In November, Stainless Steele dropped the (free) album “Straight Jacket Time Killin“. If you’ve been a heavy listener of Stainless for a few years now, you probably remember his 2009 project, “My Top Friends Are Beat Makers“, where he collaborated with various beat makers around the globe, that he “met” through Myspace. SJTK is pretty much the part two to that. Again, he linked up with a handful of electronic, hip hop producers, such as Abjo, Chit$, AL_PD, Swarvy, Mndsgn, Infinite Potentials, Sir Froderick, Jonti, and others. And they reside in places ranging between France, Canada, the U.S., London, and Australia.

“Straight Jacket Time Killin” has 13 tracks, laced with exotic, electro beats that Steele creatively flows over. In usual fashion, whatever he raps about (whether it’s wacky, bizarre shit vs sensual, amorous feelings vs heartbreak and sadness), it’s done in such a beautiful, poetic way. I see his style and skill of story-telling, as if he’s in a fictitious, black-and-white world (ala “Sin City”), where he is brilliantly splashing the walls with bright, colorful paint (of words and sounds). Like his past works, this further dives into his “perfect maniac”, sometimes twisted, imaginary world. Perhaps his parallel universe. That may be weird to any one reading this, but if you’ve read my other Stainless Steele reviews, you’d see that I’ve spoke about his story-telling before — his use of vocabulary and the words he pieces together to create a dreamscape in your mind is exquisite.

Anyway, on to the review!
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I’m new to PT Burnem‘s music, but not to the name (pretty sure I’ve seen Brzowski, MC Homeless, and Nomar Slevik talk about him here and there). That’s him in the picture you see above, rockin’ some crazy, cool self-made goggles.

PT Burnem, a rapper and producer from Baltimore, is getting ready to drop his fourth album, titled “Ornithopter“. The album was “Conceived under duress after his production tools were seized by the Moscow police. Ornithopter reflects the connection between Burnem’s touring live show and his album creation process.” If this album is a small reflection of how he is live on stage, then sign me up for tickets (in Arizona, yeah?). It’s complete with 8 tracks that play fully in about 20 minutes. He rides alongside mechanical, sometimes fidgity, beats with an aggressive energy and something to say.
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Gigio has been quite active, in terms of album releases, during 2011. The Grand Sunz album, “Forever Shining“, dropped in July. Then there were his solo releases… the “Good Hard Times” EP in August, and “Sour Milk in November. A month later, he pushed out his final EP of the year — he joined forces with B.C. producer Josef Blo, for “Caught In Traffic“. It’s a collection of 9 tracks, where they kept it true to the one emcee, one rapper vision.

Check out my review…
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Wings and Wounds goes back a little further than just a collaborative EP between Graves33 and Sarx. The two initially joined forces in 2010, for the “1 Day To Live” compilation album, along with 9 other rappers from their city of Seattle. Shortly after, Sarx pulled in production from Graves, for his first solo release, “A Clockwork Heart With Wings“. That Spring, they toured together for their “The Wings And Wounds tour”. While on the road, like a lot of musicians, wrote some songs together. After realizing that the 6 songs they wrote on tour would be a good fit for a debut album, they also decided to form as a duo, named Wings and Wounds. Boom… there you have it.
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Say hello to the new November 7th release, “Carving Away The Clay“, from producer fLako. It’s a strong 5-track EP, released on Project: Mooncircle, that shows his exquisite, evolving sound.

It’s mostly instrumental, except for a few vocals from Dirg Gerner. The project bursts open with a rhythmic brass stomp and drum march in “Broken Toy”. The album flows into hearty rhythms, when Dirg Gerner showcases his soothing voice in “The Answer”, where he leaves you wondering the question. Then the mysterious Dirg wanders into “Lonely Town”, where his voice is like warm butter spreading over a single fLaky crescent roll. It’s a sexy, soulful ballad over minimal instruments… and it’s soooo good. Ahhhhh, the entire project is really fantastic, and I like the direction he’s going in. Do yourself a favor and press play, then follow the links below to buy it.
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Singer, songwriter, and producer Mio Soul bursts onto the NYC music scene with her debut EP In My Skin. Covering all of the bases, there’s something for every musical taste. From R&B, Pop and Dance to Soul, Hip Hop and Funk, In My Skin showcases the limitless talents of the chanteuse effortlessly.  Set for official release November 1, 2011, Mio was kind enough to send of an advanced copy for CrayonBeats to review, so let’s do this shall we?

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Brzowski is an emcee from Portland, Maine. Brzo has a signature sound of frantic rap, where he straddles the lines of rock and hip hop. And it is gooood. He has self released several albums and projects over the years — such as “Glass House Music” (2001), “New England Gothic” (2002), “Perpetual Winter” (2002), “MaryShelleyOverdrive” (2005), “Blooddrive Vol. 2” (2008), and more. Fast forward to 2009 when Brzowski and Moshe joined dark forces — they’re a duo that both stood tall in dark, progressive sound. They released their first collaborative project and together on Portland, Maine’s Milled Pavement Records. That was a 2009 album called “Like Woe“, which is a limited edition EP (in 2010, they also released “Like Woe Remixes“).
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Choosing not to pigeonhole his style into just one box Otayo Dubb, embraces and incorporates the many styles which influence him throughout his life to create his own style: from Reggae to Salsa, Jazz and of course West Coast Hip Hop. “Cold Piece Of Work (Beatrock Music, 2011) encompasses  all of these genres and presents what Otayo Dubb likes to call “Blue Collar” music: “music for the masses with a little bit of conscious and a little bit of street.”  With production from Dubb himself,  MTK, Keelay, 6Fingers, Fatgums and Digital Martyrs and featuring emcees Balance, Zumbi (Zion I), Prometheus Brown (Blue Scholars),Bambu and Rocky Rivera, Sakima and more, this is definitely going to be an exciting album to explore. So how about we do just that, yeah?

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