for the whole atmospheric journey of 3 minutes and 59 seconds. Track five is “A Hole to Swallow Us“, with Phat Old Mamas (I’ve never heard of them before, but after this, it’s a must!). The track has this haunting, almost eerie, groove… and what makes it beautiful, is that it’s paired with two heavenly-jazzy voices. Backtrack to the song before that one, “Dark Green Rod“, which is a collaboration with Ulf Stricker (who?). It captures your ears with its drum and bass sound, and Ulf brings in his live drums. Fantastic. A couple tracks on the album bring back the boom-bap formula of hip hop. “Risin High” is vocally driven by Raashan Ahmad (of Crown City Rockers), which has this soft melody that Raashan attacks. A-plus. Yeah, The Pharcyde’s Imani and Bootie Brown feature on “Classic“. For some reason, I found this song almost… incomplete. It just didn’t feel Pharcyde-y to me, if that makes sense. It was okay, and I wouldn’t skip it at all, but it’s not my favorite track. Azeem and DJ Zeph tackle “Oblivion“, where Azeem hits you with raw, and truthful rhymes like, “They build more prisons than places for teachers // Prostitute freedom, gave us fake leaders // Broke out the bank, and made a fake Jesus // Broke off the noses to make a fake Egypt.” Another line of his that grabbed me was, “A soldier with no enemy will never know his own strength.” Ugh, yes! Quoatables right there. If you want to be hypnotized by a Moroccan vibe, listen to “Lost in Marrakesh“. It features Entropik, and the mesmerizing tune will almost put you to sleep, but not in a bad way. Then to snap you out of those zzz’s, in comes the reggae-influenced track, “All of the Things You Do“, which a British artist named Tippa Irie approaches. Another reggae tune features the poetic Bajka on “Surfing the Silvatide“. Other than a slow, dance-hall beat, it didn’t really grab me in any special way.
If I were to rate this album, I’d give it a solid 4/5. I would definitely recommend that you check out / listen / buy “We Are To Answer“. It’s a strong album.
Tracklisting:
01. From the sky
02. I came running
03. Classic (ft The Pharcyde)
04. Dark Green Rod
05. A hole to swallow us (ft Phat Old Mamas)
06. Risin high (ft Raashan Ahmad)
07. Lost in Marrakesh (ft Entropik)
08. All of the things you do (ft Tippa Irie)
09. Everybody
10. Seventh planet
11. Oblivion (ft Azeem & DJ Zeph)
12. Surfing the Silvatide (ft Bajka)
13. Crescent moon
