Ghostpoet | ||
| Allmusic Biography : A U.K.-based MC whose beats and flow brim with drowsy anxiety, Ghostpoet (Obaro Ejimiwe) became involved with music while attending university. He was a member of a grime collective but eventually gravitated toward a less energetic production sound and MCing style, introduced on 2010s The Sound of Strangers, a self-released four-track missive that caught the ear of BBC DJ Gilles Peterson. Peterson licensed the EP for his Brownswood label and featured a demo version of the track "Liines" on the sixth Brownswood Bubblers compilation, issued that November. The following February, Brownswood issued Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam, the first Ghostpoet full-length and a Mercury Prize nominee. A subsequent alliance with the Play It Again Sam label yielded Some Say I So I Say Light, released in 2013 with Tony Allen, Lucy Rose, and This Heats Charles Hayward among its guests. Featuring more guitar and a full band on most tracks, the 2015 album Shedding Skin was a musical departure for the artist, and featured a collaboration with indie rocker and Maximo Park vocalist Paul Smith. Dark Days & Canapés, led by the stirring single "Immigrant Boogie," arrived in 2017. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 5 Title: Survive It Released: 2011 Tracks: 4 Duration: 22:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Survive It (Koreless remix) (04:36) 2 Survive It (dBridge Limbo remix) (04:40) 3 Survive It (Quests Guidance remix) (08:56) 4 Survive It (Gang Panang remix) (04:33) |
 | Album: 2 of 5 Title: Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam Released: 2011-02-07 Tracks: 12 Duration: 41:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Onetwos (00:40) 2 Run Run Run (03:18) 3 Us Against Whatever Ever (04:27) 4 Finished I Aint (04:18) 5 Longing for the Night (03:33) 6 Yeah Pause (00:16) 7 I Just Dont Know (03:35) 8 Survive It (04:21) 9 Gaaasp (05:27) 10 Cash and Carry Me Home (03:35) 11 Garden Path (02:49) 12 Liiines (04:50) |
| Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam : Allmusic album Review : A credible contender to take the urban poet crown following Mike Skinners recent abdication, aptly named MC Ghostpoets debut album, Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jams tales of contemporary British suburban life has much in common with the Streets influential debut, whether its the lo-fi bedsit-style production, the everyday lyrical observations, or Obaro Ejimiwes lazy, conversational delivery. But while Original Pirate Material often laced its social commentary with a "getting ready for the weekend" fusion of two-step garage, ska, and hip-hop, the self-described "lad with a lisp with some stories to tell" appears more concerned with providing a soundtrack for the early morning after the night before. Full of ambient electronica, woozy rhythms, and languid half-asleep vocals, its ten self-produced tracks effortlessly evoke that 4 A.M. feeling, whether its the cleverly titled "Cash and Carry Me Home," a pulsing slice of dubstep which deals with an out-of-control drinking session, the menacing, improvised jazz of "Finished I Aint," or the glacial beats, ominous strings, and sci-fi synths of "Us Against Whatever Ever," while the claustrophobic and twitchy garage of "Longing for the Night (Yeah Pause)" actually addresses the torment of a restless nights sleep. While these drowsy atmospherics remain the albums default setting, Ejimiwe occasionally provides some welcome daylight to the prevalent shade, as on the ethereal soul of "Survive It," which combines subtle jazzy piano chords and gentle skittering percussion with a delightfully upbeat female vocal and an uncharacteristically breezy pop chorus, the techno-tinged "I Just Dont Know, and the albums closer, "Liiines," an unexpected but convincing foray into new wave indie pop territory, which surprisingly blends in with the dominant doom-laden urban vibes. Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam might be just a little too left-field to capture the zeitgeist in the same way that Skinner did a decade previously, but its a hypnotic and ultimately rewarding debut which, along with recent efforts from James Blake and Jamie Woon, proves that the words chill-out and challenging dont have to be mutually exclusive. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 5 Title: Some Say I So I Say Light Released: 2013-05-06 Tracks: 11 Duration: 53:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Cold Win (03:17) 2 Them Waters (05:02) 3 Dial Tones (05:31) 4 Plastic Bag Brain (04:34) 5 ThymeThymeThyme (03:44) 6 Meltdown (05:05) 7 Sloth Trot (06:41) 8 Dorsal Morsel (05:18) 9 MSI musmiD (04:09) 10 12 Deaf (05:28) 11 Comatose (04:52) |
| Some Say I So I Say Light : Allmusic album Review : Even with a Mercury Prize nomination under his belt, London rapper Ghostpoet could walk through a crowd of music fans without notice and his albums dont land as much as emerge out of the mist. Maybe its because his delivery is like Roots Manuva on sizzurp or that the lead single here is "MSI musmiD," which comes off as a Dali dream sequence directed by Man Ray, but deciphering Some Say I So I Say Light is certainly a joy for returning fans. Maybe the albums title references a desire to communicate something brighter or more "up," as the lyrics are more audible here than previously, or in the case of "Them Waters," its the music thats luminous, as balloons of synthesizer sound pass before the sun as they rise toward the sky. "Plastic Bag Brain" is the ultimate example and towering highlight with its combo of indie guitar riffing, Radiohead keyboards, and crackable code (his brain wanders like a plastic bag blowin in the wind), and heres hoping that "Dorsal Morsel" is Sir Mix-A-Lots "Baby Got Back" for the Wittgenstein set, because a mention of womens jeans, "popping like a Pringle pack," and "revel in the elegance" all seem to point toward it. At 12 tracks long, the album is right-sized and flows beautifully with guests Tony Allen, Woodpecker Wooliams, Gwilym Gold, and This Heats Charles Hayward adding some new sounds for the rapper to flow over. With Richard Formby and the MC himself on production, Ghostpoet remains the most aptly named rapper in the game with his excellent sophomore effort. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 5 Title: Shedding Skin Released: 2015-03-02 Tracks: 10 Duration: 43:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Off Peak Dreams (03:18) 2 X Marks the Spot (03:50) 3 Be Right Back, Moving House (06:06) 4 Shedding Skin (04:24) 5 Yes, I Helped You Pack (03:51) 6 That Ring Down the Drain Kind of Feeling (03:50) 7 Sorry My Love, Its You Not Me (04:11) 8 Better Not Butter (04:13) 9 The Pleasure in Pleather (03:27) 10 Nothing in the Way (06:11) |
| Shedding Skin : Allmusic album Review : Seems like critics posted U.K. rapper Ghostpoet as left-field hip-hops big hope just two verses into his debut, but the gifted man might really be the genres Mark E. Smith, even if MC Obaro Ejimiwe doesnt share any of the indie rock frontmans same "quirks." Like Smiths group the Fall, Ghostpoet is outsider music that sounds familiar and yet unique, so unique that to be outwardly influenced by the mans rapid, literate mumble or his hazy, poetic delivery would be to mimic him. BBC DJ John Peel famously called the Falls music "always different...always the same," and with this third album, it also applies to Ghostpoet. The instrumentation is different, as guitars and a traditional band support the lyrics where laptops and samplers used to be, and Ghostpoet himself has changed a bit, responding to the band with a more natural or organic flow while letting a little more mirth out, perhaps because bassists and drummers are more fun to hang around with than hard drives. Still, "Sorry My Love, Its You Not Me" may open like an early U2 number with echoing guitars and tats on the snare, but its as if a beat were lifted from Boy or October once the vocals sneak in, boozily yearning "to feel magic and stars" before "its just that youre forgettable, babe," because thats how Obaro breaks up. Featuring Maximo Parks Paul Smith, "Be Right Back, Moving House" sets out on a Mumford & Sons sized-journey, then gets wonderfully caught up in its rhythmically tangled second half, and if the artist does sound just like someone else -- rapper Tricky -- on "That Ring Down the Drain Kind of Feeling," the key cut breaks away into Ghostpoet land once the lyrics lay out a layered story of love and guilt. Add the devastating title cut plus more memorable melodies than usual, and Shedding Skin might be the Ghostpoet album to begin with for those who prefer something a bit traditional, but with three excellent efforts from the get-go, the point isnt where to start, but to start, because the rewards are consistent and plentiful. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 5 Title: Dark Days + Canapés Released: 2017-08-18 Tracks: 12 Duration: 44:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 One More Sip (01:31) 2 Many Moods at Midnight (03:59) 3 Trouble + Me (04:52) 4 (We’re) Dominoes (04:19) 5 Freakshow (04:05) 6 Dopamine If I Do (03:38) 7 Live>Leave (03:48) 8 Karoshi (03:12) 9 Blind as a Bat… (04:38) 10 Immigrant Boogie (02:39) 11 Woe Is Meee (04:07) 12 End Times (03:33) |