Lost and Found Generation is about to blow up the Bay Area with their new
album, Pacific Avenue. Yes, our Pacific Avenue. Not so much a tribute to an
indictment of the phenomenon of downtown Santa Cruz, Pacific Avenue is real
hip-hop about real people.
Track 2's "Eye Defined" picks up where the frustration and
confusion of "Pacific Avenue" (Track 1) left off. Lyricist Sayre
is a modern-day Siddhartha surrounded by rows of cookie cut-out kids and
mass-produced individuality. The track culminates with a dizzying violin
solo by Anton Patzner as the prophetic lyricism of Sayre's manic verse
delivers the final words: "now when that water gets high enough, maybe
I'll climb on top-and teach all you burnin' witches how to dance between the
raindrops."
Track 4, dubbed "Dusty Pesticide Havoc" is lyrically haunting, a
masterpiece that brings you into the mind of sonic soothsayer Coley Cole.
The production on this track is so clean that you can hear the slap of
Coley's lips as he frustrates and titillates your taste for prose and
rhymes. Hats off to Coley for subjecting the English language to such a
rhythmic spanking!
Track 6, "Reckless" bumps like that "old gangsta shee-it."
Ashkon drops violence on the mic with tact and poetic grace, an
extravagantly ornate vocal ensemble that sounds like something from the
baroque period is a spooky musical backdrop. I've never heard anyone say the
F word with such eloquence and class as Ashkon does on this track.
Overall, Lost and Found Generation attacks hip-hop with poetic
sophistication. They're not just lyricists with a groove box in their
closet. These guys are musicians, poets and visionaries who, quite frankly,
school most hip-hop groups anywhere in the Bay Area. With Pacific Avenue,
the group ushers in a new generation of hip-hop.
-Christopher Contini
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