Metropolis Is Burning
- Grand Analog
- Urbnet
Like Edmonton rapper Cadence Weapon, Winnipeg's Odario Williams seems to have skipped school the day they explained that hip hop does not mix with rock. Williams is the main mouth and writer for Grand Analog, whose latest record sounds like the best party of the summer ahead. There's a lot of ground shifting under these feet, from the swaggering, guitar-scoured first track (which ends with the only cool kazoo solo you'll ever hear) to the reggae-fuelled Take It Slow, to Her Daddy (Don't Like Me), a dance-party special with a dip in the beat. Maiko Watson (ex of Sugar Jones) gives a soulful twist to a couple of songs (including Stir Crazy, which should be on someone's radio play list), Shad and Cadence Weapon lay their fingerprints on two other tracks, and Prince's hot breath seems to be all over the chorus of Magnifico, the year's winking-est tribute to the Purple One.