imaginary trip sounds

De Illinois, Chicago, vem esta The High Street Orchestra constituida por Jeck, Harsh, Baily, L. Was, Bauer. Em 2004, lançam o álbum When eggs go rotten, onde se dizem influênciados por gente como Digable Planets, Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Miles Davis, Radiohead, etc. A sua sonoridade parte do hip-hop easy listening e caminha em várias direcções. Há trip-hop, jazz, spoken word e ambiente.

"The faction of artists in hip-hop that realize "keeping it real" has nothing to do with your rim size is growing. Rap is an autobiographical art form, and High Street Orchestra MC Jeck seems to understand that all to well. After a stately piano intro (played by Jeck himself), "Opening Statements" gets the album going with horns and strings rebounding off the drum lick from Massive Attack's "Teardrop," as Jeck lays out his manifesto with a nimble delivery, astute wordplay and deft sense of humor. This contagious sense of serious Wackiness seems to be the main thrust of this record. Things may be dire, as when Jeck gets robbed in "Bad Luck" ("Have you ever been mugged by a bunch of fucking thugs thugs who just wanted you ass for money or drugs / And you couldn't identify them to the Colonial Pantry guy, your roommate or the police / Just because you can't see?"), but the MC's own blindness is a part of his story, not just a tool used to elicit a response. Another prime, although more lighthearted, example of this comes on "Beastmaster" ("Sex Machine! / My eyes are scarred and I'm large"); Jeck is an MC first, and anything else is merely window dressing. With a hype verse from Harsh, and a light bouncy track from local beat maestro Tim Baily, "Beastmasters" might be the most fun you can have with local hip-hop right now. This is the first recorded effort from this local collective and, aside from the freestyled "Friday Flow," it fires on all cylinders, rarely missing a beat. Hip-hop in the C-U has a new underground hero."

Brand T. Washington (The HUB)

The High Street Orchestra - Opening statements