Woozy, tripped-out hip-hip from Alan Ward, sent to us for the second edition of the MEANS compilation. This is the sort of thing I rarely listen to, but, serves a good reminder that people really are still making slick, soulful beats, shorn of all the pretentious chest-beating that mainstream rappers espouse.
‘Bucket’ doesn’t do a great deal – a lazy stroll from a verse to a chorus with only the vocals changing in any significant manner. The whole thing is framed by a groove-laden guitar line and some low hums, simple, effective crunchy drums underpinning it all. Somewhat refreshingly, the track is built around its lyrics but doesn’t forefront them, the words drifting across the loose, shifting bed of its instrumentation.
It’s likely big hip-hop fans could find a million more things to say about this than I can, so I’ll leave it only in the ‘surprisingly good’ column and let you do the rest. As far as the artist goes, Alan Ward seems to have a few other singles floating around bandcamp, all showcasing a similar vibe. ‘hand vibe’ exhibits the same balance of glistening electric guitars and beats, our rapping hero once again firing hypnotic syllables above the fray. Much like ‘Bucket’, the words are front and centre, but I’ll-defined, something about ‘keeping your hands by me’ but also possibly not that.
If this all sounds like your analogical cup of tea, you can check out more of Alan Ward here, as well as throwing some cash at our fundraising comp to support this very blog here.
meansmagazine.com 