| CD REVIEW Sage Francis |
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Band : Sage Francis The first time I came across this Caucasian Rapper was with his second Epitaph release Human The Death Dance (review posted 25/08/2007 includes a nice career story of the artist). That same year Francis released two more albums (Human The Death Dance Instrumental and Sage Francis Reanimated), and in 2009 he added the Sick Of Wasting release to his “Sick Of…” mixtape series, all issued through his own label Strange Famous Records. With Li(f)e Francis makes another evolutionary step, with the Hip Hop severely drenched in guitars! Okay, it’s no Heavy Metal, get it? But each and every song has some electric guitar in it, occasionally in the background and somewhat etheric, occasionally barely distorted, but in one case (the hardly Rapped “London Bridge”, one of the couple of songs where he is vocally backed by children – “The Baby Stays” being the other track) also somewhat Rock-Punky! Just like on Human… his lyrics are outspoken and socio-politically aware, each of the 12 tracks on the album telling its own little story. In order to keep this a short review for once, I urge you to look up more info some of the individual songs at (www.) strangefamousrecords.com/sage-francis. Although I’m not exactly a fan of Rap music and Hip Hop in general (there’s been too much silly Gangsta Rap in the past), I however recognize the fact that some artists rize above the occasion and make wonderful albums indeed! Paul “Sage” Francis is one of those Artists (notice me using that word with a capital letter?) who take their time to have good music before incorporating his socio-political raps, taking care to also use “rap-along” passages, in order to make for possible involvement from an audience whom might hear his songs for a first time, and doin’ it in a way that is nót repetitive! It takes a master to find a good balance, and Francis is definitely just such a person! At myspace.com/sagefrancis, you’ll only find the 2 songs off this album (alongside several tracks off older releases), but album closer “The Best Of Times” (featuring music by movie soundtrack composer Yann Tiersen – other collaborations include music written by ex-Granddaddy frontman Jason Lytle on album opener “Little Houdini”, music by Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla on “Three Sheets To The Wind”, music by the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse on “Love The Lie”, and then there’s additional stuff by Tim Fite and Devotchka, not specified) and “Slow Man” (with music by Calaxico)provide enough insight in this album for the listener to get affected and wanting to hear more! Ask for a listening session at your local record store, look up the album at Amazon.com to listen to additional samples from the album, or simply order/ buy the album…you won’t be sorry! 98/100 Tony. |