Cheap Thrills - August 2022

This month: breakbeat, jazzy hip hop, desert rock, and more! 

August's edition of Cheap Thrills brings you more of the internet's finest "name your price", free, and otherwise inexpensive music. With such a low barrier to entry, how could you go wrong? 

As with last month's installment, there will be a link at the end to the punk and metal version of Cheap Thrills, graciously hosted by the fine folks over at Invisible Oranges.

If you like anything you hear, be sure to support the artists!

Coracle & Interplan West - KX-27

KX-27 is a split album from Coracle and Interplan West, two enigmatic artists who both know their way around an amen break. The whimsical cover art gives a fairly accurate impression of the music that follows: lush synth melodies that evoke the futuristic landscapes of Moebius or Syd Mead, with breakbeats that skitter, shuffle, and leap like a herd of excitable mechanical beasts. Coracle's side of the split is a bit brighter and busier while Interplan West opts for a a darker cyberpunk sound. The difference is certainly not one of quality, but of timbre and mood—one is a daytime safari on an alien planet, while the other is a flight over a futuristic metropolis humming with late night activity. 

Ockham's Blazer - Ockham's Blazer

Ockham's Blazer is a jazz/hip hop collective featuring one MC, two producers, two saxophonists, one trumpeter, and a percussionist. This seven headed beast recently put out their self-titled album on Ceschi's label Fake Four, and my initial impression was that it sounded like a mix of Aesop Rock and Snarky Puppy. Instrumentals groove and evolve with each passing minute with all seven members adding their own individual flourishes to create a lovely melting pot of influences. Rapper PremRock can grab the mic and claim center stage with his bold rhymes and wordplay, but he also steps back on more laid-back tracks to blend in with the rest of the band, his voice becoming more conversational and confessional. With chemistry like this, it's almost hard to believe that these musicians have not collaborated on a recording before.

Sons of Arrakis - Volume I

OK, I'll be the first to admit that a Dune-inspired stoner rock album (or stoner album presented as a numbered volume, for that matter) is probably not the most original idea in the world, but that doesn't stop Sons of Arrakis' debut from being a collection of finely-crafted tunes perfect for any desert trek. Fans of Truckfighters, Sleep, and The Sword will dig this mix of fuzzed-out riffs and catchy vocal melodies. Volume I won't necessarily induce a state of heightened awareness, but you may find yourself unconsciously nodding along to its hypnotic grooves. 

Not heavy enough for you? Head over to Invisible Oranges for the punk and metal edition of Cheap Thrills. The August edition of that column features all sorts of goodies, ranging from atmospheric black metal, Gundam-themed dbeat, and death/doom from the swamps of Australia.