Years in the making... my boy Copuis has finally dropped his solo LP (well OK, it was months ago now, but I've been sleeping on this) Blind Man's Maze, available for free download at Bandcamp... check it:

Blind Mans Maze by Copius

He's been taking his time putting this project together, honing his skills for the last 7 years, and he's wound up with something that sounds really well rounded & complete - mad respect to him for taking his time to produce a proper album, & not just taking the first ten tunes he made & putting them out there like so many hip hop mixtapes out there.

The album opens with a selection of straight boom bap excellence. Didn't ya know - just straight rhyming, showing off his quite nasal, monotone flow and matching it perfectly with the beat - tumbling over it each bar until the last beat which is strictly two syllables. Say wot is a highlight with it's Zifhang penned beat and playful flow.

Lyrically Copius is at his best talking about the simple things, like on Synical Sidewalk Talk - just a celebration of being alive in the city he lives in, oozing immense joy in the everyday. Here he reminds of Cat Empire, talking about stuff which is insignificant, personal, local but which gets at something universal to an extent which can't be reached if you try to go direct.

you can't understand what makes a person freak out? then you've never had without and that's my word no doubt

For everyone in my office chatting some Daily Mail shit earlier this morning

(via Semtex)

There's a whole bunch of UK stuff I've been meaning to blog for a while, but I I keep forgetting... SO here's a whole bunch-o-stuff at once, all certified by myself...

afro-e

Afro-e chats about his favourite subject - the colour and extent of his hair - over the POW 2011 riddim (so OK, grime, not hip hop)

King Of The Gings (POW 2011) by afroe

copius

Representing the Steel City... Fancy a scooby snack?

Scooby Snack by copius

Man I've been neglecting my blogging duties over the festive period... (but remember you can always check me every Wednesday on Generation Bass) but I'm back! With a week-late Untimely round up of 2010's best tunes... blam! Well, not objectively the best, just the ones I listened to most - I'm kinda cheating by using my last.fm profile (or actually maybe that's not cheating at all, just forcing me to be honest...) - so, looking at my most listened to tunes of the last 12 months, and filtering out all of my stuff which doesn't count cos i listen to a new tune about 50 times in a row before deciding if its finished (plus all the Peter Fox, Gang Starr and Tom Waits which I listen to all the freakin time), this is what comes out... These aren't all necessarily new tunes from 2010, but they were all new to me in the last year. It's quite an interesting way to do this really, turns out what I actually listen to most is basically split between hip hop, country and urban-ish pop...

1. LDZ – La Quenta

This is from an album from a couple of years ago which has become my number one UK hip hop album since it was played to me by my Sheffield crew earlier this year, though it's more of a mixtape really... the beats are solid as fuck and the rhyming tight, inventive and funny... I absolutely love the verse at the end of this tune (from 1:37) which gets criminally faded out. go buy some of their stuff, they deserve it: LDZ at Bandcamp

2. Skinnyman – Smoking Ban

Another one from a few years ago which passed me by until a trip to Sheffield (the same one that brought LDZ to my attention), I've not been too bothered about most of Skinnyman's stuff but this tune is examplary, the beat is insane and the agression of his delivery is just amazing

more after the jump...

Cop this free mixtape! London born, raised in Ireland, this dude has a really unique, melodic UK flow. Seems like someone who can come from grime to make radio friendly tunes without being, well, shit. Check it!

(via DJ Semtex)

Want some totally awesome UK hip hop, with just a hint of wrongness? Well check this wonky 2-step drawl...

Download the free 4-track EP here: GhostPoet – The Sound of Strangers EP

Just found this dude on Soundcloud: Meltus Riddler

He's making some awesome glitch-hop-step with occasional 8-bit flourishes and some vocals from someone named Slippy Skills which I'm loving. Check this one out:

Super Rap 64 feat. Slippy Skills by MeltusRiddler

So it seems I must be well behind the hype on this one since I first heard it on the Radio 1 request show, and every time I've put on Radio 1 since it's come one within 5 minutes... but daaaaamn this is an awesome track, surely destined for number 1?!?!