Rench

Label: None
Genre: Beats, Country, Hip Hop

Nope, I didn't mess up on those genres up there. Rench is a Brooklyn-based producer who mixes old bluegrass and country samples with a standup band that includes slide guitar and fiddle, and he pulls it all together with hip hop beats and splits vocals between country guys and gals and underground emcees from around the way. If your head's about to explode, join the club. The mere thought of it in abstract made me think of those fun but mostly throwaway "crossovers" like Hayseed Dixie and The Gourds' "Gin & Juice." But hey, if Snoop Dogg's gonna show up at the CMT Awards and Clinton and Obama are gonna keep fighting over who really has his or her finger on the pulse of America, we may as well get down to mashups of extreme urban and rural. And you will get down. It doesn't all work, but when Rench hits it, which is done particularly deftly on "Street Soldier" and "Oh Sleeper," you can truly imagine Gangstagrass blasting from Escalades on Flatbush and F-150's in the Appalachians. As for "Come Back to Brooklyn," it won me over by capturing the spirit of my former borough and the downhome hospitality of my new southern environs. It's a toe-tapper and a window-rattler.

Street Soldier (Deep Thoughts) [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]
Oh Sleeper [MP3, 5.2MB, 192kbps]
Theme from Mean Season [MP3, 4.9MB, 192kbps]
Get On It (Deep Thoughts and Kaz Mir) [MP3, 2.9MB, 128kbps]
Come Back to Brooklyn [MP3, 4.6MB, 192kbps]
Download Full Gangstagrass Mix [ZIP, 72MB]

www.renchaudio.com
myspace.com/renchaudio

Posted by shan on 04.18.08 | Buy from Amazon, Insound
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