Deacon LF and Mandeep Sethi - Paleofuture (Bay Area Hip Hop)

Technology can be a real sonofabitch sometimes.

(Image: Mandeep Sethi and Deacon LF - Paleofuture)

Technology can be a real sonofabitch sometimes. The same program that can so effortlessly format one's words, correct misspellings and suggest improvements to one's grammar can just as effortlessly consign those words to the ether with barely so much as a brief ~~eff you~~ "fatal error," leaving one with little more than tears of frustration to show for an hour's worth of lost work. All that can be done in such a case is to reminisce on what was lost and what could have been: thoughts on the Bay Area's Deacon LF, and how he had seemingly disappeared after showing such initial promise as a young producer back in 2007. How he made use of wind instruments, sitars and acoustic guitars in his unique approach to hip hop, sounding like the second coming of an Endtroducing era DJ Shadow, or perhaps DJ Krush, and how the discovery of a 2009 album that he produced for emcee Mandeep Sethi, Paleofuture, reaffirmed those initial impressions of his potential.

Those thoughts might have then gone on to discuss Mandeep Sethi's commendable approach to lyricism, clearly influenced by the post-9/11 environment in America, focused as it is on the growing authoritarianism and societal ills in this country. And how that same mindset, which seems to be positioning him as a successor of sorts to Immortal Technique, is so often sabotaged by his support of fringe conspiracy theories and an annoying, and polarizing, tendency to point to the "white man" as some sort of omnipresent boogeyman while ignoring the many other contributors to this country's ever growing rift in wealth distribution. That in spite of those flaws Mandeep is still an emcee worth checking for, and that whatever flaws he might have are smoothed over by some of the terrific production efforts by Deacon.

It would have been a sublime post, pulling together seemingly random thoughts on music theory, political science and macroeconomics into one cohesive essay. Oh well, at least I managed to upload the mp3s:

Mandeep Sethi - Adair (right-click to d/l)

Mandeep Sethi - Boat of Hope (right-click to d/l)

You can stream and download all of Paleofuture over at Mandeep Sethi's bandcamp page.