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Last year, Philly emcee Zilla Rocca hooked up with Douglas Martin, the man behind Fresh Cherries from Yakima, to form the "noir hip hop" group 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers. With executive producer Jeff Weiss, music journalist and curator of Passion of the Weiss, the group put out the very well-received album Slow Twilight during the summer of 2009. At a time when rap was being dominated by meticulously polished commercial acts, the Shadowboxers went in an entirely different direction with Zilla dropping soul-baring lyrics over Martin's raw, almost acoustic sounding beats. The material contained within the album skirted on the very edges of what traditionalists would classify as hip hop - the tremendous Rabbit Season being perhaps the most friendly to rap centrists - but those listeners open-minded enough to give it a chance were well rewarded.
Almost a year later, the 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers are ready to drop their next EP, Broken Clocks. In advance of the EP's release, as well as the group's upcoming Twilight Spoiler tour that begins in April (see clap cowards for tour dates), the Shadowboxers have hooked up with Montreal dj SON RAW for The Twilight Spoiler Mix. As Zilla describes it, it's "a 45 minute continuous one track blend of Shadowboxers music new and old, remixed and unreleased, free and free-er." Along with some new material from the group, there are guest appearances from Alex Ludovico, Nico the Beast and even Coldplay. To round it all out, a few other tracks that were previously released for the internet and on the now classic Bring Me the REMIX of Zilla Rocca mixtape are also included. It all comes together to make for a rather satisfying listening experience, one that should keep Shadowboxer fans content until the official EP comes out next week.
Here are a couple of cuts from The Twilight Spoiler Mix. The remix itself is one continuous mp3, so my editing job may sound a little choppy. All the more reason to go ahead and download the full mix (d/l links to which can be found at the end of the post):
5'O Clock Shadowboxers - Bottomfeeders (Small Professor remix)
5'O Clock Shadowboxers - Lost my Wig (produced by Zilla Rocca)
And speaking of Zilla Rocca, remember that Liquid Swords freestyle we posted a couple of weeks ago from Alex Ludovico? Zee Arrah heard it, jumped on the beat and, predictably, murked it. The official version will appear on Alex Ludovico's upcoming album, Winning/Losing, due out on May 4th. The album is produced by 5 O'Clock Shadowboxer Blurry Drones (a.k.a. Douglas Martin), and I can say with full confidence after Ludo gave me a sneak preview of it that it's going to be amazing. Peep:
Alex Ludovico featuring Zilla Rocca - liquid.swords
The 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers new EP, Broken Clocks, will be released next Tuesday March 30th.
Download Links:
D/L The Twilight Spoiler Mix (usershare link)
D/L or Stream The Twilight Spoiler Mix (divshare link)
Further listening:
5 O'Clock Shadowboxers @ bandcamp.com
Douglas Martin @ Fresh Cherries from Yakima
Zilla Rocca @ Clap Cowards
Finally, in case you missed it:
5 O'Clock Shadowboxers - High Noon
3/22/2010 8:45:51 PM posted by Fresh