)09/17/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL
09/18/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL 09/19/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL 09/20/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL 09/21/08 Pygmalion Music Festival Champaign, IL 10/04/08 Chattanooga Convention Center Chattanooga, TN |
Animate Objects are a hip-hop crew from Chicago, Illinois. Since 2005, they've won numerous regional awards for "Best Hip Hop" band, and having listened to their debut album, Riding In Fast Cars With Your Momma (released March 31th, 2007), I can see why.
At first, I thought this was a typical MCs/DJs crew, but Animate Objects consists of a true live band of keys, bass, drums, and guitars. And not to put a too fine a point on it, the band members looks like of Asian/Indian descent, much like the hip-hop Asian Dub Foundation (which incidentally have a new album out).
As the album name, Riding In Fast Cars With Your Momma, suggests these are songs that you can play to your parents and not feel absolutely embarrass about its subjects. Now, this is not to say that it's watered down rap/hip-hop, but more so that its subject matter is not about banging hundreds of chicks or bragging about killing somebody or glamorizing about gang lifestyle. All this is explained in the first song, "The Weight", a jazzy background music with a spoken dialogue.
I felt the the album seems to have a theme of a location and places. As if each songs were stops along a journey through urban America. For instance, "El Dorado" sounds a city you'd like to visit, but not stay ("let's leave it all behind"). This song was recently awarded Best Rap/Hip-Hop song on the 7th Annual Independent Music Award Winner. You can hear the song proudly displayed on their myspace.
The other song that stood out for me was their not-so-hidden bonus track, "The Battle Of Now". This is a powerful song about rape (at least that's what I'm interpreting it). The woman vocals are provided by Margaret Vagle, who I only wish sang on more Animate Objects songs.
My song of choice is "Beautiful", a song featuring guest falsetto of Charles Hammond Jr. This is unlike most hip-hop songs, as the usage of the violins would reveal.
What I really like about this album is that the music is all originally composed for each song. I couldn't detect any sampling (and if some were used, it's not so obvious).
According to their official website, you can own the 12 track album for a mere $5. This is a really cheap price for a full length, so I suggest you take advantage of it before someone change their mind. Look for them at the five-day Pygmalion Music Festival.
