Underground Artist of The Week: Grayskul

 

For The Power of Grayskul!





This weeks Underground Artist Review, has the pleasure of bringing to you, the group Grayskul. For those of you who have not been privileged enough to see these amazing artist live, you will get an overview today that will persuade you to do so and soon. Grayskul is made up of members Onry Ozzborn, JFK, and Rob Castro. These great artists are currently residing on Rhymesayers Entertainments' label. 

The first time I saw Grayskul was at a Tragedy show in the amazing, and long gone, Rock and Roll Pizza (that used to reside on 112th and Powell in Portland OR). Though the venue is now long gone, Grayskul still lives on and grows more talented and masterful each day. Grayskul put on an incredible show that night and even gave me an exclusive interview after that show, that will appear on the Tragedy DVD, release date TBD.  The band has continued to prove themselves worthy of such a great name after all these years. With their debut release of "Deadlivers" (2005), Grayskul paved the way for a new idea of Hip/Hop that has been a supervillian's design of music takeover. Set on nothing less then world and music domination. With great songs like "Action Figure of Speech" and "Deadlivers" the album gave the fans a great amount of lyrical stylings that were well written and full of actual content. 

The only complaint I had was that many of the songs and rhythm styles seemed the same. As I moved from song to song on the CD I felt the way the band put their lyrics to song was very similar in sound (same inflection on each verse of each song on the CD) but if that is the worst thing on the CD they are doing better then 98% of underground artists out there, that I could write a page of what they are doing that bothers me musically. 

Grayskul also released these albums in 2005: Creature, Wand and The Gun. 

The next CD I came across was Bloody Radio (2007). This CD shows amazing growth, improvement of talent, and infliction in lyrics that I had previously found disheartening in the first CD. The song shows that with time and practice comes better quality and more toned skills. I enjoyed songs such as "Missing", "Is It Me", and "Us". If Grayskul was able to maximize their growth from CD  to CD, like they have done here, in just two years then I am looking forward to reviewing what is next. 

Grayskul also released these albums in 2007: Facefeeder, Scarcrow, and Prom Quiz

The next CD that Grayskul put out is called Graymaker (2009). I enjoyed the change of pace in this album. The tempo was slowed down a bit, but the lyrical content was till present. Songs that make you think and see things in our world that many people turn a blind eye too or may not recognize, made for amazing songs that will last the test of time. Songs from this CD that really stood out for me were "Bread and Wine", "Duece Duece", and "Drapes". The album had a mix of slower beats and quicker tempos. I feel that each album has shown more growth and more lyrical maturity then the previous CDs. 

Grayskul has not released an album since 2009, which makes for the longest time period between albums since 2005. I hope that Grayskul has something amazing in the works for fans. The last Facebook post showed they were playing in Seattle in Sept 2012. So we know that Grayskul is still working and producing music, and until they release another anticipated album we will be patiently waiting. For the power of Grayskul can not be contained nor eliminated. So tell your Grayskul fans that the band is in the midst of their "super special, awesome ultra special, sexy transformation sequence...go! (Grayskull quotes). 

Underground Artist Of The Week: Libretto

This weeks underground artist of the week is Libretto. 

I had never heard of Libretto before, but was excited to see 5 of my favorite music people in the industry were friends of this artist. The first thing that Google brought me too when researching this artist was a YouTube show called Don't Move Here, which I found very interesting. How we can be Portlanders who are so into the scene and into what is going on in music and never hear of these side projects baffles me. It is either poor promotions of these ideas of just us with our heads in the sand. The show takes a look at local music and why people are doing what they are doing, but let's get back to Libretto. Libretto came from L.A. to Portland and joined the Portland underground music scene. With mutual friends like Chillest Illest, DJ Fatboy, and Yamio, I was ready to hear some amazing music from an artist that seems to deserve more lime light. 

The first song I found from Libretto was called Volume, which you can also download for free from the link. I was very impressed with the lyrical quality of this artist. He had really well done beats, simple but clear, and a talented voice and ability to add inflection to his words (something that I have continually said artists in the underground seem to be lacking any more). He added variety to his song and the lyrics were catchy.  The next song I checked out by Libretto was called Ride To Dat. I found the video for this on You Tube. The song starts off slow, but the beat is good. The song had pretty hard lyrics that made you think and then the chorus was more laid back. So the mix was okay, but I would have liked the chorus to reflect the true talk coming from the lyrics about life and hard times. I believe he was trying to show that no matter how hard life is that we are all ride or die with our lives and we need to just enjoy the better things in life and relax. 

All in all I was pleased with what I heard and I feel this artist really deserves to be checked out. The full bio, CD information, and location to order songs or albums can be found here. So I would have to give Libretto an 8 out of ten on my underground artists worth paying to see scale, and if you see him playing some were soon hit me up, we'll ride to dat!!

Underground Artist of the Week: Mighty

This weeks underground artist of the week is Mighty. If you wonder how I come about my means to select the artist, its one of two ways. The preferred way is a suggestion from someone into my inbox, but if that is not found and all else fails, I Google it and select the first lucky one to pop up, which has yet to fail me in my mission.
Mighty's story states that he was once part of a group called DX (formerly Dynamix) and that this group was well known. I, myself, do not know who Dynamix was so I looked it up online and couldn't find anything. I looked on you-tube, Google, and found no traces of this group. His info on Facebook says that he still regularly does shows with DX but I could not find show info online either. This of course is not super important being I am focusing on Mighty, so let's get on with it. Mighty's name drop list features people like E-40, Down aka Kilo, and Mighty performed at Hot Portland Nights with Pitbull for Jammin 107.5 when that was still its name. Mighty has two CDs I found on CD Baby, One Way Ticket and Like A.
I started off listening to One Way Ticket, which was also the title of the first song. Mighty has the ability to be fast with his lyrics which was nice, but I wasn't expecting the voice I heard when he started. He does have a higher pitch voice then I would have assumed, but I am not knocking it. It was a breath of fresh air to not hear the same old bars and beat that most people put out anymore. Sometimes I feel like rappers are afraid to put inflection on their words, when that is what grabs my attention. As I continued to listen to the album I enjoyed song 3 " Like A" which was also the title of his second CD listed on CD Baby. It was fun, had a great beat, and kept my attention. I enjoyed "Bonnie and Clyde" as well, even though that concept has been done many times.
The songs I didn't find so appealing were "Your so high" mainly due to repetition as well as "Punchin" for the same reason. All in all the album was good and I would buy a copy if I had seen Mighty at a show slinging CDs after his set.
Album number 2, " Like A" was actually a single for sale on CD baby. This song is definitely my favorite, by Mighty, and I can understand why he showcases it by itself. The Whole CD can be found for $9.99 or you can buy individual songs for $0.99 a piece.
Mighty's look online showed me that again having the time and money to afford a good photographer and take some good pictures goes a long way. His pictures showed me a level of professionalism that is important in the business and that he was serious about the product he was selling, himself. I felt that Mighty was an underground Portland act that I would pay admission to see and I would recommend him to a friend. All in all I gave him an 8 out of 10 and look forward to what he has to come in the future. So look for Mighty coming to a local venue near you and maybe one day to pack a stadium far away. Good luck Mighty and I wish you the best. Just remember, all it takes is to bust your ass (and musical talent).