I conducted a little experiment for over a year when I first started writing for The Deli. I knew that Philly had plenty of talented young artists who weren’t getting any exposure for one reason or another so I decided to scour MySpace each week (when it was still somewhat relevant) to find acts that I liked with a thousand friends or less (remember when people used to “friend” each other instead of “like”) to give fledgling acts a little exposure and support. My column was called “Artist(s) Who Deserve Your Friendship”, and it was really so much fun to discover and write about musicians who most people had never really heard about before. If you happen to have been following The Deli during that time, you may have noticed a lot of those acts that I wrote about eventually getting more press from other media outlets (more of a testament to their talent than my writing, of course) which was very cool to see. Well, a while back I came across tracks like “Rid Thyself” and “I Am (the springtime)” from Lion Versus and was instantly captivated by lead singer-songwriter Hilary White’s sultry vocals and beautifully poetic verses. So much so that I booked her for one of our showcases before ever seeing her perform live which I never do. I didn’t know this at the time, but White had just moved here from Savannah, GA, and she was at a crossroad. She was “trying to get back into playing music again, but felt a bit discouraged.” White recently sent me an e-mail thanking me for the piece that I had written for my column letting me know how it really encouraged her to continue trying, which was quite touching and encouraging to me. Well, the duo that once performed at our showcase is now a full blown 7-piece band that is celebrating the release of their new EP Five Hearts tonight at North Star Bar, and you should definitely go support as well as check out White’s other artwork HERE! Lion Versus will be joined by fabulous orchestral pop ensemble Cuddle Magic, Perseverance Jazz Band and The Horrible Department. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., $8, 21+ - Q.D. Tran
Lushlife, a.k.a. Raj Haldar, has been dropping mixtapes since 2005, when he released his debut entitled West Sounds, which was a mashup of The Beach Boy’s classic Pet Sounds and Kanye West’s College Dropout and Late Registration as well as his own verses. On his first label release Plateau Vision (Western Vinyl), Lush continues to develop his eclectic style, combining ‘60s psychedelic, experimental indie and golden era hip hop sounds to create the grandiose, maximalist soundscape beats that he rhymes over.
With his latest LP, Lush establishes himself as a unique artist who is able to take influences from various genres, sounds and eras of music to develop a completely original style that has one foot in classic hip hop and the other through the doorway of the future. This distinctive style is displayed immediately on the album’s opener “Magnolia.” The track combines a beautiful harp sample over a hard boom bap beat with lyrics that reference composer Burt Bacharach, the graffiti culture of Wild Style, Citizen Kane’s Xanadu and Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” through his gritty Nas-esque vocal delivery. In “Hale-Bopp was the Bedouins,” which features Das Racists’ Heems, Haldar references his technique as “half-Delorean, half-rap historian.”
Plateau Vision boasts an impressive guest list of artists including Andrew Cedermark (Titus Andronicus), Styles P and Shad amongst others, but Lushlife always shines through as both an emcee and a producer. The first feature comes from Styles P (famous for his work with ‘90s hip hop crew LOX) on “Still Hear The Word Progress,” one of the LP’s standout tracks. Lushlife trades bars back and forth with the iconic emcee at a furious pace without losing a step over a dense synth and 8-bit beat. Towards the halfway point of the album, Lush shines brightly with fellow Philly emcee and former Atlanta native STS on “Glistening,” and he hands over the mic on “Gymnopedie 1.2” to critically acclaimed Canadian emcee Shad while crafting one of the most interesting beats on the Plateau Vision by sampling one of 20th century French composer/pianist Erik Satie’s “Gymnopedies,” which fades out under a clip from Busy Bee and Kool Moe Dee’s classic emcee battle, tying Haldar’s classical and jazz upbringing with his “fetish” for golden era hip hop culture.
Lushlife is definitely one of the most interesting artists in hip hop today. He continues to push the genre’s boundaries with his production while remaining true to its culture through his vocal delivery and preservation of its history throughout his lyrics. Plateau Vision is available for streaming HERE, and you can purchase the album via Western Vinyl. - Dan Brightcliffe
