The boys over at Labcoat are at it again. The young Asheville, NC collective has been mounting steam over this last year and seem to be doing a great job wedging their way into niches outside of their home town. Last year’s collective EP, “Hi”, won me over with it’s variety and focus on quality. This new sampler continues their tradition of merging hip hop and electronic styles without coming off as derivative or forced, something that isn’t achieved often enough. You get 9 tracks that flow quite fluently (especially considering the compilation format) and flaunt lots of technique: the wonderfully balanced synth and piano seesaw of Jables’ “Exorcist theme”, the Dilla nodding funk of Kendo’s “What’s Happened?” and the minimal stutter-stepping of Peripheral’s take on Dead Prez’s “Hip Hop” (props for making a fresh variant of a song that’s been remixed to death). However, absolute classic track status goes to the Two Fresh-Bookworm collaboration “Waterlevel”, the drums are unfathomably crisp and I played a lot of Donky Kong Country growing up. Thanks guys.
