Meet Mood At the Lounge

The vaults of Cincinnati's Mood are truly bottomless! Some time ago, I blogged about a demo or two of theirs that was full of unreleased tracks. Then, a demo appeared online (also referred to in that last link) with other unreleased Mood tracks that weren't on the ones I had. And now they've come out with a new vinyl release featuring two more previously unreleased tracks that no one'd ever heard before. It's like a magician's hat; no matter how much they pull out, there's still more!

So, what is this release exactly? Well, it's sort of a repress of their first two 12"s. See, their debut 12" in 1994 was "Verbal Stampede" b/w "Hustle On the Side" on their own label, Below Zero Records. Both of those songs are repressed on here, as well as the remix of "Verbal Slaughter," which was also on the original 12". They dumped the Edited versions, to which I say "good riddance," but they also dumped the Instrumentals, which is a little disappointing... but only until you hear what they took them off to make room for.

Mood's second 12", from 1995 and their only other release on Below Zero, was a remix of their original B-side, "Hustle On the Side." This was the debut production of DJ Hi-Tek, producer for Kweli/ Reflection Eternal. And yep, they've included that mix on this record as well.

But this 12" isn't just a repress - even a pretty sweet one that cherry picks their first two singles - it also features two previously unreleased tracks from those aforementioned vaults: "Can't Fuck With My Crew" and "Not Goin' Pop." And everything is up to par. If you dig Doom's style, you'll definitely dig the stuff you haven't heard... creative, backpackery lyrics and jazzy, moody samples over traditional, boom-bap drums. Everything except the Hi-Tek remix is produced by Doom's own Jahson.

The price of entry will surely disappoint some fans ($40)... You all know the limited game by now. So you'll have to decide just how big a Mood fan you are. But, if you are that Mood fan, your expectations will be fully met. And they also didn't skimp on the presentation. When you order, you have your choice of marbleized green, orange or classic black wax. It comes in a tight picture cover, it's hand-numbered (mine's 72 of a total 250 pressed), and it's even signed by Donté. The sound quality is excellent, all remastered from the original recordings. This is the third record on the GoodFelons label, following Roc Marciano's EP and Labtekwon; and can be ordered here. It's a first class release all the way - these guys do good work.

Kweli Demos

I've liked Talib Kweli since I first heard him. Mos Def I could do without, but Reflections Eternal and all were killing it. So I don't know why I never blogged about him yet - I guess there's a bunch of artists I'm a fan of I still haven't gotten to, really - but I'm about to rectify that situation now.

Before Rawkus and all that, I first heard Kweli when he was down with a crew called Mood, out of Ohio. If you haven't heard their 1997 album Doom, I suggest you go a little out of your way and cop it. They dropped some nice 12"s and stuff, too. And during those early years (though not their earliest; they dropped some stuff as far back as '94), I copped these two demo/promo tapes of theirs.

So let's start out with the less exciting of the two. This promo tape of Mood's album Doom is largely the same as the commercial release. The sequencing is completely different, but almost all of the songs are exactly the same, and this tape is missing a couple tracks that appeared on the final product (though, interestingly, it features the bonus track, "Insights," that was only included on the 1998 UK press on Cup Of Tea Records).

But here are the highlights. First, an alternate mix of "The Vision" featuring a completely different beat (a little funkier and less ethereal) and someone making a wind "woosh"ing noise on the hook. Then a final song that wasn't included on the album, titled "Infantry." Unfortunately, as the last song on the tape, it's cut off before it ends. But that's ok; the next tape's got our back... its appearance here at least tells us that track was originally meant for the Doom album.

The more exciting tape is labeled Mood Sampler, and is essentially a 10-track demo of Mood and its associates (including a lot of Kweli). Now, a couple of the tracks aren't a big deal: "Cincinatti" and "Karma" are exactly the same as you hear on the Doom album, and "Millionaire," by Kweli featuring Rubik, wound up being released on 12" in 1999. So that leaves seven exclusive songs.

First we get "Intro," produced by DJ Hi-Tek. This is pretty short, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn if it was just one sample from one record being played.

But now we get into the real meat of the matter. Track number 2 is "Overstand," an unreleased demo track by Talib Kweli. He starts out, "from where I'm standing/ I got a nice view of Venus/ Fly traps inside my raps catch the wack/ You might've seen us/ perhaps/ in premonitions of lyrical genius." Over a nice smooth track featuring a deep cello line, sparse piano keys, rugged bass notes, snapping drums and a little rhythm scratching throughout. He does a little sing-songy thing for the hook, which isn't amazing, but gets a pass for keeping the groove.

Next we have another unreleased demo track; a song called "Treasures In Heaven" by Mood affiliate HolmSkillit. It opens with a biblical quote from Jesus, advising us, "Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where it grows rusty and moth-eaten, and thieves break in to steal it. Store up treasure in heaven, where there is no moth and no rust to spoil it, no thieves to break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Holm flows a lot like Kweli but with a softer voice, and the beat's a smooth head-nodder with slow drums and what sounds like a a xylophone riff with a few harpsichord stabs (who knew harps stabbed?).

Track six on this tape is the aforementioned "Infantry" from the Doom promo tape. It's presented here in it's entirety; and we learn now it's unreleased solo cut by Sikko of Mood. It's the hardest track on here, with a dope track that sounds like it could've come from an old Sunz of Man record (before they signed to a major and tried to crossover), and Sikko flows like early Canibus. Pretty sick.

Main Flo is up next with a solo song of his own. Another unreleased song, this one's called "Roman Empire." This has one of the nicest beats on here, and Flo's lyrics are on point, "ancient Aztec, I rise like the NASDAQ, think from a killer aspect 'till it's fast respect. Narcs and cases, deaths over parking spaces, I stopped going to Smitty's 'cause their parts were basic. How could I waste it? My own time, surrounded by signs and evil minds." If you're thinking this is a case of Kweli and his weed carriers, think again. The whole crew's on this par.

Still, if you're only interested in Kweli, he comes back with another song of his own now. It's called "Black Love," a subtle, low-key track (but with a thudding bassline) that features a slightly irritating hook; but Kweli's delivery on his verses is in top form.

Finally, the Mood Sampler rounds itself out with a DJ track. It's called "Man," produced by Mood's DJ Jahson, and features the scratching of DJ Rampage.

Now, I know it's frustrating to read about demos when you can't hear them for yourself... So I'll do something I don't normally do - because this is a demo and not a proper release - and point you to a GrandGood article linking to a rip of a 13-song Mood/Kweli demo tape. That download is marked as being from 1995, but I personally suspect that is wrong and should read 1997. Interestingly, while a bunch of our songs overlap, he's definitely got some tracks on his tape that aren't on either of mine, and some tracks on mine aren't on his. So, if we exclude songs like "Millionaire" that later got a proper release, I'd say there's 15 unreleased songs or alternate mixes that we now know of between us. That sounds like it'd make a sweet official release to me, if somebody involved with the Mood guys were up for putting this out.