itunes.apple.com zambianastronaut.com East-West Explosion: Scottish hip-hop heavyweights unleash new EP Bonded in Bonds is the uncompromising new release that promises to take Scottish hip-hop to a new plateau. The unique collaboration pits Mog’s Glaswegian story-telling rhymes against the genre-hopping soundscape of Edinburgh’s Zambian Astronaut. Kicking off with the dull, throbbing beats of ‘Ze Muney’, Bonded In Bombs is a six-track tour de force that shows why Scottish hip-hop is one of the last bastions of free expression. The accents might be regional, but the music and the message refuse to be constrained by manmade frontiers: love, alienation and red machetes are universal themes. Mog scatters lyrics like paint on a Jackson Pollock, spattering tracks with the sort of imagery that would keep war veterans up at night. Along the way, the Mog-ZA juggernaut stops briefly to pick up Becca Starr and Adam Holmes to provide consonant vocals on ‘No, No, No’. Becca Starr also appears on ‘Straight From The Soul’, while Nostal guests on the disturbing ‘Whatever, Fuck You’. Edinburgh is also represented on the EP by Werd, who provides bars on the Skip James-indebted ‘Killin Floor’. Bonded In Bombs is defined by hypnotic beats, effortless lyricism and a smattering of naggingly-insistent hooks that counterbalance the EP’s more psychotic moments. Lead single ‘Ze Muney’ is accompanied by a gritty, film noir video that will leave the viewer sleeping with the lights on and the …
Video Rating: 5 / 5