Cassette Review // The Dirty Sample "NO!" (Hand'Solo Records)

$15 //

Edition of 30 //

https://handsolorecords.bandcamp.com/album/no //

The Dirty Sample does not lie as these are beats, samples and it is a bit dirty.  At times, you'll hear certain sounds just slip up- they'll be chopped up and not pushed back through clean- and that's why I think they're dirty.   Through these deep beats come a groove which brings out some funk.   It's one of the purest forms of music I've ever heard which perfectly walks the line between being that soulful funk of the 1970's yet also somehow the hip hop which shaped a culture (myself included) in the 1990's.

This is "The Get Down".   This is the sound you want to hear on the radio at 2 am when you need help getting through the night.  An audio clip with the voices distorted asks: "How much did they first pay you to give up on your dreams? / 27 grand a year / And when were you going to stop and come back and do what makes you happy?"  This is such a powerful quote because so many people aren't being paid to do what they love.  And you think "Well, I can't make it as an artist.  I'll never make that kind of money" and then you go and take a job which barely pays you anyway.  It really makes you think about life and money, right?  (The quote is also from the movie "Up In The Air")

Sometimes I feel like the music is like the song "Regulate" and other times I feel like we're taking a walk on the wildside.  Either way, this could easily blend within the songs of a soundtrack such as "Trespass" or with a soundtrack such as "The Basketball Diaries" and that really says a lot about it.    There is also a song with an audio clip about eating- and how someone who has been able to eat all that they want doesn't really know the madness of hunger, and that's some pretty powerful prose.   I know these are clips and not the words of the artist but just to put these thoughts and ideas back into the universe to have people think about them some more is quite brilliant. 

An audio clip for Shazam takes us into singing which makes me think of "Shaft" and then we get some soulful singing with keys.   These different sounds- from beats to keys, vocals to audio clips- just go to show how this is not about one style.  This cassette isn't just something you can file under hip hop and be done with it.  There are layers to this, multi-genres and it needs to be heard to be appreciated.  So if you tend to partake in the type of music that has beats or soul (and let's face it, all the best music has soul) then The Dirty Sample should be playing through your speakers.