billy woods

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drizzle
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Re: billy woods

Post by drizzle »

gusty wingers wrote:was actually just wondering today if people would take rome over cold vein...
idk if I'd put ROME over Cold Vein, but in considering overall bodies of work at this point I'd likely put Armand Hammer over Can Ox.

Can Ox caught a moment in time with a perfectly suited producer, and could never repeat it again. AH have been consistent across 4 group releases with various producers and have a bunch of solo stuff that's not far behind the group output and sometimes maybe better.

But I don't think the latter could even exist without the former and that definitely counts for something too.
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Re: billy woods

Post by Versive »

drizzle wrote:
gusty wingers wrote:was actually just wondering today if people would take rome over cold vein...
idk if I'd put ROME over Cold Vein, but in considering overall bodies of work at this point I'd likely put Armand Hammer over Can Ox.

Can Ox caught a moment in time with a perfectly suited producer, and could never repeat it again. AH have been consistent across 4 group releases with various producers and have a bunch of solo stuff that's not far behind the group output and sometimes maybe better.

But I don't think the latter could even exist without the former and that definitely counts for something too.
I've never bothered to actually rationalize this argument in the long-form essay it deserves, but I stand by my assertion from the Race Music/Furtive Movements period, that Armand Hammer is more squarely in the tradition of KMD than Cannibal Ox.

You're right in that woods literally would've never done anything with rap were it not for the encouragement and friendship of Vordul -- he's said about as much -- but in terms of the canon, I think woods and Elucid owe much more to philosophies and aesthetics of KMD than those of Cannibal Ox. And I see a stark difference there.

All that being said, Elucid's performance on this album is truly next level.

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Re: billy woods

Post by Doogs »

"Known Unknowns" is pretty good.

What's the best Billy Woods album? Is it that one?

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Re:

Post by Doogs »

Blockhead wrote:Would anyone care make/direct me to a good compilation of super chron flight brothers shit? They're down with this dude , right? Or is he in the group? I'm clueless.
This happened in this thread too

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Re: billy woods

Post by Kool Max Power »


Kool Max Power
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Re: billy woods

Post by Kool Max Power »

Doogs wrote:"Known Unknowns" is pretty good.

What's the best Billy Woods album? Is it that one?
"History Will Absolve Me", both Armand Hammer albums, and "Dour Candy"

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Re: Re:

Post by Blockhead »

Doogs wrote:
Blockhead wrote:Would anyone care make/direct me to a good compilation of super chron flight brothers shit? They're down with this dude , right? Or is he in the group? I'm clueless.
This happened in this thread too
Lol yup. The internet is full of whimsy and wonder.

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Re: billy woods

Post by Doogs »

I dunno if I can rate the Armand Hammer albums above " Known Unknowns" just because I'm way more of a Billy Woods fan than a Elucid fan. I think Elucid is great and has provided Billy with a lot of great guest appearances and hooks, but over the course of a full album it doesn't stick with me as well.

For me, I think "History Will Absolve Me" is near flawless and a personal classic probably. It contains some of his strongest work IMO. "Dour Candy" is really cohesive and was the first album of his that I listened to, so it's had the most time to grow on me. I do think "Known Unknowns" is pretty close and with time may become even better, but for now, I'd say third best.

unclebengi
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Re: billy woods

Post by unclebengi »

History Will Absolve Me is woods' best album and Known Unknowns is his most polished, but The Chalice will always be my favorite. It (along with Camouflage) is rough around the edges, but the writing is incredible and the high points are untouchable IMO. Billy is a better rapper now than he was in the beginning, but his writing and wit were fully formed from the jump.

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Re: billy woods

Post by Employee »

https://www.patreon.com/posts/17375308" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ep. 5 - billy woods Interview
Hi-Fi_Hip_Hop_Ep_5_-_billy_woods.mp3

For our first interview on Hi-Fi Hip Hop, we welcome indie rap legend/mystery figure billy woods! We discuss his catalogue and career, making production choices, and his creative process - both solo and as part of a group such as Armand Hammer, and Super Chron Flight Bros. As an artist and as co-owner of indie label Backwoodz Studioz woods has been part of some of the most impactful indie rap projects of the last decade.

(This interview was recorded remotely from an undisclosed location, so please excuse the phone quality)

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Re: billy woods

Post by unclebengi »

^ this is pretty great, cool to hear woods interviewed by Willie Green. He knows the right questions to ask and woods is great as usual.

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Re: billy woods

Post by ogie »

i didn't get a chance to listen to that interview yet but i'm going to. Billy has a pretty cool verse on Henry Canyons' new one:


TheTed
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Re: billy woods

Post by TheTed »


ian e
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Re: billy woods

Post by ian e »

great album

unclebengi
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Re: billy woods

Post by unclebengi »

So many great albums out right now- Tree, Quelle, Mach, multiple Chris Crack albums...but this one takes the cake. I don't think woods will ever make an album better than HWAM, but this is probably as close as it gets and easily his most addictive/listenable album. Kenny Segal realized that psychedelic guitars and negative space is a great formula for working with woods and just crushes it. This is the type of album that should lead to even more interesting collaborations for woods as it seems his fan base is hitting a tipping point where it's not just aging def jux heads that are fans. Pretty exciting for us OGs

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Re: billy woods

Post by spiralg »

incredible album

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Re: billy woods

Post by gusty wingers »

unclebengi wrote:So many great albums out right now- Tree, Quelle, Mach, multiple Chris Crack albums...but this one takes the cake. I don't think woods will ever make an album better than HWAM, but this is probably as close as it gets and easily his most addictive/listenable album. Kenny Segal realized that psychedelic guitars and negative space is a great formula for working with woods and just crushes it. This is the type of album that should lead to even more interesting collaborations for woods as it seems his fan base is hitting a tipping point where it's not just aging def jux heads that are fans. Pretty exciting for us OGs
can you trust me with your hearttttttttt like you used to baby

Tree murders that shit
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Re: billy woods

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Re: billy woods

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Re: billy woods

Post by Employee »

Image

Sept 19th, 2019
It’s hard to believe it’s already October. 2019 has been a blur, it seems like we just put out Hiding Places and here we are with a new billy woods album. We have never put out two billy woods albums in the same year but somehow it feels fitting. After all, 2010’s History Will Absolve Me was the record that resuscitated this label, gave everyone their first glimpse of Armand Hammer and pushed billy woods- however reluctantly- into the critical consciousness. Basically, if you are talking about the best discographies of the last decade, his name has to be involved. So here we are; Robert Mugabe is dead, Bill Cosby is doing a bid, 2020 is beating down the front door, and there is a new woods’ album on the way. Terror Management drops October 4th. Oh, and lest we forget, we also have a new project available from the new group, ShrapKnel. Make sure you scroll down and check it out.

PRE-ORDERS LIVE:
billy woods Terror Management
Coming Out On Backwoodz October 4th on Limited Edition Vinyl, CD and Cassette.

Terror Management is a pair of cracked spectacles perched ever so carefully on the bridge of a broken nose. Production by Preservation, Blockhead, Willie Green, Messiah Muzik, Small Pro, ELUCID, Child Actor, Steel Tipped Dove, Uncommon Nasa, Jeff Markey and Shape. Together they create a backdrop of seamless fragmentation perfectly suited to these times—this era of cognitive dissonance. Mach Hommy, Fielded, Pink Siifu, Akai Solo, Lauren Kelly Benson (fka L’Wren) and The Funs all make guest appearances.
TRACKLIST
1. Marlow
2. Western Education Is Forbidden feat. Fielded
3. That Was Then
4. Windhoek feat. Mach Hommy
5. Long Grass feat. Pink Siifu & Akai Solo
6. Myth
7. blood thinner feat. Lauren Kelly Benson
8. Dog Days
9. dead birds feat. The Funs
10. gas leak
11. Birdsong
12. Great Fires
13. cornstarch
14. FNU LNU
15. Trivial Pursuit
16. Shepard’s Tone feat. Fielded
17. Suzerain feat. Fielded
18. Stranger in the Village

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Re: billy woods

Post by Employee »

https://billywoods.bandcamp.com/album/d ... illy-woods" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Image

With the release of Billy Woods’ History Will Absolve Me, Backwoodz Studioz dropped some new (and old) Woods’ tracks. Being that’s it has been six years since his last solo, we thought you could use a little reminder of why Billy is one of our favorite rappers. A salad bowl of new, unreleased and classic material from Georgia Ave’s favorite son all blended perfectly by Baltimore’s own DJ Addikt (Murrland, stand up!)

released September 19, 2019

unclebengi
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Re: billy woods

Post by unclebengi »

woods drops his 2nd classic in 2019, goat status. This guy's artistic consistency is otherworldly.

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Re: billy woods

Post by Employee »

TM reminds me of Today, I Wrote Nothing; which is a genuine mindfuck of an album. Elucid’s opener, “Scales”, “Dreams Come True” etc.

Think Billy Woods takes 2019’s cake.

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Re: billy woods

Post by Employee »

https://djbooth.net/features/2019-10-01 ... -interview" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
billy woods Is Writing Through the Apocalypse: Interview

“I don’t feel like I’m good enough just to be coasting along.”

Oct 1, 2019

You also went shorter on this album, similar to 2015’s Today, I Wrote Nothing. Why pursue brevity?

I wanted to nail a sense of fragmentation like life is now. There are so many thoughts ping-ponging around in my head while I’m looking at my phone. Known Unknowns’ songs were two verses and a hook, the most traditional song structure I’d done. Intentional. Hiding Places was its own chamber. I had these different beats, and I wanted to do different things [on Terror Management]. It was creating this fragmented view of the world and experience. Today, I Wrote Nothing is jumpy in a way I don’t want this to be jumpy. [Terror Management] should be like a picture that’s been smashed.

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Re: billy woods

Post by gusty wingers »

nah we still talking bout tree
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Re: billy woods

Post by Employee »

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bi ... anagement/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
6.5
On his bleak new album, woods doubles down on the misery that snakes through all his music.

The imagery is crisp but plotless; instead of characters, woods offers landscapes. “The sky empty, trees like widows huddled/The bore muzzle nuzzle, iridescent black truffle/Black snow in the forest,” he raps on “Shepherd’s Tone” He sounds like he’s narrating satellite footage.

That sense of dreadful stillness is amplified by the production, which is often tenuously connected to the writing. On “Gas Leak” a blast wave of distortion detonates in the middle of the song, presumably dramatizing the title but also disrupting the momentum. On “Blood Thinner,” hisses and crackles sizzle in the foreground at a steady clip. woods is clearly trying to evoke tension and paranoia, but the result too often feels cluttered and airless.
FATano gives it a "strong 6."


The media is terrible on all levels.

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Re: billy woods

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