#perceptionists

[votava-records]

Mr. Lif & Akrobatik - Free At Last (feat. Syne)

"Beyond making the cake, you tell them name you with the greats" - Mr Lif

Sounds Beautiful Like The Truth Mello Music Group, 2017

Bandcamp - https://tinyurl.com/y6uuvr5u

Spotify - https://tinyurl.com/y7coy5pl

[eden-regained]

Ok so in late 2015 I was on this trip where I wrote the beginnings of a kind-of-but-also-not-really embarassing songfic centering around Murdoc living in this weird ass city in a distant future run by none other than a dictatorship mandated by “Feel Good Incorporated” where he’s the superhero-esque fist of justice, enforcing the laws of the “Agenda of Hedone”.

Essentially humans are forced to live in this strange state of constant sensory overload. It’s food, wine and love all day, everyday, but with a teeny-tiny twist.

Long-ass story very short, a group of people in a post-apocalyptic world a long time ago discovered they possess incredibly strong psychic abilities, however, they came at a heavy price: the more the Extrasensory Perceptionist uses their powers, the more they lose their ability to feel positive emotions. Soon, this group had finished constructing their own city far away from the pitiful remnants of civilization, it was grand and unlike anything previously built in all of human history, though in the process the group collectively exhausted all of their joy, which led them to become very powerful but also very dead inside. So, rather fittingly but also in a comically macabre way, the newborn setup for the metropolis of tomorrow was named “Melancholy Town” (where they never smiled).

Luckily for the new kings but at the unlucky expense of the people who chose to follow their new leaders, it was discovered that an ESPer could recharge back to full human emotion as long as they kept a large mass of people in their vicinity happy. Morbidly happy. If you guessed the twist by now, yeah, it’s hell on earth; through nonstop use of their powers to freeze the populus within a bubble of boundless hedonism, the immortal kings, now under the guise of Feel Good Inc have created an illusionary Perpetuum Mobile, endelssly supplying the city with anything it desires.

As one could imagine, though, this lifestyle of consuming basically nothing but magic-enhanced products aswell as permanent insomnia and total isolation from the outside world have over many generations led to sickly, short lived humans who aren’t even aware of death’s existence sooner or later clogging up the cold, dark catacombs hidden beneath the city like dead tapeworms in a fox’s bowels. Those unlucky enough to miraculously live past 40 will most likely have experienced the grim fate of complete desensitization by then, leaving them to waste away like living corpses.

In order to keep “bliss” and “””Peace””” alive, the descendants of the esper-kings are tasked with collecting the dead and disposing, silencing any possible upheaval of them on top of generally showing presence as (ironically) the ideal citizens. This is where Murdoc comes in.

Murdoc is the clone of the oldest, most powerful esper king who remains a mystery even among the inner council of Feel Good Inc as post self isolation somewhere within the city no one has seen him, not even his former comerades. Despite this fact though, even now at the age of sixteen Murdoc has barely shown any skill in his abilites, the coolest stunt he’s ever managed to pull was making a pebble levitate. Of course this pathetic ineptidude is skillfully swept under the rug, instead, to the people of Melancholy Town Murdoc is propagated as this wickedly talented God in boy’s skin. And as a small child Murdoc believed it without question.

With each passing day, though, Murdoc becomes more and more aware of what kind of fucked up bullshit he’s growing up with and one fateful night he decides to smuggle himself inside in a “garbage” truck to find out where it takes him.

Since the catacombs are pretty much filled to the brim with bones by now, the bodies are shipped to the coast to be dumped in the sea. Lucky for Murdoc, an illegally operating group of whalers conveniently comes by to rescue him.

Turns out there is an outside world, and not only that; said outside world, while not as outwardly glamourous looking as Melancholy Town has healthy, genuinely happy living everywhere. At first Murdoc is completely disturbed and wants to go home, sure, everything he’s known so far was a fat fucking lie. But at “home” he was deified! Worshipped despite his lack of talent! Luckily there’s a glimmer of hope in this new, alien world for him; his lack of talent in psychic abilites will spare him the horrors of impending ahedonia and soon, Murdoc, despite his initial selfish hesitation makes the choice to join a group of escapees, survivors and knowing outsiders to topple the regime that plagues his birthplace. If only his “ancestor” didn’t listen to his thoughts through a one-sided telepathic link...

[strangledeggs]

The Best Albums Of 2017

(A note that extends to all of these lists which I will attach to the top of each: if you want to see a full review of any specific album on this list, or are wondering why a particular album did or didn’t make the top 10, or are wondering why an album you like from the year in question isn’t on this list at all, send me an ask about it and I’ll try and respond!)

The Top 10

DAMN by Kendrick Lamar

Brick Body Kids Still Daydream by Open Mike Eagle

Describes Things As They Are by Beauty Pill

Antisocialites by Alvvays

A Crow Looked At Me by Mount Eerie

4:44 by Jay-Z

Oversleepers International by Emperor X

who told you to think??!!?!?!?! by milo

Talk Tight by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

Sleep Well Beast by The National

The Rest

Whiteout Conditions by The New Pornographers

Out In The Storm by Waxahatchee

Playboi Carti by Playboi Carti

Triple Fat Lice by Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman

The Underside Of Power by Algiers

République Amazone by Les Amazones d’Afrique

Resolution by The Perceptionists

The Official Body by Shopping

Drool by Nnamdi Ogbonnaya

Fin by SYD

Harry Styles by Harry Styles

Laila’s Wisdom by Rapsody

Life Will See You Now by Jens Lekman

Life Without Sound by Cloud Nothings

American Teen by Khalid

Dakhla Sahara Session by Cheveu And Group Doueh

Big Fish Theory by Vince Staples

1992 Deluxe by Princess Nokia

Veins by Homeboy Sandman

A somewhat weak year, if my (still-forming) shortlists for the years to follow are any indication – only 29 albums made the cut here. Some of the top 10 were surefire picks: “DAMN”, though not my favourite Kendrick (which remains To Pimp A Butterfly), has grown on me a lot to the point that I now see it as one of the year’s greatest achievements – a surprisingly coherent collection of solid-to-excellent songs with only the loosest of threads connecting them all in some kind of “concept”; “Antisocialites” is a beautifully-produced nonstop hook-fest of an indie rock album; “Describes Things As They Are” deserves a special mention for bringing one of the year’s most unique sounds to the table, even as it traces its clear influences back to artists as diverse as The Dismemberment Plan and Arto Lindsay (great “Prize” cover in there). Others I had to think harder on, and I switched out “Sleep Well Beast” for “Whiteout Conditions” at the last minute here, my main justification being that on revisiting each, it seemed to me that The National had never sounded better than on their moody, murmuring 2017 album, while The New Pornographers, despite delivering another worthy entry to their now-formidable discography, had.

In retrospect, this was an interesting year for hip-hop (though when isn’t it these days?) beyond “DAMN”: it marks the breakthrough success of Open Mike Eagle, the triumphant return of Jay-Z (but hold the antisemitism next time, OK?), the introduction of the chaotic Playboi Carti and the album that might stand as Princess Nokia’s most definitive statement so far. It also saw the final entry of Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman’s enjoyable “Lice” trilogy of EPs, a fascinating experimental effort by Nnamdi that still stands as one of the most distinct-sounding (if not necessarily consistent) hip-hop albums I’ve heard in recent memory, and the first albums by Rapsody and Vince Staples to truly impress me.

Though it might be hard to say exactly when “poptimism” broke critical establishment mainstream at this point (and I’ll probably write more on that later), this year also strikes me as notable for not including a whole lot of representative entries that would appeal to that crowd’s sensibilities – at least not on my list, meaning I didn’t see many capital-P Pop albums worth mentioning here. That being said, the top 40 stuff gets a couple victories here in the form of the two depressive-leaning albums by Harry Styles and Khalid (Khalid’s is the better one, if you’re curious).

Speaking of depressive (though the word actually feels inadequate to describe this one), “A Crow Looked At Me” gets a last word in here for being the most anomalous album on this list – I didn’t think I’d even like it until I tried it, upon which I found less of an album than a powerful, personal meditation on death and loss that somehow achieved poetry by constantly trying to avoid it. After listening to it the first time, I thought I’d never want to hear anything like it again – that is until I heard its follow-up from the next year.

[theparanoid]

The Perceptionists - Black Dialogue

From The Album: Black Dialogue (2005)

[East Coast Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop]

[konquestnow]

The Perceptionists returned last year with their first new group album in years. The official release led to a tour and even an appearance on NPR's "Tiny Desk Concert" with a live band. But for 2018, they wanted to rough the edges up and revisit it. Enter Paten Locke. Paten had produced a pair of tracks on the original record that were fan favorites, so he seemed like a natural choice to rework 7 of the albums best tracks. On top of that, Paten, Mr. Lif and Akrobatik created an entirely fresh joint titled "Bait." The result is "Low Resolution" an 8 track long record that brings "Resolution" into a completely different light.

[therappundit]

Mello Music Group just tried this powerhouse of a compilation featuring the likes of Skyzoo, Quelle Chris, The Alchemist, Stalley, Open Mike Eagle, Apollo Brown, Homeboy Sandman and many, many more! Definitely make sure to cop Bushido now, and support as many artists as possible on Bandcamp Friday.

[straightpathjewlz]

#tb❤️ @Regrann from @akrobatikmc - Mr. Lif and Akrobatik (The Perceptionists). The brand new album, Resolution, July 28 on Mello Music Group. The new single "Hose Down" ft. @synestheticnation is out now! It's finally time. #Perceptionists #MrLif #MelloMusicGroup #Akrobatik #Resolution - #straightpathjewlz ❤ https://www.instagram.com/p/CB-rYboH0GY/?igshid=fkxamzg6cxt0

[earforce1]

The Perceptionists - Hose Down

[a-dead-mouse]

Jeffrey Haynes AKA Mr. Lif

[everydayread]

Simple pics telling Complex Stories #perception #perceptions #Perceptionisreality #perceptioniseverything #perceptionleverage #perceptioniskey #perceptionofreality #perceptionnf #perceptionsphotography #perceptiondeception #perceptionist #perceptionchick #perceptionland #PerceptionofPeace #perceptionsfilm #PerceptionSaturdays #perceptionshomes #perceptionkayaks #PerceptionsOfBeauty #perceptionremastered #perceptionofverity #perceptionvscomprehension #PerceptionVsReality #perceptionoftime #perceptionisthekey #perceptionispower #perceptionisnotreality #perceptionisadrug #perceptioninplay #perceptionhighschool https://www.instagram.com/p/CEODw-QAMUm/?igshid=1dvovcb5o2ruv

[thedigitaltraphouse2]

Dirty Drumz - The Perceptionists

[wyattvsmusic]

The Perceptionists - Resolution ALBUM REVIEW

I’ve been waiting on this album for such a long time. Two of Boston’s best rappers, Mr. Lif and Akrobatik come back with their second collab album. Their first was Black Dialogue which dropped in 2005. The group went on hiatus after Lif’s tour bus fell off a cliff and Akrobatik had a heart surgery. In the time in between 2005 and 2017, Lif and Akrobatik dropped solo projects. Mr. Lif came back last year from a solo album hiatus with Don’t Look Down and an EP with L’Orange. All that matters is that this album is finally out and it’s just as I expected. This album is amazing, I gave it album of the month for July. These guys rep Boston so well and they don’t sound like anything in hip hop right now. This whole album is great. It’s short and each song is really good. These two have such good chemistry and the beats are pretty good. It’s a versatile album. This album has a lot of replay value to me. Resolution is one of the best hip hop albums I’ve heard this year. 

Fav Tracks: Early Mourning, Hose Down, Outta Control, Free At Last, Grab Hold, A Different Light

[underground-hiphop]

The Perceptionists - Memorial Day

[straightpathjewlz]

#tb❤️ @Regrann from @akrobatikmc - Mr. Lif and Akrobatik (The Perceptionists). The brand new album, Resolution, July 28 on Mello Music Group. The new single "Hose Down" ft. @synestheticnation is out now! It's finally time. #Perceptionists #MrLif #MelloMusicGroup #Akrobatik #Resolution - #straightpathjewlz ❤ https://www.instagram.com/p/BzRUnWSHa9-/?igshid=d5f4jkba61xu