Horrorshow – The Grey Space

Horrorshow – The Grey Space

Yet another release from Elefant Traks, West Sydney’s Horrorshow seem to represent the youth of the label in 2008. Although their name may not be too familiar, y’all might know MC Solo from his features with homeboys Spit Syndicate. And keeping in tradition, Horrorshow’s music is like a darker SS, with just as many wordy tracks and intelligent rhymes.

Alongside Solo is producer Adit, who laces every joint here, and dude is a talented cat. The beats are generally quite dark, with maybe a handful of ‘up’ joints from the twelve songs on offer, and this really signifies the style of the group – it’s not easy to be intelligent to bangers, anyway.

The album kicks off with ‘Uplift’, a moderate banger which is a great intro to the crew, as Solo explain that he’s “the every man’s anti-hero/rockin’ a jam until we have a fanbase of zero”. The double time ‘Choose None’ with Spit Syndicate’s Just Enuf is also a bit of a banger, and most likely one of the hottest joints on the album in my opinion. Nick Lupi, the other half of SS, comes through on the eerie ‘The Party Life’ to solidify the connection. Solo even comes through on the spoken word tip on ‘Dire Straits Pt. 1’, and the style really works for him – this sums him up as an MC, also, as his style is essentially a more fluid spoken word.

‘All Summer Long’, which appeared on Spit Syndicate’s album, is here as well, the only ‘live’ track here and it works for Horrowshow’s style more than SS, in hindsight. ‘The Headline’ is also a heater, with a real blues feel and dope horn samples. The album closes with the overboard ‘Notes To Self (No. 81)’, a damn near 10 minute excursion into Hip Hop, spoken word and jazz, though the length of the tune is a tad long for the average Hip Hop consumer.

The Grey Space ain’t too bad at all. Solo is an impressive MC, while Adit is a very adept beatmaker, so it will be interesting to see how far these cats can take it. And now they’re in the good hands of Elefant Traks, it’s only a matter of time, really.

(Elefant Traks/Inertia)

-Cee-For.