Customer Reviews

Soulmates

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After listening to this album, the first thought that came to mind was "hip hop meets the other side" This album has 18 beautifully compiled tracks, and has about 5 talented lyricist ripping it over Nobody's head bopping lo-fi beats! With the likes of Aceyalone, Medusa, and 2 mex on his album, this album holds good lyrical content and is taking hip hop to another level! Fans of DJ Krush, DJ Cam, DJ Shadow, Ninja Tune, and HIP HOP should definitely pick this one up. Don't sleep on this album people!!

come one, come all. come and listen to the new genius of lo fi atmospheric beatmaking. this album is a true gem. there are so much more to his tracks than your regular old everyday hip hop. a collage of different time signatures, different sounds, and different personalities are just some of the things to expect. ubiquity did release another quality product and it's an amazing find. if you want something that creates a beautifully engineered journey through an album, buy this. if you refrain from using your imagination, go somewhere else.

Elvin Estela, also whimsically known as "Nobody," knows his hip-hop. And his trip-hop. And he knows how to blend them together exquisitely in "Soulmates," his polished debut. It leans a bit too much on the jagged raps, but retains a sort of sleepy eeriness from beginning to end.

At the start, "Soulmates" sounds like a mixture of airy space-rock, bits of acid jazz, and some of the airiest little melodies you could imagine. Nobody's trippy, sleepy songs are delicate and dreamlike, with things like a soprano choir and guitar strums overlaid with blipping samples and tinkling bells. He even dips into experimental numbers with "Nozirah," a completely distorted one-minute song.

But there's another side to "Soulmates," one lined with acid jazz and spacey hip-hop. Songs like "Syde Trips" have jazzy drums and bluesy sounds, despite all the haunted-house sound effects. And other songs are, simply put, acid rap -- 2 Mex and Medusa are among the rappers that show up, against Nobody's swirling music.

The hip-hop angle is also the album's sole weakness. Nobody's work is so exquisite, it's distracting to have these guys rapping over it. On the second or third listen, however, their voices start to blend into the psychedelic trip. Freestyle Fellowship is the worst -- that song sounds like it belongs on an entirely different album.

To call "Soulmates" a hip-hop album is to underestimate it -- there is hip-hop in it, but also chillout electronica and jazz. (Hip-trip-hop-jazz?) It simply wouldn't work if it were just jazz, just electronica or just hip-hop. As a result, Nobody's versatility and complexity is an essential part of the music -- it always seems to be slowly building up to something, even if it never gets there.

Nobody uses a lot of samples and synth, giving the music a spacey feel. But underneath all this are piano and drums, acoustic guitar and what sounds like a sitar. All of this is twisted, distorted and given more echoes than a parrot. Is it good? Oh yeah.

The lyrics aren't too different -- they're a mixture of the grounded and the bizarre. The guest vocalists rap about space cadets, current politics, Mars, stargazing, rituals and "cyber-psychics brought here to fix your energy crisis." Whatever that means -- the fun is in listening, not comprehending.

"Soulmates" would be the perfect blend of hip-hop, trip-hop and jazz if it relief less on the rapping. But as it is, it's an exquisite piece of musical work.

West Coast-based Nobody works firmly in the Dublab vein of sample-based hip-hop, and on his debut, SOULMATES, shows his delicacy and moody grace. "For Those Who Never Dream" drifts along in a thick miasma of sound. The sonic density and layering of tracks like "Outbreak" or "Sixth Sense" present a complex beauty, reminiscent of DJ Shadow's work. And though I'm not a fan of MCs, the poetic "Fiend of the Fix" and the outer space funk of "Planets Ain't Aligned" aren't too bad (though "Faces of the Deep" isn't too good, either). The bass-driven "Syde Tryps" traverse jazzier territory with some Middle Eastern-tinged woodwinds. A beguiling debut.

Elvin Estela, also whimsically known as "Nobody," knows his hip-hop. And his trip-hop. And he knows how to blend them together exquisitely in "Soulmates," his polished debut. It leans a bit too much on the jagged raps, but retains a sort of sleepy eeriness from beginning to end.

At the start, "Soulmates" sounds like a mixture of airy space-rock, bits of acid jazz, and some of the airiest little melodies you could imagine. Nobody's trippy, sleepy songs are delicate and dreamlike, with things like a soprano choir and guitar strums overlaid with blipping samples and tinkling bells. He even dips into experimental numbers with "Nozirah," a completely distorted one-minute song.

But there's another side to "Soulmates," one lined with acid jazz and spacey hip-hop. Songs like "Syde Trips" have jazzy drums and bluesy sounds, despite all the haunted-house sound effects. And other songs are, simply put, acid rap -- 2 Mex and Medusa are among the rappers that show up, against Nobody's swirling music.

The hip-hop angle is also the album's sole weakness. Nobody's work is so exquisite, it's distracting to have these guys rapping over it. On the second or third listen, however, their voices start to blend into the psychedelic trip. Freestyle Fellowship is the worst -- that song sounds like it belongs on an entirely different album.

To call "Soulmates" a hip-hop album is to underestimate it -- there is hip-hop in it, but also chillout electronica and jazz. (Hip-trip-hop-jazz?) It simply wouldn't work if it were just jazz, just electronica or just hip-hop. As a result, Nobody's versatility and complexity is an essential part of the music -- it always seems to be slowly building up to something, even if it never gets there.

Nobody uses a lot of samples and synth, giving the music a spacey feel. But underneath all this are piano and drums, acoustic guitar and what sounds like a sitar. All of this is twisted, distorted and given more echoes than a parrot. Is it good? Oh yeah.

The lyrics aren't too different -- they're a mixture of the grounded and the bizarre. The guest vocalists rap about space cadets, current politics, Mars, stargazing, rituals and "cyber-psychics brought here to fix your energy crisis." Whatever that means -- the fun is in listening, not comprehending.

"Soulmates" would be the perfect blend of hip-hop, trip-hop and jazz if it relief less on the rapping. But as it is, it's an exquisite piece of musical work.

This album is so magnificently organic. It's just so subtle and beautiful and built as a whole album of moods. The samples are unidentifiable. The echoes, the beats, the thickness of it all just sucks you in until you fall in love with it.

...the initial reaction is question what vice you was on that influenced you to buy this...
but give it a chance, folk...naw, this aint what has passed for hip-hop for the last ten years or so, but i think at it's core it is hip-hop still...you jus gotta remember back to the days of afrika bambaataa, planet patrol anem...no hardcore, drop to the floor and do a backspin music here, but it has its moments...
this took a couple of days to grow on me and now that it has i'm hooked...(the rappin on this is mediocre, but) imagine a cross between the hieroglyphs' "93 til infinity" and tosca's "suzuki"...

He absolutely dipslays true lyrical talent amongst other talents in this album, slower and some faster style stream of thought lyrics are displayed nicely over inventive beats.
This is a great album to own, brings you through some moods that are hard to reconized in most music, But he touches that part of your creative mind and throbs it with such talent and dignity that you will not be dissapointed!
It is hip hop, regardless of some of the previous reviews. Very Tastefully done.

I bought this CD after seeing the cover promoted excessively in a music store on Haight Street in SF. Combining the expectations of previous Ubiquity releases with reviews making comparisons to DJ Krush, DJ Cam, Shadow, etc. I was totally disappointed in the musical content, and will go so far as saying this CD sucks! In the linear notes to this album, Nobody gives up his influences as jazz, hip hop, psychadelic rock, etc - well then how come this album is so boring and unoriginal? The guest lyricist on this album are tight, but they are insulted by these pathetic beats that should have stayed on Nobody's shelf in 1996. Krush, Cam, Shadow, etc were pioneers in turntablism, abstract beats, and fusing musical styles, and this album is the result of their, and their counterparts, musical breakthrough and success - labels will look for anything to quench the thirst of beatheads. Don't waste your time - your turntables and headphones deserve much more.