ster - charge it to your mind
the mysteriously named ster has given away this album away for free via his website. showing a nice way with his techno toys ster has crafted a fine album with a plethora of politically geared vocal samples showing that ster has a lot going on in his mind. what is basically an hour of dark beats and found voice samples, the musical backing is deep and low beats, with a nice mixture of deft scratching, real instrumentation, some world music overdubs, and the odd over the top guitar solo. there are sections that could easily sit on a bill laswell/axiom hiphop release.
i will admit, there are times a change in rhythm would be welcome as it does become a little one paced. in fact towards the end of the album there is a great track which takes a lift from the specials classic 'ghost town' and adds a nice twist and has a nice groove and therefore pulls the interest back in, a bit more of this type of sonic twists and turns and this album would be a lot more fun. as it is, it's a great showcase for sters talents, if he can get himself sorted with the raps then this would be a worthy addition to any fan of the anticon. in fact, the other highlight 'carbon format' has a mighty rap, no details as to the creator of the rap, so i'll make the assumption it is ster who does the deal on it. well, the guy can do it, so do it more.
so to hear non-radio sanctioned undergound hiphop get your fat pipe over to the site and cut this album on cd.