Bella Union, bless 'em, put this hip hop EP out towards my desk a while ago. It's August now and a vinyl version is due alongside a full length album "Pigs Might Fly" very soon.
The rootsy cover art and porcine theme (Chicharones are pork scratchings, kids) do not prepare the ears for the Canadian hip hop assault that they actually get. The New Man feel (talking French and reading books!) is a nice surprise too.
Josh Martinez and Sleep (Nova Scotia and British Columbia respectively) work a close team formation and the grind of hundreds of live shows has honed their joint delivery to a single minded drive. Like the best hip hop the vocal track can slip back as part of the percussion or click forward to sharp lyrical attention. Its sharp and observant stuff and the tunes at the back are jazzy funk with a lot of class and not so much street grit.
On my promo copy (expect additions on anything you find in shops or on-line ) Four tracks get the full treatment, with "Pork Rind Disco", "Red Carpet Treatment" and "Guys Like Me" getting extra instrumental versions. "Find The Time" is the closing track, with a vinyl sample of scary piano setting up a nervous rush into something altogether darker.
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I'd say their sound was somewhere between Eminem and Kanye West – more immediate and accessible than your Anticon stuff, and not as brutal and "real" as 50 Cent. If you're still holding out against the dominance of Hip-Hop, you could do worse than start here and work you way in a bit deeper later on. I can hear affinities with warmer soul music – maybe Marvin Gaye or Barry White. I think The Chicharones would rather make some love than look out for rivals to shoot at.
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