Hot Hot Heat

This is Seattle hip-hop duo Fresh Espresso.
Wait. No! Let me finish. Listen. Hey: I don't like the name Fresh Espresso either. I really, really don't like it. It almost makes me a little mad. However: that small hitch does not take away the fact that Rik Rude and P Smoov's debut album Glamour, which I purchased from Everyday Music several weeks ago, is pretty dang solid. Especially this cut, which you can download for free right now from Fabric magazine:

Fresh Espresso The Lazerbeams mp3 

Did you listen to it yet? I mean, the lazerbeams are so hot. It is undeniable. The bassline is hot, the lyrics and delivery are hot, the shaker/tambourine is hot, the drums are hot, the layers of spacey keyboards are hot – hot like Pharrell's little keyboard fill in "Drop It Like It's Hot" hot. I still think the name "Fresh Espresso" is not, and I don't care if it's supposed to be ironic. I am willing to set that aside. The presence of heat cannot be ignored.

Buy you some Glamour at your favorite local music spot, or online at Sonic Boom. Get more info on F.E. here and be sure to steadily check Larry Mizell Jr. on KEXP's Street Sounds for more local hip-hop of note. Rik Rude and P Smoov seem to perform live almost constantly. Tonight they're at the Comet with WE ARE NOT A CULT (Murder Dice), The Let Go, and Eli Porter. Doors at 9pm, $8 cover. $2 Fresh Rainier.

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PS:
The photo above is by Tyler Soverns (Rabid Child Images), whose photo exhib Snaps opens tonight at Greenwood Collective. The poster features Sir Thomas Gray of Champagne Champagne, who was signed to my own record label for a minute, long ago, in a past life for both of us:

From these two photos I'd say the show is worth a look. Good, warm, consistent color on a white background – no movement is complete without a visual identity and if this is it for the current crop of Seattle hip-hop I'd say they're in good photographic hands.