Ok folks here is a real treat for this review, this Album theFREEhoudini by Themselves is the third album from the Anticon collaboration between Dose One and Jel. This Album is exciting for several reasons, not the least of which being that it is in fact, free, and features such icons as Aesop Rock, and Oddnosdam, Yoni Wolf and Dose working together as cLOUDDEAD for the first time on a record since their breakup. However this isnt just a bunch of ambient noise with weird lyrics...
...Ok a lot of it is ambient noise with weird lyrics but lets break it down a bit and I will tell you why this album is great and why at the bottom of my page, you should click the link and download this thing immediately.
So the first thing about this particular album is that if you want it for free you will end up with a single forty minute long track, mixtape-style. The beginning of the album is a little rough if you are not into experimental hip hop. Of course Dose's rhymes are well crafted and trippy but you would be forgiven if you fast forward to about 4 minutes in where Aesop Rock makes an appearance spitting possibly what might be the sickest shit I have ever heard from him, of course it helps that he has a great driving beat behind him pushing him forward. In the end once he finishes and Dose comes in you start to wish that he had a longer verse but thats going to be a recurring theme in this album. Luckily right after this short excursion we are led directly into another song, this time featuring Buck 65 a canadian MC this time backed up by a funky sounding beat involving some sort of Bari Sax or similar instrument. After the song featuring Buck 65 we are treated to a short freestyle by Dose backed up by yet another excellently crafted beat. By now we are about 10 minutes and 30 seconds into the album, and brace yourself for another mind blowing guest appearance in the following song this time by Sole. This time we are treated to a low pulsing beat while Sole spits rhymes that while excellent and experimental, also seem to be flavor injected with a little throwback to gangster rap attitude. Sole's delivery is really intense, in-your-face, and again you will be wishing that his appearance was longer.
After Sole we're given another song with Dose that takes a more experimental tone, following which you can hear a chorus singing about "Air Force Ones, and Square Horse (hoarse?) Tongues, which devolves into a trippy super fast and oddly punctuated song, not one of my favorites on the album but the intro is strange enough and intriguing enough to make it worth a couple listens. After the aforementioned crazy spazz out Lionesque makes an appearance, spitting out a good track with a nasally voice, not one of my favorites but definitely worth hearing a few times.
Now at about 17 minutes into the album you will be hearing another freestyle by Dose, followed by after which there is a song that is just too crazy for me, at this point I usually fast forward to about 21 minutes in where you should hear a slow methodical rap by D-styles lasting for about 1 minute after which a fast techno esque beat starts with more crazy rhymes by Dose. If you are like me the crazy techno esque song is probably not your thing however from this point onwards theFREEhoudini is pure gold.
At 26 minutes a song comes in with a nice slow and harmonic track, these are some of the most interesting and intelligible rhymes on the whole album designed to invoke imagery in your head, I recommend listening to it when you have time to devote to just listening.
Next is Dose and Jel with a song that kind of sounds like some sort of populist anthem however I haven't really been able to decipher any actual message from it since the rhymes are so quick and almost sound like they are just vowel sounds rather than words. After this song Dose chops it up with some intense rhymes over a trip-hop sounding beat that really just needs to be heard to be understood.
And finally the ending song which reunites Dose, Yoni Wolf, and Odd Nosdam as cLOUDDEAD, the rhymes are well thought out, Yoni's verse opens the song with slow, well articulated rhymes, after which Odd Nosdam uses his wizard like DJ abilities to create a chorus out of the spiced together verses of Yoni and the upcoming Dose verse. Dose comes in after the chorus with more excellent rhymes, however the delivery is not as good as Yoni's. After this verse Odd Nosdam yet again pulls out a masterful chorus that has to be heard to really be appreciated... In fact you can here it right now:
If you want to download theFREEhoudini, and I strongly suggest that you do, it is available here:
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