Album Review: There Is Only Now by Souls of Mischief

In hip hop's current stretch of noteworthy 20th year anniversaries, Bay Area golden-era rap heroes Souls of Mischief may have just bested the field by celebrating with the release of new music as tight as the records that first made their name two decades ago. A chance Twitter convo and the story of a near-death experience that happened to the group back in 1994 instantly roped in the astonishingly talented composer and project producer Adrian Younge, whose signature sample-free, '70s psychedelic soul creations help to perfectly mould the conceptual retelling of that story on There Is Only Now. Themes of crime, lust, jealousy and revenge are each woven into the tale through some impressively-choreographed lyrical interplay between the group's four members, who juke and jostle to recount their own sections of this unwieldy chronicle while sidestepping Younge's numerous spontaneous beat shifts and beautiful orchestral breakdowns.

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“The past is an illusion, there is only now.” This line from A-Plus is the prevailing wisdom for listeners of Souls of Mischief and Adrian Younge’s There Is Only Now. Unlike a traditional Hip Hop concept album—think Disposable Arts by Masta Ace—the narrative on There Is Only Now is a mostly uninterrupted stream of consciousness. Save for the occasional interlude, breaks in the story only occur when one plot ends and another begins.

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P.O.S. :: Chill, dummyDoomtree RecordsAuthor: Patrick TaylorI've been a fan of Stefon "P.O.S." Alexander since his debut nearly 10 years ago. On "Audition" and 2009's "Never Better," he proved himself to be one of the few artists who could successfully meld punk rock and hip-hop. Fellow Minnesotans ….

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