Albums, Review | Rusko – KAPOW EP
Posted by Spice on November 5, 2012
And thus begins Rusko’s pledge to release all of his music for free in the wake of some very public complications with Mad Decent. Kudos to the dubstep don — always something of a rabble-rouser in the electronic music community — for taking an aggressive stand and choosing to operate outside of the system. KAPOW comes on the heels of Rusko’s rather disappointing collaboration with Cypress Hill and navigates us back to more familiar territory. However, this isn’t his best effort. There’s a funky, fizzy vibe to these tracks that at times gives fresh life to those trademark glitchy womps and wobbles (“Yeah”) but at others seems unfocused and chaotic (“Booyakasha”). The latter two tracks are fresh and bouncy — he even toys with a rollicking moombah bassline on “Like This” — but lack the measure of oomph that would otherwise take this EP to the next level. (Okay, to be fair, I’m also automatically comparing this to Bassnectar’s recent Freestyle EP, and that was a brilliant mind-melt that totally blows this out of the water.) This is a 6.5/10. Possibly a 7.
Fortunately, KAPOW is free if you “pay” with a tweet/Facebook status or sign up for Rusko’s newsletter, so there’s not really any reason not to download it. And his goal of self-promoting his music without label assistance is certainly worth supporting; if he is successful, it will be a clear indication that times are officially changing.
Download Free: Rusko – KAPOW EP
Dubstep, Reggae | Cypress Hill x Rusko – Can’t Keep Me Down (feat. Damian Marley)
Posted by Sev on May 25, 2012
With the release of Cypress X Rusko around the corner, June 4th, it was only right for them to release a single off their EP. What better release than with one of the don’s of current reggae music, Damian Marley. Rusko takes the fusion of dubstep and reggae from a completly different perspective than what Skrillex showed us through Make It Bun Dem. This track influences the reggae aspect a little more than with Skrillex and Damian’s collaboration and also brings those heavy basslines under the vocals we have seen from Rusko through some of his most highly known releases. I’m glad Rusko didn’t want to go all out with the drop on this track, even though we all know he could have, because that would have killed the vibe. This release got me pretty excited to see him tonight in Austin, Texas and you can bet there will be a follow up post after the show so stay tuned here to see clips from his set. You can grab this Cypress X Rusko single featuring Damian Marley on iTunes HERE.
Electro | Deadmau5 – Failbait (ft. Cypress Hill)
Posted by GMONEY on March 16, 2012
Hold onto your hats everyone! Deadmau5 has now taken the plunge into hip-hop. His latest release Failbait features a minimalist beat and verses provided by hip hop legends Cypress Hill. I think this proved it, Deadmau5 can do anything. Sound off in the comments, I want to see what everyone thinks about this.
Dubstep, Hip-Hop | Cypress Hill & Rusko – Roll It, Light It
Posted by Sev on January 24, 2012
Spin magazine giving this sick collaboration away today as well as announcing the release date for the Cypress Hill and Rusko album Cypress Hill X Rusko which is set to release on March 27th. It looks like March is going to be a Rusko overload, with his album releasing on the same day as this EP. From that start of this track you can feel that Rusko is going to bring the bass with a quick build up leading into the drop. The Cypress vocals go perfect with the heavy beat creating a great fusion of hip-hop and dubstep that makes you want to bump this track as loud as possible.
DOWNLOAD: Cypress Hill & Rusko – Roll It, Light It