Regular readers know that I don’t regularly talk about hip-hop. It’s partly because I don’t tend to be a particularly big fan, but also because it’s so far outside the zone of what I feel confident discussing that I don’t really know how much I could add. I don’t know the history, I don’t know what is original and what’s derivative. But one thing I can tell is when a song absolutely blows me away. And in those situations I’m happy to post, even if I don’t really know any of the context for the discussion.
Feel Alive – Metermaids
This song, off the new record from Brooklyn’s Metermaids, easily passes that threshold. In part, this may be because they are a self-described “hip-hop (but not really hip-hop) group” which really just means they combine the power of rhythm in hip-hop with the harmonies of soul and the strong melodies and big choruses that always keep me coming back to pop music.
It’s really a bit of an untapped market, I think. The hordes of indie rock fans who want to dabble in hip-hop but are turned off by a lot of the more unsavory aspects (in terms of the misogyny, homophobia, and general glorification of violence, sex, and hate – but also in the discomfort generated by the mass-marketing of this stuff).
There is a lot of progressive hip-hop to be sure. But in my experience at least, a lot of it misses out on one crucial fact. In order to attract a lot of the theoretically available audience, you’re going to need a hook. Get their attention with keyboards that could slide right into a synthy dance track or a fusion jazz number. And then, once you’re set there, open their eyes to a whole new way of getting sucked into the beat.
For a clear reference of how to get the job done, Metermaids are a great place to start. “Feel Alive” is the most clearly melodic track on Nightlife, but there are plenty more that work with the same material. “Come Home” is buoyed by punchy guitar riff and chorus. “No Matter What” has a distinctly choral feel. And “Fingertips” melds an 80s keyboard line with a jittery, funk-infused beat. Elsewhere, tracks like “Never Far” and “Life is Easy” are seriously in debt to classic R&B and soul singers. And “Funk Terrorist” sounds exactly like name suggests.
Life is Easy – Metermaids
There’s a thin line between dabblers and those who can successfully mine a wide range of genres. Metermaids clearly fall in the latter category. This is a group constantly seeking new ways of expressing old ideas, both lyrically and musically – looking for ways to channel the complicated and conflicted feelings of anger, love, depression, solidarity, and community into a form of music that builds up rather than tears down.
Given that, it should be no surprise that Nightlife is a record that screams New York, with people of all colors, from all walks of life live side by side. Not always in harmony, but with a common identity that transcends any single group. It’s the sound the subway at 3 AM, of kids in Central Park, of hipsters on the Lower East Side, of the afternoon in Harlem. Most of all its an expression of joy, tempered by the recognition of hard times and tough places, but still resplendent in spite of it all.