Lifesavas "Gutterflower" (OUT NOW!)

[busyboy]

Allmusic.com

Despite initial claims that the record was based off a never-completed blaxpoitation movie of the same name, Gutterfly, the Portland, OR, hip-hop group Lifesavas' second release, is in fact an original creation, inspired by the MCs' love of cult film and their desire to push their sound forward. Although it's not exactly a concept album, Gutterfly does keep some constant themes in mind, and its dramatic nature gives Jumbo the Garbage Man and Vursatyl the opportunity to show off different sides of their personalities. The songs themselves don't necessarily advance the plot, but the sporadic "Scenes" (there are six official ones, plus one that's hidden) help to explain the back-story, the two characters, Bumpy Johnson and Sleepy Floyd, as they try to get by in their hometown, Razorblade City. As in Spirit in Stone, the duo's debut, there's a fair amount of socially conscious, politically oriented hip-hop here ("Freedom Walk," "Shine Language") as well as general positive messages ("Dead Ones," "Celebrate"), but there's also a darkness, a grittiness that exists that hadn't been seen before, found in tales of racial profiling, violence, and revenge. As rappers, Lifesavas are on top of their game, playing with rhythm and metaphor, mixing in R&B hooks, and sounding good doing it all. The production (most of which is handled by Jumbo, but Vurs, DJ Rev Shines, Vitamin D, Jake One, and Oh No also contribute) is still super-smooth and melodic, with plenty of live horns (including sax from Fishbone's Angelo Moore on "Dead Ones"), bass, keys, guitar (from Living Colour's Vernon Reid and the Decemberists' Chris Funk), and strings, but the DJ cuts, the pounding drum tracks, give the songs a kind of primal urgency, reinforcing the "urban-survival" motif that drives the record. Gutterfly's sole problem seems to come from the fact that it's so concentrated on the overall idea of being an "album" that sometimes individual tracks can get lost behind, or under, the greater themes presented, which unfortunately takes away from its power. Still, on the whole, it's a cohesive, effective accomplishment.



Review by Marisa Brown

[busyboy]

I think it's quite a solid album, in addition to the blaxploitation sound they have it somehow reminds me of a less refined Kanye, production-wise.

They're part of the Quannum collective I believe, which I completely lost track of. I loved the Latyrx 1997 album and the "Spectrum" collaborative album that came out in 1999: "I Changed My Mind" still gets airplay every now and then in my Zen player.

A few tracks at their MySpace.

[busyboy]

Lifesavas
Gutterfly
[Quannum; 2007]
Rating: 8.0

Blaxploitation films of the 1970s have always been a wellspring of ideas for hip-hop. Superfly, The Mack, and Dolomite served helped cement concepts of black masculinity and gave rise to the pimp/pusher caricature still glorified by many modern day rappers. You get mad at Snoop for claiming that he's "never met a bitch that a pimp can't slap"? Spread a little of that moral hysteria to the O.G.s like Rudy Ray Moore (of course, you might also want to save a little spite for the government goons who oversaw the assassination, imprisonment, and marginalization of black leaders following the riotous 60s).

And while it's no surprise that another rap group is adopting the flared-out, pimpadelic funk template of these films, it does come as a bit of a shock that this time Portland 's Lifesavas are the culprits. After all, Lifesavas are the oh-so-conscious, Blackalicious-cosigned group of rap bohos who spent their 2003 debut, Spirit in Stone, ruminating on political apocalypse, spiritual desolation, and postmodern identity politics. But here the Portland trio jumps into the conceit feet first. They've adopted the personas of Bumpy Johnson (Vursatyl), Sleepy Floyd (Jumbo) and Jimmy Slimwater (DJ Rev Shines), and they traverse the mean streets of Razorblade City, ostensibly a stand-in for Portland but really more of an allegorical dump for all modern day social ills.

If you can get past the geeky premise-- and, admittedly, it's a big hurdle-- the album is wonderful. From the outset, producer Jumbo absolutely nails the sound of blaxploitation films. His work lurches off the disk, strutting out the shuffling noir of "A Serpents Love" and the bouncy funk of "Shine Language" before dipping into the bleary, cerebral valleys of "Take Me Away" and "No Surprise + Scene 1 + Fly Paper" (produced by Seattle beatsmith Vitamin D). Certainly Bobbie Womack's seminal Across 110th Street soundtrack is a touchstone for the sound, but you can also hear echoes of Edwin Starr's Hell Up in Harlem and Willie Hutch's Foxy Brown score in the mix. And, as with everything that comes out Quannum camp, the sound is both satisfying dense and impeccably polished.

The album also manages to seamlessly employ live instrumentation-- it never feels as though the musicians are being incorporated for the sake of a gimmick. Of course, it also doesn't hurt that the album serves as a virtual reunion platform for the old Black Rock Coalition, with Vernon Reed, members of Fishbone, and George Clinton all dropping in.

On the mic, lead Lifesavas MC Vursatyl delivers a virtuosic performance. He overcomes a somewhat generic voice by stringing together rapid-fire metaphors and finely detailed ghetto surveys. For most the album, he veers away from anti-rap moralizing, instead opting for a broader social criticism. "Shine Language", in particular, is strong. The MCs assemble a visual pastiche of housing projects, murderers, maximum-security prisons, unemployment offices, and homeless shelters. But though imagery is bleak, the message is transcendent, and the song ultimately offers a testament to the power of self-determination. Vurs ends by asking the audience to feel the tension of the disenfranchised people when it's our time. This is not an easily digestible album-- it takes a few close listens-- but it's ultimately rewarding.

-Sam Chennault, June 18, 2007