Macromantics - Moments in Movement
I get into music for the weirdest reasons. I actually started listening to Thievery Corporation because of a guy’s dorm room door, freshmen year at UMBC. He had a bunch of band stickers and posters taped to the outside of the door, and since I liked some of the other ones he had up, I figured I’d give Thievery Corporation a shot. Turns out they rule.
In a no less bizarre story, I was watching one of the EVE Online Goonfleet videos on YouTube (here), and really liked the background music - the song I’m referring to starts about a minute in. Liked it so much, actually, that I finally broke down and bought something off of iTunes.
Macromantics (AKA Romy Hoffman) is, in a nutshell, everything Lady Sovereign was supposed to be. A young, talented, female MC from a (in this case, former, as she’s Australian) member of the British Empire. But Lady Sovereign fell into the trap of girl MCs. Namely, harping about how much money it’s going to cost for you to see her boobs (see also Foxy Brown, who’s appearance on “Ain’t no Nigga” is the only bad part of Reasonable Doubt), or feeling some deep-set need to prove that she can be just as foul-mouthed and vulgar as any male rapper while acting like a tremendous skank, or just plain being terrible. Macromantics avoids that business, and is just plain good, regardless of gender or nationality.
It certainly helps her case that whoever produced this album is a goddamned genius. If you haven’t already, watch the YouTube video above - the beat on that song (”Locksmith”) is just retarded awesome. I’m a sucker for a good beat, which is part of why I love Dan the Automater and the RZA, and outside of those two, the production on this is as good as any I’ve heard.
As an MC, she’s not perfect (”Eerily Spookily” kind of sucks), but there’s no denying that overall she’s really, really, good. I like her voice and delivery, and while her lyrics aren’t in the same league as my benchmark artists, Del the Funky Homosapien and Talib Kweli, she does rhyme “laconic” with “hyperbolic”, which is pretty sweet.
If you’re into rap/hip-hop, give Macromantics a shot. If nothing else, if she does become the Next Big Thing, you can say you liked it before it was cool? As luck would have it, Macromantics are playing the Ottobar in Baltimore, on March 26th. Becki and I already have tickets.
