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My man Dom, the manager for Camden duo MAGr, passed along a couple of unreleased tracks from the group to promote their upcoming album No News Is Good News. MAGr (Al Mighty and Distant Starr) are from Jersey, they're down with Clean Guns and they consistently put out some great songs, so I've been checking for their music ever since Zilla (who can be seen holding up the wall in the above photo) put me up on them about a year ago. The first track is produced by Tha S Ence, the producer behind Hustle Simmons, a man whom we've profiled a couple of times recently. Peep:

MAGr - Feelin' Us (produced by Tha S Ence) (d/l link)

What I find really interesting about MAGr as a group is that, while they're more than capable of putting out grimy, underground boom bap records like the above, they also make heavy use of futuristic Euro club beats from production duo Heralds of Change, a.k.a. Hudson Mohawke and Mike Slott. MAGr's relationship with Heralds led to them signing with an Irish record label, though they've since parted with the label and their upcoming album is scheduled for a U.S. release. Scotsman Hud Mo produced the Buttafly song we posted earlier this year, and the following was produced by Slott, who hails from Ireland:

MAGr - Spike Lee (produced by Mike Slott) (d/l link)

While I appreciate the effort to push the boundaries of hip hop on this one, Spike Lee is, admittedly, a little too experimental for my tastes (update: I've since had a chance to play it on an actual stereo instead of my p.o.s. laptop speakers, and my opinion of the song has improved significantly). I've been holding on to another song that Slott produced for Distant Starr's upcoming solo album, though, which I liked quite a bit. Here it is:

Distant Starr - Boxed In (produced by Mike Slott) (d/l link)

Earlier this year I spoke to Dom about the group's use of European producers. Here's what he had to say about that:

[They] really like collabing with all the new euro producers just because it isn't the same sound we're accustomed to on the east coast. Another advantage is the fact that there are only a small handful of emcees anywhere that have rapped to Hudmo or Mike Slott beats, so people have been really eager to hear them.

As I mentioned, the group has an album coming out at some point in the near future. My understanding is that the album is all but finished, and will include a song with an appearance by the internet's current favorite emcee, Blu. Also on tap for MAGr is an appearance with Clean Guns at Philly's Arena Bar on April 24th.

Further Listening:
MAGr on MySpace
Tha S Ence's Website
Mike Slott on Myspace

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