Blockhead: Free Sweatpants (Stream)

Blockhead has been a favourite producer of mine ever since I first heard his work with Aesop Rock on Labor Days. Over the years he has maintained a steady stream of solid solo releases – Music by Cavelight and Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book, being two personal favourites – as well as some excellent production credits for some equally excellent rappers. The one thing I have always wanted to hear from him though was a production album, featuring loads of good MCs rapping their asses off, which is exactly what the New York producer delivered today.
Following on from last year’s Funeral Balloons – his debut release on his new label home, Backwoodz Studioz – Free Sweatpants merges quintessential Blockhead instrumentals, with plenty of strong features from a whole host of talented writers. As if it’s not enough having Tree, Hemlock Ernst, Aesop Rock, Armand Hammer, Homeboy Sandman, Vic Spencer and Marq Spekt involved, Blockhead kicks off the album with a track featuring Open Mike Eagle, billy woods AND Breeze Brewin. The result is as good as you would hope for and more. I spent years waiting for this album to happen and I am happy to be able to say it has surpassed all my expectations. Free Sweatpants is available to stream in full below and you find downloads over on Bandcamp.

MarQ Spekt: At War With The Shadows (Stream)

MarQ Spekt recently released his latest album, At War With The Shadows. Following on from last year’s Broken Mazes collaboration with Stones Throw’s Gary Wilson, this new album is produced entirely by Prospek, who hails from New Orleans and has worked with the likes of Keith Murray and Pumpkinhead. Described as an album that “truly feels as if it could have mixed within the Rawkus, Def Jux underground HipHop era”, At War With The Shadows is a solid 11 tracks deep and lives up to every bit of its hype. Strong list of features too, including Roc Marciano, Vordul Mega and billy woods. You can stream the album below, with limited edition vinyl available via Bandcamp.