Tag Archives: experimental hip-hop

Backxwash, Adapar, Cydemind, and Horse Lords

by Dæv Tremblay

Backxwash – His Happiness Shall Come First Even though We Are Suffering


Backxwash—Montréal-based rapper Ashanti Mutinta—just released their new album: His Happiness Shall Come First Even though We Are Suffering, the final part of the trilogy that began with 2020’s God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It. So-called “horror rap”, this is some real heavy hip-hop on the more experimental side of things. I mean, it’s got features from Pupil Slicer (mathcore) and Ghais Guevara (another experimental hip-hop artist I like), so I’m already sold on it! As dmaestaz puts it so brilliantly… Read more

Haolin Munk – Planestasia Suite

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Jazz and hip hop are two proximate worlds, but it’s a rare treat to see them interconnect. Fortunately, Ontario, Canada’s Haolin Munk quartet is here to settle the score. In what sounds like a softer version of Montréal’s New Apple Taste, without the noise and the rock, their science-fiction concept album – who else gets hints of Clipping.? – is an astonishing jazz fusion release filled with tasty grooves, decadent solo sections, and an overall spotless arrangement work.

Since the Haolin Munk quartet is an instrumental entity, each vocal track exists thanks to the help of … Read more