Ramson Badbonez “A Year in the Life of Oscar the Slouch”

The end of last year saw a flurry of new releases from various heads on the UK scene and one of the stand out albums for me, was the latest from Ramson Badbonez. A Year in the Life of Oscar the Slouch sees Badbonez creating some of his strongest work yet and with Abnoxshuz‘s Charlie Mac producing the album in its entirety, we have the ingredients for one of the best albums of 2013.
As the title suggests, each track on the album relates to a month in the year, with a whole load of different vibes and subjects thrown in the mix. The list of features is impressive too, with appearances from Mystro, Jam Baxter, Jinxsta JX, M.A.B. and Rag N Bone Man, to name a few.
This is an album I can play from intro to outro without wanting to skip a track which, considering how bad I am at skipping entire songs cos of one chord, is pretty impressive. There are obviously stand out tracks for me, like Scruffy, Bummy, Hungry (March), which features Jam Baxter and Joker Starr, over one of the more laid back beats Mac put together. Just Da Way It Iz (May) is another high point for me, with its compressed drums and drifting piano keys. Also got to mention O.T.S. (October), which features High Focus founder Fliptrix, alongside Row D and man of the moment Rag N Bone Man, who brings his powerful vocals to the hook.
The whole album is worthy of being a high point and it provided a strong ending, to another successful year for High Focus Records. Check out the two videos released so far and then go cop the album. It is available from all the usual spots, including the HF site.