Cassette Review // Smile When They Flash Their Knives (Hand'Solo Records)

https://handsolorecords.bandcamp.com/album/smile-when-they-flash-their-knives

Right away I like that for this compilation every song is a word in the title.  So the first song is called "Smile" and the sixth song is called "Knives" which just means that lyrically these songs can also carry through with those themes.  While I enjoy a good compilation because you can think of it as a sampling of the artists, some you might not know, I particularly enjoy that this is based around a common theme.

Big beats, ambience and just an overall upbeat feeling starts this cassette.  It feels like MC Chris but at times the lyrics can come out fast and I also think of Crazy Town.   With record scratches we go into the second song which reminds me a bit of Darko the Super.   The third song has this more Slick Rick type of ODB way about it and as they discuss slow burning a lot it can also remind me of clipping.   There is a line in this song I really like that says: "I'm what happens when a ghost finally dies"

"Flash" just has that old school RUN DMC type of feel to it while "Their" is just a lot of fun and old school in that Tribe / Das Efx / Digable Planets type of way.   During an audio clip someone says "Vanilla Ice just won't cut it any more" and I do feel like the affect Vanilla Ice had on hip hop at that time needs to be studied.    As we go into "Knives" we get that Tribe sound again with sax but also a little bit of Black Sheep.

There are sirens turning into funk and overall this whole cassette is just a lot of fun to experience.   If you're at all familiar with Hand'Solo Records (and you should be) you'll know that the flip side tends to be instrumentals and that's what happens here as well.   Crocodile Dundee of course has to talk about knives and I just feel like this is such a great cassette for those who are first listeners of Hand'Solo Records or long time listeners.