Furthermore
She And I
Tooth and Nail
Maybe it’s just me, but there’s nothing worse than indie hipsters trying to rap. It’s extremely exhausting, both for the listener and for the hipster(s) involved. Furthermore are a two piece boy/girl combo from the Tooth and Nail scene, who create early ’80s style rap songs, ala LL Cool J, Slick Rick and Run DMC. Their shtick is enormous, as the glaringly white lead rapper (one “Fischer”) tries his best to sound like what Eminem might have sounded like were he born 20 years earlier. The result is a terribly painful stroll through some the most awkward, boring and pointless rapping ever committed to tape.
All I can say is “yuck.” Trying to read the lyrics in the liner sleeve is difficult. The words are in a tiny white font and the background color is a weird shade of olive green that makes me ill. They appear to be about relationships, for the most part, and I must admit that Fischer’s rhymes are pretty darn clear and articulate for how quickly he spits them. I guess the thing I don’t like is that he seems to be attempting to sound “street” or “ghetto.” It’s so stupid for someone so clearly not from that lifestyle to highjack a musical style that was originally intended to represent how screwed up it is to live a hard life in rough areas. Part of the mystique of rap music is the raw emotion involved in a rapper’s voice; Fischer’s voice is so clearly devoid of emotion that I feel like I’m listening to a robot. I don’t know… I just can’t see the point in listening to some scenster trying to be “down.”
Tooth and Nail Records: http://www.toothandnail.com/