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Anticon

 
 
Dee Vapr
18:23 / 18.07.01
I sorry if i'm being repetitive here, I feel there may have been a thread on these boys before the last reboot, but anyways... has anyone heard of them?

After being *truly blown away* by the cLOUDDEAD album, I've found out about Anticon now, and I've been impressed with what I've heard. Are the disses relating them to being "Internet MCs" true in anyway? What are the essential purchases / tracks / artists and so forth?
 
 
Templar
19:15 / 18.07.01
Check out Buck 65 - I think they're part of Anticon as well, but their solo stuff is better.
I get all my non-vinyl music from Audiogalaxy, and some of the independant hip-hop stuff is quite hard to find.
Sorry, don't really know anything specific about Anticon, but I seem to remember the "allegations" that were levelled at them being incredibly anal. One of my favourite tracks last year was the Star Wars rap by Bentframe - like I care that it was put together by a couple of teenagers in a bedroom somewhere with a PC, a mic and a copy of Sound Forge.

[ 18-07-2001: Message edited by: Templar ]
 
 
junejune
10:45 / 21.07.01
anticon are huge.
their sounz, lyrics and attitude are huge.

it's great to know that people do "other" great shit. a la anti pop, big dada, jazz fudge, etc...
too many to name them all.
ouch.
 
 
Pin
11:02 / 21.07.01
So, June, you sound well clued on these matters... fancy knocking-up a tape for our intrepid hero? Much thanks and biscuits promised...

Actually, same goes for everyone.

And what do they actually sound like?
 
 
Seth
14:25 / 23.07.01
I never got on with Anticon myself. Admittedly, I’ve only heard the “Music for the Advancement of Hip Hop” compilation and cLOUDDEAD’s album. The former sounded uninspired and dated, the latter lacked cohesion but had a few great ideas.

Anyone know when El-P’s album is supposed to come out? I hear Lyrics Born has something in the pipeline, too. There was also a Wu-Tang album scheduled for the summer which has failed to materialise (surprise, surprise… )

Who else here thinks that Cannibal Ox kick ass?

[ 23-07-2001: Message edited by: expressionless ]
 
 
HysteriX
16:42 / 25.04.03
HEY Buck -65 is not a they he is one person that does his own beats scratches and rhymes and he is dope, i don't think he was in anticon but they rock the mic as well, Cannibal Ox is pretty good but he sure as hell is no el-p, fuck the wu they fell off, like El-p said "sign to Rawkus I'd rather be mouth fucked by nazis unconscious". If you luv hiphop and the Invisibles and you haven't yet get Saul Williams album Amythist Rockstar
 
 
pomegranate
18:10 / 25.04.03
Cannibal Ox is pretty good but he sure as hell is no el-p
cannibal ox is two guys. that record, the cold vein, is brilliant. that last sentence is an understatement.

most ppl i know (who know of them) think that anticon are a buncha crakkkas w/none to say. but then, i used to post on the def jux boards...there's a leeetle bit of a rivalry...

reflect, do you know about some new el record? or have you been sleepin on fantastic damage, which came out last may?
 
 
Spatula Clarke
19:32 / 25.04.03
Check the date of that post, mantis. This is an old, old thread.
 
 
pomegranate
19:49 / 25.04.03
my bad!
*blushes*
 
 
cusm
15:10 / 01.05.03
Aniticon is good shit. Psychedelic hip hop word fu. I first heard them on THEM, which is a pretty freaked out album. That got me a liking of Dose One, and started poking about from there. I really liked eyedea, too.
 
 
rizla mission
15:29 / 01.05.03
Anyone heard Sole's new stuff?

It's more straightforward and hardedged than most other Anticon - sounds almost like it would be more at home on Def Jux..
 
 
pomegranate
15:33 / 01.05.03
sole on djx--that'd be the day.
i trust everyone here's heard the co flow song linda tripp?
 
 
Seth
20:53 / 01.05.03
I saw Buck 65 a few months back, and while he's great live (winning over the crowd with his humility, coming across as some kind of brilliant amateur) I found the record to be a bit overweight and directionless. He needs to trim a few minutes off some tunes, condense the ideas into something which packs more of a punch. The album could have made an awesome EP.

I'm still not sold on Anticon, especially after the way El-P turned Sole into a laughing stock. Exactly what is good about these guys that a thousand people havn't done better five years ago?
 
 
Haus of Mystery
23:45 / 06.05.03
Anticon basically seem to be less worried about restricting themselves to a hiphop template, and are often more fun and loose than the often impressive but somewhat one trick Def Jux output. Ignore Sole's relentless industry ranting, and concentrate more on Dose and Why et al in my opinion. Buck 65 is really his own thing, a one man show and is a fucking nice chap all round. Alongside similarly single minded types like Edan and Tes (who has dropped the album of the year on Lex records) he has a unique David Lynchian worldview that is really worth investigating. Shapeshifters in LA, Gold Chains in San Francisco, the whole Halifax Canadian scene... shit there's so MUCH good hip hop to listen to right now. And jesus what a fucking rant. Sorry...
 
 
rizla mission
15:34 / 07.05.03
Actually I saw Buck 65 the other night and, well, goodness, let's just say I was pretty much over the moon within the first thirty seconds and am now completely sold on his gloriously nutty Captain Beefheart-voiced Lynchian hip-hop coolness. This'll probably sound pretty dumb, but I thought his stuff sounded kind of like the crime story-telling bits on 'Liquid Swords', only with growly redneck stories about getting lost in the woods and the devil and sentient bicycles and stuff.. and he told some fantastic stories too - I hope he does a spoken word record.. he is my new god for a few days.

Exactly what is good about these guys that a thousand people haven't done better five years ago?

well.. y'know; scatological beat poetry and woozy cut-up dream music that isn't so much "hip-hop" as something else entirely which uses it's form as a launch pad into entire other realms of aural creativity.. it's outside the convential dialogue of hip-hop - it's not "hey, they ain't doin' anything new!", it's just these cool beatnik dudes putting all their imagination into making crazy sound collages.. or something..
 
 
Haus of Mystery
20:29 / 07.05.03
Yeah. Hip Hop needs to be more open minded. Or rather the fans do. Most people making the music are just making music and don't give a monkeys about genre definitions.

Man.
 
 
Seth
06:32 / 08.05.03
So people who don't share your point of view are closed minded? Exactly what's closed minded about disliking directionless, self-consciously arty music that has next to no visceral appeal and has been done in more appealing ways by many other artists? Most hip hop fans I know like an extremely broad spectrum of hip hop, as it pushes boundaries in many more directions than just the few that Anticon choose to explore. Well, I say explore: there's a pretty well drawn map...
 
 
kid entropy
12:11 / 01.04.04
yaeh,buck's latest 'talkin' honkie blues' tightened up some of the lethargic beats of 'square' ,really hitting his stride.some of the tom waits influences are a bit much,but it's an affectionate rip-off.he grew up close to my area in canada,now i'm in manchester and he's in fooking paris.two hometown boys make good,he's got montparnasse,i've got the pickadilly gardens.only living canadian i'm a bit jealous of.anyone know his proper name?
 
 
_pin
18:35 / 01.04.04
I think I'm getting more in to the idea of Anticon then Anticon themselves. Riz's description pretty much hit the mark on what they sound like. In my head. I do think they're using hip hop (their own interpretation of hip hop as being found art, really) and doing something else with it. And I'm not trying to say that they're better or worse with it, but it's different. The first cLOUDDEAD wasn't produced to be a hip hop record, but space rock.

As a brand (and let's be honest here, they're both selling themselves really hard), I prefer Anticon, and the strand of undieground that inhabit, then Def Jux. Def Jux are very, um... manly, and aggressive I think.

Where the fuck did the "hip hop has a really small frame of reference" line come from, anyway? The hip hop editor from Jockey Slut was on C4 news trying to tell me The Grey Album would broaden the horizens of the rap community. This is just getting stupid now. Who started this shit?

And Seth, any names on people who do the same sort of thing, but better?
 
 
Seth
20:14 / 01.04.04
Yeah. They're called Latyrx. They've been covering a dizzying amount of ground since the early nineties. Better flows, better lyrics, better beats, more passion, funnier, plus a lot of dancefloor fillers. Unbeatable.
 
 
MojoJojo
18:23 / 02.04.04
"...only living canadian i'm a bit jealous of.anyone know his proper name? "

His name's Richard Terfry.

I saw him on muchmusic once and was surprised by how down to earth he was. Based on his first two albums and an old photo of him I saw in some mag I thought he was the kind who would enjoy hiding behind fictional personas in public.
 
 
Spaniel
09:49 / 03.04.04
Questions:

directionless

Can you qualify?

self-consciously arty music

What are you implying here? That it is without, er, soul?

visceral appeal

Why must it have visceral appeal?

and has been done in more appealing ways by many other artists?

Maybe the aforemention "other artists" just weren't doing the same thing. This needs unpacking: which other artists? What did they do that could be considered similar? Similar how?

Most hip hop fans I know like an extremely broad spectrum of hip hop, as it pushes boundaries in many more directions than just the few that Anticon choose to explore.

What's wrong with exploring a small area (assuming that's what they're doing)?

C'mon, Seth, own up, ya just don't like 'em, do ya?
 
 
Seth
10:54 / 03.04.04
Erm... was that not clear? They're as bad as fifty pints of diarrhoea when you only have a one pint jug to put it in.
 
 
Haus of Mystery
17:21 / 03.04.04
Lyrics Born's album was a piece of shit. Quanuum fell off. Try the Freestyle Fellowship for more goodies (esp. Project Blowed Album, or their 'Griots' album...)
 
 
Harrison Ford, in a battle suit, wheels for feet, knives and guns
19:57 / 03.04.04
I really like most of the stuff anticon have put out. The core members of the collective/label being Doseone, Why, Odd Nosdam (all 3 members of Cloudead), Sole, the Pedestrian, Alias & Jel. Check thier solo stuff out it's sick. But if anyone wants a truly fanatastic listen get the first THEMSELVES album, (this is doseone & Jel).

Oh yeah and check out MF DOOM & MADLIB. New Madvillan album out now.
 
 
HysteriX
18:08 / 05.04.04
I was just at the AntIcon showcase, Doseone is sick. Off stage he walks around the crowd conversating with people, (keeping it real and all that blibbity) but on stage he seems to be very arrogant and synical (which made me laugh). He is different from most "mc's", where as they show the crowd mad love on stage, when in reality they are major arseholes who couldn't give two shites about anything but their record sales. At any rate, the entire show was brilliant. I think whats great about AntIcon is that they're not all about hiphop (Dosh kicks intestines), and they didn't do that put your hands up put your hands up crap, which is great because lets face it people don't like being told what to do. Can you say run on sentences?
 
 
Seth
19:54 / 05.04.04
Lyrics Born's album was a piece of shit. Quanuum fell off. Try the Freestyle Fellowship for more goodies (esp. Project Blowed Album, or their 'Griots' album...)

Who said anything about solo Lyrics Born or Quannum? Doesn't change the fact that Latyrx never made a bad tune, which is why I referred to them and them only.
 
 
Haus of Mystery
19:59 / 05.04.04
I was just dissappointed after waiting so long for one of my favourite MC's to drop his solo joint, only for it to suck. No attack intended. S'true that Latyrx ruled thogh. 'Lady Don't Tek No' is an all time banger.
 
 
Darth Phil
01:17 / 13.04.04
Alias's Muted is definitely worth a listen or two especially for the song Unseen Sights...
 
 
dubpulse
03:12 / 13.04.04
its funny I really respect anticon but i don't find myself listening to much stuff on the label anymore. Which is not to say it isn't good. Maybe its the season. I move into soul, funk, house and techno and upbeat hip hop during the spring and summer months.

On the Buck 65 front... I must agree, he's very down to earth. Just a nice guy all around. Before the major label deal, I was catching the guy on his 4 or 5 shows he did through Canada. Memorable fan boy moment: standing in the cafeteria of my college while he regailed a couple of us with stories of guilt-tripping because he had nothing but tea bags to give out to the kids one Hallowe'en.

I haven't caught his latest incarnation of live shows, but apparently its just gotten better. He's a showman that one.

Also, you should check out his cohort from the Sebutones, Sixtoo, who has some stuff coming out on Ninjatune this year which has impressed me.
 
  
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