artist : Team Shadetek
title : Pale Fire
date : 2007
label : Sound Ink
genre : Hip-Hop
release date: 02.26.2007
street date : 00.00.0000
tracks : 16
bitrate : avg. 159kbps
size : 58,8 MB
source : CDDA
type : Album
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Nicking their album title from Vladimir Nabokov's 1962
post-modern poem 'Pale Fire' (itself a reference to
Shakespeare's 'Timon Of Athens' we think...), Team Shadetek's
brand of Noo York hip-hop ensures it's clear from the off
that they're pitched beyond the usual baggy jeans and bullet
chic currently infecting the mainstream. Schooled in Brooklyn
but with an ear firmly on the grime emissions of LDN, Team
Shadetek are difficult to classify; grabbing fist-fulls of
genres (dancehall, ragga, electronica, east coast, west
coast...) then pummeling them into a working model that
gleams with far more luster and polemical brunt than you
might expect. For anyone who has heard the table-tipping
mixtape 'Heavy Meckle' put out by Team Shadetek a year back,
their open-armed welcome for a broad spectrum of sounds will
come as no surprise. Yet rather than give the impression that
they're sonic magpies picking and choosing whatever takes
their fancy, 'Pale Fire' is a consuming listen that sees them
reapropriating the grime aesthetic through a US filter that
adds a pleasing grain to the machine-gun rhymes 'n' rhythms.
Kicking off with the brief introductory vignette 'Tinnitus',
things hit their rolling stride on previous 12" 'Brooklyn
Anthem' - wherein 77Klash & Jahdan exchange blows atop a
grime/hip-hop hybrid that is so raw you'll be checking your
eyebrows for damage. Keeping the adrenalin tip-top, 'Legs' is
up next with Tears & Kamyo this time adding their verbals to
a G-Funk influenced exchange that juxtaposes its gravel
overtones with a sultry mood that you can't help but succumb
to. Featuring an army of guest MCs that trample your senses
with military glee, the likes of Predator, Jammer, Baby Blak,
Red Dragon, Skepta, and Ruste Juxx all make their presence
felt with a precision and energy that puts your average
appearance to shame. With notable highlights including the
horn bleached 'Make It', 'Gal You Nuh Beg's Eastern
influenced backing and ragga vocals courtesy of Red Dragon,
plus the lurching noir epic of 'Ka Rock', Team Shadetek have
produced an album that will keep readers of Wire and Channel
U equally happy. Fire in the disco!
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01-Tinnitus 00:47
02-Brooklyn Anthem (feat 77Klash & Jahdan) 03:15
03-Legs (feat Tears & Kamyo) 02:51
04-Wait (feat Gully Rainjah & Knuckles) 03:29
05-Make It (feat Zesto!) 02:25
06-Witchcraft (feat Rodan) 03:17
07-Reign (feat Skepta) 02:45
08-Eraser (feat High Priest) 02:38
09-Sick Ting (feat Predator) 03:06
10-Gal You Nuh Beg (feat Red Dragon) 03:33
11-Kalamata 03:31
12-Just Begun (feat Baby Blak) 04:20
13-Ka Rock (feat Rustee Juxx) 04:47
14-Dacha 02:07
15-Separating (feat Jammer) 03:41
16-Daylight 03:10
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49:42 min