Immortal Technique has been touring the world after his previous release Revolutionary Vol. 2, including the Rock the Bells Tour for the past 3 years. This has kept him quite busy with the anticipation of his next release growing steadily by the day. Finally Immortal Technique and DJ Green Lantern (DJ for Jay Z & Sirius Satellite) complete their vision of colliding their worlds into one full-length album, The 3rd World. The mix of street Hip Hop with the vivid landscapes of global struggle shows that world politics and music politics are almost one in the same. While still a full-length album, DJ Green Lantern blends and mixes it from start to finish, with about a 1/3 of the production to his name. Expect to hear Immortal Technique’s striking lyrics on an even more street influenced production that occasionally fortifies him to show his bi-lingual versatility on the mic.

Immortal Technique Website

If you aren’t already familiar with Russian DJ and Producer DJ Vadim, then you are missing out on one of the greatest hip-hop artists outside of the USA. His latest album, USSR: The Art of Listening is his most mature and finished LP to date. His earlier release USSR Repertoire broke new ground with its curiously structured rhythms and drum patterns. 1999’s The Isolationist is Vadim’s immortal collabo with Anti-Pop Consortium. DJ Vadim has made music with many respected artists from around the world, and the new album is no different. USSR Repertoire features Gift of Gab, Slug, Motion Man, Phi Life Cypher, Yarah Bravo, Demolition Man, and several others.

USSR: The Art of Listening feels to me like a further development of a sound that is uniquely DJ Vadim. Some of Vadim’s songs can sound deceivingly loose and unstructured when you first hear them, if you are expecting to hear a traditional, tried-and-true brand of hip-hop. It always takes me several careful listens to slowly absorb the subtle musical tactics that make DJ Vadim one of today’s top producers and songwriters. The cello melody and drum arrangement on “She Who is Tested” are especially impressive. (Yarah Bravo makes two outstanding appearances on this album: in this song and on the elegant “The Pacifict”)

DJ Vadim’s abilities shine through in the absence of vocals in “The Harp Song (Part 2)”, where his unconventional approach makes other hip-hop tracks sound like cardboard cut-outs. This song’s unpredictable twists and turns will steal your concentration, and leave you hungry to hear it again. A lot of music out there sounds hot at first, but gets played out the more you hear it. USSR The Art of Listening doesn’t reveal itself all at once, it has depth, sophistication and harmony, and in some unlikely ways. The closer you listen to Vadim’s music, the more appreciation you’ll have for it – this is not background music, it is a prodigious mutation in the evolution of music.

More info. on DJ Vadim can be found at:
Ninja Tune: audio/video, online store, tour info. and djvadim.com