The Chef's Table came out today: twelve tracks, roughly thirty minutes, written and performed by The Don Avelar and recorded, mixed and produced with Baz Rui. The third name on the release is the label SHMACK!, out of Victorville in California's high desert, which describes itself as an "on the job training hip hop label." The guest list Seven of the twelve tracks carry a feature, and the booking is a mix of local and established: Kahlisol, Lady Lux, Def Soulja, JOE SNAPPED, Flipmode and NVY JONES LKR, plus A-F-R-O on "Masquerade." A-F-R-O is the name most listeners will arrive with, and his placement at track six the longest track on the record alongside "Una Mujer" suggests the album knows where its attention is. The packaging The cover is worth a mention because it's unusual. The layout and design are by Raymon Ruiz DSD, with photography by Caylin Yorba Ruiz and Keshia Murdoch and the original painting is credited to Albert Anker, a nineteenth-century painter, which is not a choice you see often on a rap record from the high desert. Alongside a fifty-second "Have You Tried The Lasagna," it suggests a sense of humour about the whole thing. The tracks are short most between 1:21 and 3:21 and the sequencing moves rather than settling. No mastering credit beyond the recorded-and-mixed line, no separate label. For listeners tracking the Californian underground outside Los Angeles, this is the kind of regional operation that rarely gets written about and usually deserves it.
Transparency Note: Content & research created independently by HHHEADZ. AI tools are strictly used for translation and language refinement.
No comments:
Post a Comment