Double Play: Cowboys & Monsters – Cowboys & Monsters and A New Month Called Sandober

Light and darkness—one of the most perennial pairs of opposites, perhaps even bordering on cliché, but I think about this contrast when I consider Cowboys & Monsters' two records.

A brief look at the album artwork justifies this association. Cowboys & Monsters is light and open, incorporating a few different colours. Something about it just shouts "possibilities" in a playful sort of way. (A positive rejoinder to predictions about computers crashing and the world ending in 2000, perhaps?)

A New Month Called Sandober's artwork is, by contrast, dark, alien, and even a little shiny. I can't tell if that's a robot or a tree.

Enough switching between talking about the two releases though. This is going to get confusing if I keep doing that! Organizing...

Cowboys & Monsters

I have to talk more about the album artwork, which is jam-packed with creativity and humour. According to this review I found via Wayback Machine, the track titles on the back of the CD case were written on a piece of paper towel. Then there's the actual disc itself, which features a picture of some random guy standing by a truck with his hands up. (Is that a Vulcan salute I see?) Oh, and don't forget the cartoonish pseudo-history paragraph on the back page of the booklet.

In a consistently random fashion, the song titles are quite amusing. Here are a few of my favourites: "Fake Grass," "Learn to Play Boat," "Forever Not Hummus," and "Stereotypical Llama Feed."

Cowboys & Monsters is certainly one of the more experimental electronic albums I've heard. The opening track, "Positive Steam," sounds like a mix of breakbeat, techno, and world music. "Fast One (Cowboy Mix)" is a techno remix of "Pulling a Fast One" by Sackcloth Fashion. "Learn to Play Boat" is drum and bass with some odd sound effects thrown in, one of which to my ears sounds like a Tasmanian devil or some other kind of scary animal. And then there's also the misspelled "Mayonaisse," a downtempo remix of Henry Mancini's composition "Lujon." (He's the guy behind the theme music for Pink Panther, if you didn't already know that!)

Clearly, there are lots of different styles here. Experimental techno might be at the top of the hierarchy if I had to choose one main genre, but that doesn't really do justice to how stylistically unpredictable this album is. For my part, I like that about it! One minute you've got chill electronica with "Kiss (Not an Eraser Mix)," and then the next you're hearing chiptune country techno with "8-Bit Fast." The six interludes (the shortest of which is nine seconds) are a welcome reprieve. I'm sure there are people out there with little patience for such short tracks. Personally, I think they're funny.

A New Month Called Sandober

Let's turn the page to the second Cowboys & Monsters album. Compared to the self-titled record, A New Month Called Sandober is more abstract, mellow, and lo-fi. You could also say that it's "darker," but not in the way that heavy metal music or Gothic novels are dark—more in a strictly mysterious kind of way. I would hesitate to call it ambient, downtempo, or drone. (Thank goodness there's none of that 20 minutes of a broken washing machine recorded to tape pretentious humbug that's all too common in the drone scene. Apologies for the poor sentence construction.) But maybe it is all those genres, just more experimental, and not going beyond five minutes per track?

Like the first album, A New Month Called Sandober has funny song titles. Strong candidates include "I'm Boring," "Lemon Sticker," "The Tower of Toothpaste," and "You Owe Me an Egg." Three song titles also begin with the word "black."

Unlike Cowboys & Monsters, however, this sophomore effort only includes two tracks that are under a minute, as opposed to six. Having said that, "Gravel Company" only clocks in at 1:08.

The album begins with "I'm Boring," which opens with a sample of a crowd cheering and turns into the sort of chill-out industrial style of drum and bass that you'd only hear from Cowboys & Monsters. One of my favourite parts about this song is the sample of the guy saying "¡See there!" Okay, I actually don't know what he's saying, but that's what it sounds like to me! And then the song ends with the crowd cheering...

"Broken Wings," an ambient percussion-based piece featuring talking that sounds like an announcement coming through a walkie-talkie or an airport PA system, is one of my favourites. A song this repetitive probably shouldn't work so well, but it's perfect for late-night driving or just chilling with the headphones on.

Other highlights include the block-by-block construction of "Freezing Tree," the sad and orchestral downtempo of "Getting Everything Back," and the happy melody of "Mercury."

Apart from the silly vocals in "Keep It Rizlowed," there's not much that I dislike about A New Month Called Sandober. Sure, "Glow Fishsticks" has creepy vocals, but they're also funny in a low-budget sort of way, and the quality trance instrumental makes up for them.

Conclusion

I've been listening to Cowboys & Monsters since 2007. I recall "Mayonaisse" being the first song I heard, having watched the music video on Syntax Records' YouTube channel. I also associate their music with a couple of Christian bookstores, seeing their self-titled CD in a bargain bin (technically on a "discount shelf," or whatever you might want to call it) at Scott's Parable here in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, as well as listening to song samples on the computer at Gideon's Trumpet in the Dakota Square Mall in Minot, North Dakota.

These two albums are easily among the most interesting and creative electronic releases I have encountered. Personally, I think Cowboys & Monsters might have an edge over A New Month Called Sandober, but they're both worth the listener's time.

What it really comes down to is this: What sort of weirdo electronica are you after? Do you want upbeat and fun or mellow and mysterious? Either way, you're sure to be treated to a different musical experience than what you're normally used to.

Double Play: DJ Morphiziz – Best of the Submissions, Volumes 1 and 2

Best of the Submissions, Volume 2

Why start with volume 2, you might ask? It's the first one I heard! I received this as a Christmas gift from my sister in 2006. The album cover is eye candy: bright colours and a style of graphic design that pops.

The intro track is kind of interesting, sampling songs from volumes 1 and 2 in this mixtape series. Soul Plasma brings the first full-length track with "5 Fingers," and in typical Soul Plasma fashion, he sounds pretty terrific. The funky guitar-based beat complements his style well.

While we're on the topic of production, Todd Collins handles the majority of it here. Collins' production has a very specific sound, and I've been mulling over how to describe it for some time: it's definitely not primarily sample-based, but it's not MIDI music either. 

In an interview with FEED magazine from 2003, Collins mentions several pieces of music equipment that he uses. These include the Korg Triton, E-MU Mo'Phatt, Waldorf Micro Q, Roland XV-5080, Honer Clavinet, Roland Juno 80, Sequential Circuits Prophet 600, E-MU SP-1200, Akai S2800, and Akai MPC60.

Admittedly, I know virtually nothing about these instruments, but here's a quote from Collins that appears later in the interview that perhaps better explains his production style: 

The problem I see with young producers is that a lot of them are not musicians. To me, there's a difference between a producer and a 'beat-maker' . . . There's much more to a song than a hot beat. What makes a good song great is the musicality of a track and the vocal arrangements.

As to be expected, the beats include a variety of instruments: guitar, organ, synth, and piano, to name a few. You get a few different flavours of urban music on this release as well. Some tracks are underground, others are radio friendly. Ziklag Boys bring some crunk on "Let It Go," while "Volumen" by Bobby Bishop, Guilloman, Ill Day, and Meccanism is reggaeton.

If I had to choose a favourite song from Best of the Submissions, Volume 2, it would probably be "You Gotta Love It" by Rob Hodge. It's got a nice bass-heavy, boom-clap beat, and Rob comes through with his signature style of instant-classic rhyming. (Check out my review of his album Born King if you haven't already read it!)

"Hungry" by Bobby Bishop is another track that stands out to me. In the intro he says, "Volume one's where I got my jump-off with Beatmart, man. It's all about your work ethic, man." Inspirational words for an independent music-maker such as myself! "Brr! It's Cold" by Fresh Digress is classic Beatmart material, so of course I also have to mention that, and "Light" by Dkun Frost is a thoughtful song to conclude the album with.

There's a lot to like about Best of the Submissions, Volume 2 on the whole. Whether it's beats, verses, or hooks, it's usually firing on all cylinders.

Best of the Submissions, Volume 1

So how does the first mixtape compare to the second? If memory serves correct, I only listened through this album about three years ago, via Apple Music while driving to my job at Home Depot. I liked it enough to buy a CD off eBay in December 2024. Best of the Submissions, Volume 1 has both strengths and weaknesses compared to Volume 2.

Let's start with the strengths. The mixtape has plenty of strong tracks. The first full-length song, "It's the Man," by Viktory, is straight fire emoji. The next track, "Champion," comes from KJ-52. I'll be upfront with you, I'm not the biggest KJ-52 fan. He's got some great songs in his discography, but I've never listened through an entire album from him.  Anyway, "Champion" features a nice chorus from The Truth, and Todd Collins turns in some fine oriental-meets-beatbox production. So really, I like the song for reasons that don't actually have much to do with KJ, no disrespect to him intended. (How was that for an awkward diss/compliment? Ha!) 

Looking for the best verses? Check out "Survive" by Rob Hodge, "How It Is" by Manchild of Mars ILL and Adan Genesis, and "Lord Lord" by Mark J and The Truth. Oh, and Wordz shows no verbal mercy on his "Scratch Freestyle" too.

I could go on and on about the good parts from Best of the Submissions, Volume 1. There are a lot of good things going for it!

Now on to the weaker moments. The most obvious weakness to me is that the hooks on Volume 1 generally aren't as strong as they are on Volume 2. The falsetto singing on "What Ya'll Thinkin" by Tony Stone and Sev Statik is difficult to take seriously. The choruses on "One Hit Wonder" by Bobby Bishop and "Who's That Boy" by Craig Nice also aren't the best, and although Japhia Life hits the right notes on "Love," the singing sounds too breathy at times. Donnie Lewis' chorus on "Single Mother" is too pop/R&B for my liking as well. Okay, this involves some clarification. Lewis is a good singer, and I don't mind listening to the track in my headphones, but if the mixtape's playing in the car, then this song gets a skip. It's just not the right kind of music I'm OK with playing out loud. Why am I making this so complicated? Am I a chauvinist or something? Anyway...

Conclusion

Best of the Submissions, Volume 2 is probably more solid overall, but Volume 1 is very enjoyable as well. Both are important compilations/mixtapes from the early 2000s Christian hip-hop scene. After all, Volume 1 was the first Beatmart album ever released. B's up!

It's worth your time hearing both mixtapes. On the one hand, Todd Collins' production offers a cohesive sound in terms of the instrumentals. On the other, most of the featured artists differ between the two releases. As well, these aren't the kinds of "mixtapes" that are a bunch of half-baked demos, or even compilations pulling from a bunch of different albums. Virtually all of the songs here are exclusives, and DJ Morphiziz is there on the ones and twos, hosting, scratching, and blending the songs to perfection.

If you're a CD collector, believe me when I say that these albums look great in real life. Volume 1 perhaps has an advantage in this regard, as it's an enhanced CD that includes a behind-the-scenes video and some other goodies. Plus, the cover/first page of the booklet has a pretty cool feature I've never seen before. You'll just have to visit eBay or Discogs and buy a copy for yourself if you're curious!

Free Daps – "Don't @ Me"

This song is very funny. It received many plays from me a few weeks ago, and I even sent it to some family members for the lols. What's not to enjoy about a song that centers around controversial opinions?

Listening to "Don't @ Me" made me want to come up with a few of my own quips. Let's see what I can come up with:

1. "Drowning Lessons" over "The Black Parade," don't @ me

2. Hellmann's over Miracle Whip, don't @ me

3. Conservatism over liberalism, don't @ me

4. Open theism over classical theism, don't @ me

5. Schopenhauer is better than Nietzsche, don't @ me

6. CDs are better than vinyl, don't @ me

7. Friends is not funny to men, don't @ me

8. Intelligent design isn't "pseudoscience," don't @ me

All right, I'll leave it at that! Check out "Don't @ Me" below for some much better quotes.

Mars ILL's Pro Pain Turns 20

Pro Pain

Mars ILL's third studio album, Pro Pain, was released on May 2, 2006 on Gotee Records.

Actually, the release date isn't quite that simple. As Dust mentions in this interview with Jesus Freak Hideout, Pro Pain was delayed by 533 days, because a sample wasn't cleared for the song "Wicked Ways." (One of the best songs on the record, I might add.) Based on the wording of the interview, Dust seems to guesstimate that the original release date was October 17, 2004. 

Back to the 533-day delay. When I Googled "How many days were there between October 17, 2004 and May 2, 2006?", the answer it gave me was 562.

Wait, hold on a second. I just grabbed my copy of Hip Hope Hits 2005 (somewhat deceptively released in 2004), which contains the song "All Out," which was on the 2004 edition of Pro Pain, but not the 2006 one. (I've shared a video for the song at the end of the post.) In the compilation's booklet it says Pro Pain would be released on October 19, 2004. That wouldn't add up to 562 either.

So I guess either way, Dust's counting is a bit off here. Not trying to be nitpicky—just bringing some trivia and fact-checking into the mix.

There are a few differences between the 2004 and 2006 versions of Pro Pain. The 2004 version contains "All Out," "Moment," and "Loud!" The 2006 version, however, swaps out those songs for "Too Strong to Change" and "Glam Rap."

This album has been part of my life for a long time. I was only 12 when I bought (or rather, my parents bought) my first copy of the CD at Scott's Parable. The disc ended up getting lost and the case was dismantled over the years. But as the picture below shows, I currently own a brand-new copy of Pro Pain, which I bought from Sphere of Hip-Hop in late 2023. 

I already wrote on album review in 2015 on one of my other blogs. (I have a lot of blogs lol!) But I'm going to write about it again here and see where things land anyway.

It's safe to say that just about everyone who's heard Pro Pain and knows their hip-hop would call it a classic. If the dramatic backstory weren't enough, the album contains some of Mars ILL's best songs. Pro Pain is more polished than Mars ILL's other material; Dust's production is a little more bright and upbeat, and Manchild doesn't pull out the battle rap/backpacker lyrics of projects like Raw Material or Blue Collar Sessions quite as often. Well, "Dog Eared Page" sort of contradicts that statement, but you catch my drift.

Songs like "Sound Off" and "More" come about as close to radio singles as underground hip-hop can get, all while being really good songs at that. "More" contains some of my favourite lyrics on the album, with lines like this:

I want more from the music I listen to on the FM
Less businessmen who pretend to be my best friend
More chances to take and more guts than glory
I want more experience to brighten up my story
More women to ignore me
With more wives than shorties
More time to appreciate those that came before me
More compassion, less promises, more action
More truth in the media so I really know what's happening
I want less violence and more moments of silence
There's more to this life and I pray to God you find it

Okay, I probably overquoted there, but these lyrics are just awesome! I'm not an activist by any stretch of the imagination, but this is the kind of song you could march in the streets with your fist raised in the air to.

The guest features on Pro Pain are quite impressive. Let's start by talking about the production. Most of the beats are by Dust,  but T.E.C.K. and X:144 also contribute a couple on "Dog Eared Page" and "Effortless" respectively. There are also live instruments on several tracks, including bass, guitar, and congas, courtesy of Kenny Carter, Jason "The Recon" High, and Luke Sullivant.

Turning to guest vocals, between Cappadonna of Wu-Tang Clan, Ishues, Prince Po of Organized Konfusion, X:144, and Ben Hameen and J-Mil of Collective Efforts, it's hard to pick a favourite. Ahmed of 4th Avenue Jones contributes a good verse to "More," but I don't enjoy it as much as those of the previously mentioned artists. Anthony David's chorus on the same track is pretty simple, but it gets the job done.

Slow Flame

Okay, I'm kind of lazy at the moment, so I'm just going to immediately transition into talking about Slow Flame, which is the 2007 remix album of Pro Pain. Dust handles nearly all of the production here. The exception is "More," which was produced by Beat Rabbi.

I'll just say it upfront: I don't think Slow Flame is anywhere near as good as Pro Pain. To me, Slow Flame feels more like Pro Pain as it exists in some alternate universe or dream. When I hear these remixes, I can't imagine most of the songs being the originals, and I don't think that's just because they're not the originals.

True, some of the remixes on Slow Flame might even surpass the originals, such as "Say So," "Too Strong to Change," and "Stand Back and Watch." There's a nice electric guitar in the chorus of "Dog Eared Page," and Elias of Scribbling Idiots contributes some excellent vocals to "When Heaven Scrapes the Pavement" as well. Having said that, there's just no way a song like "Sound Off" could be improved upon, and I would offer a similar evaluation of several of these tracks.

Slow Flame is different, if not jarring at times, but it's worth a listen. It even comes with a couple of bonus tracks, "Feelin' So High" and "Run Wonderland." You can stream the album on YouTube or download it for $6 from Dust's online store.

Rob Hodge's Born King Turns 20

Rob Hodge's sole studio album, Born King, was released April 18, 2006 on Beatmart Recordings. As I reminisce on this record, it sure makes me miss Beatmart. The label had quite a cohesive sound across its discography, not to mention a nice logo (see picture on right). You'll likely hear more about the label in a future post.

I bought this CD at Scott's Parable when I was 13 years old. (Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say my dad bought it for me, because who has money at 13 lol?)

Born King had more of a radio-friendly, East Coast sound than some of the other hip-hop I listened to back then, such as DJ Allstar's Uprok Records Mixtape Volume Two, Deepspace5's Unique, Just Like Everyone Else, or Mars ILL's Pro Pain. But unlike much of the other more mainstream-sounding music that I've enjoyed in the past, Rob Hodge's songs haven't drifted off into irrelevance.

There are a lot of things to like about Born King. Rob Hodge has the right voice for rap, both gritty and confident. He's a great storyteller as well, which is highlighted on songs like "Conflict," "Determination," and "Look At Me Now." There are many enjoyable guest contributions, both rapping and singing, from artists like Japhia Life, T.K., Janae Paden, and Emmanuel Parks, to name only a few of them.

The beats on this album are fantastic. Kid Classic handles the majority of production, but there are also contributions from J-Nat, Saint Man, Todd Collins, J-Rippa (Holy Hitmakerz), Naiheem, The Architect, and Rob Hodge himself. "Determination" has one of my favourite beats, for the simple fact that it ends with a guitar solo. How often do you hear that in hip-hop?

Born King might well be the best album that Beatmart released. It was easily one of the standout Christian hip-hop albums of 2006, garnering an impressive amount of attention. In fact, in 2007 Rapzilla reported that Rob Hodge would release a mixtape titled Rebel Muzik to the secular market with some quite impressive collaborations. Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, the mixtape never saw the light of day.

Rapzilla later reported in 2009 about some other Rob Hodge projects on the horizon, such as the Feels Good To Be Home mixtape. Several songs from that project can be found on YouTube and SoundCloud, but otherwise, the rest of it appears to be a mystery.

Spontaneous Vinyl Find: Ma Fleur by The Cinematic Orchestra

When I headed down to the SSO Book & Music Sale this afternoon, as I often do once spring rolls around, I did not expect to find one of my favourite albums, Ma Fleur by The Cinematic Orchestra, sitting unassumingly on the record shelf. I didn't even have to flip through any—it was right in front.

Back in 2010, I bought Ma Fleur on CD. This was during the Easter break, when my parents took my brother, cousin, and me to Sunshine Village ski resort in Banff, Alberta. I'm certain I bought it at HMV, but I'm not sure if it was at a mall in Banff or elsewhere.

I don't remember hearing any of The Cinematic Orchestra's songs before buying Ma Fleur. I must have been browsing the electronic section of the CDs and liked the cover (or some intuitive reason like that). It is a great album cover after all. The picture reminds me of Saskatchewan, even though the band is from London, England. In particular, the picture reminds me of driving down some back roads in Martensville, where my dad first taught me and my brother how to drive.

As the picture on the album cover suggests, Ma Fleur is quiet, contemplative, peaceful, and beautiful. I don't know of another album quite like it.

Further Seems Forever – Hide Nothing

At the risk of sounding like a hipster (Are hipsters even relevant anymore?), I received this album on vinyl a couple weeks ago. Personally, I think vinyl is for the most part overrated and prefer music digitally or on CD. There's less skipping, no pops or cleaning, and these formats are more affordable. Vinyl nerds say that records have a "warmer" sound to them and that vinyl is the superior music format. Maybe they're right, but I'd like to pitch this hypothesis: Vinyl nerds spend so much on their equipment that they feel obligated to say music sounds better in this format—regardless of whether or not this is actually true.

You're free to take my remarks with a grain of salt. I'm just an occasional vinyl listener with an Audio Technica AT-LP60X connected to some computer speakers. And of course, there are certainly perks to vinyl, no matter how advanced one's setup is. I appreciate the enlarged artwork on the record jacket, having a lyric sheet to read along with, and in the case of Hide Nothing in particular, a retrospective essay to inform me of some of the record's background details.

It was a treat revisiting Hide Nothing on vinyl a couple weeks ago. I've been familiar with this album for a long time. (It was released in 2004, but I'm not sure I heard the whole thing until maybe 2006. The memory's fuzzy on this one!) I have a renewed appreciation for the lyrics after reading them more carefully. I've enjoyed Hide Nothing's emo/indie rock sound for so long, yet it's taken years for the lyrics to properly connect with my life experience.

Here are just a few of the lyrics that resonate with me:

"We live, and we learn, and we crash, and we burn, and we're gone." ("Hide Nothing")

"Watch somebody fall from grace. When there's nobody there to take their place, you can't help but feel alone." ("Like Someone You Know")

"Love is coming. Love won't let you die alone. Love is coming. Love won't let you try alone. Love is coming. Love won't let you cry alone." ("Make It a Part")

"I'm not living for the past. No, I'm not living for the memories." ("Call on the Life")

As simple as these lyrics are, the messages they convey about mortality, separation, love, and the past are powerful. Jon Bunch's remarkable singing truly completes them.