“Ladies and Gentlemen, The Signal”. And so opens the new album from Urthboy . If the OZ Hip Hop scene has a centre, It’s Urthboy. From his days with Hermitude or out front of The Herd , Urthboy is nowhere if not at the forefront of the genre, that he spends so much of his time pushing.
Backed by Hermitude’s Elgusto on the wheels of steel, you are in great hands in the front and the back as Urthboy takes you on a slow ride through the city streets. Whether it’s his ability to get into the Australian conscience or his penchant for recounting stories of which you always feel a part, Urthboy has a knack that allows the listener to take it to another level.
For fans of that traditional urbansound, track 5 _The Clocks _ ,wears an oversized tracksuit and walks with a lean. However as a testament to the artist it still maintains the intelligence that marks Urthboy’s music.
Easily the highlight of The Signal is fittingly entitled Over Before It Began . This song is a significant departure in the album. It has a musicality and clarity of lyric that is mature and textual. The addition of jazz instrumentation and *Mia Dyson * on vocals leaves the whole track smoking.
Although not my thing, fans of the mob sound will lfind *Ozi Batla * and *The Tongue * as welcome additions to the The Wrong One .
_Black Dog _ and _Hold Court _ are both stripped right back to heartbeat albeit that of a gansta. Modern Day Folk is a most interesting and catchy treat with some really nice sounds. Mixing a few strings with some electronic keys, a soft vocal and a really crisp beat, it will have you doing the block until your tanks empty.Song title of the year goes to Megaphone Stallone which completes the theme of juicy jazz.
Final track _No Other _ is another departure from the theme and easily a lounge classic. You can almost feel the red velour as Urthboy swims through the smoky grooves and sits you back in the coolest of clubs.
This album is not much different from the fistful of solo projects flying around the emerging local hip hop scene however it is interesting, engaging and cruises along nicely. There are times when you think it’s missing some salt or something in the flavour. But if you like your domestic flava’s look out for The Signal .
