Against The Grain/Evil Dreams
By Silas
Single Review
The collaborations between UK emcees and European Hip Hop
Producers/Emcees continues to grow from strength to strength.
This new release by Switzerland’s Emcee/Producer Silas
continues this long line of Hip Hop Collaborations with the 7” single Against
The Grain/Evil Dreams, Bringing in Remark, Exile and Iceski from the UK.
I have reviewed Silas’s work before and always found it to be hardcore and at times very deep. So, I was excited to be given the
chance to review this one as well.
As always I have thrown a few questions his way and will put
the odd thing in as I go.
So, let’s get right into it...
Against The Grain
– Featuring Remark and Exile, The finger snapping into gives nothing away until
the heavy beat drops and you are instantly held by its hefty grip. Remark
introduces us to the track which Kicks off with Exile up first followed by
Remark and Silas. Each emcee gives their own view of going against the grain in
life and not confirming to any expectations. It’s all about being yourself and
doing things your way to be the best expression of your true self. Exile’s
production is spot on here bringing us this heavy fast paced track which brings
out the best in each Emcee, who spit hard. It’s all capped off with some wicked
cuts, also from the man Exile.
Evil Dreams – Featuring Iceski and DJ Skeptic, like some crazy
horror movie, the heavy footsteps lead us into nightmarish vision from each
emcee. Each takes us through on a dark journey through an individual evil dream
which would not be out of place in a Steven King novel or some dark B-Movie
horror flick. The production from Silas keeps the mood of the track dark and
raw. While cuts come from Crossover/Nu Metal band Freezes Deyna’s DJ Skeptic,
who brings the roughness.
To give you all an insight in these tracks, I asked Silas
about the individual tracks and what they were all about, which you can get an
idea of from my comments he was also nice enough to give me an insight into his
own lyrics. So, here is what he had to say about each track:
Silas – On,
Against the Grain, I talk about growing
up and living in Switzerland. To get in society starts with school, Later you
go to work and the days are always the same so we know what happens tomorrow.
You marry getting Kids getting old and die. The most of Swiss people live
exactly the same live same story... Baby, going to school, start working and making
everything for the career and then, Family and House. If you try to break out
(going against the grain) this way of the society you will have a very hard
life here and people judging you as something worse. Me I'm trying to live
somewhere between the normal society and doing what I really like. So I'm
working pay taxes and everything but don't give a fuck about career in job and
use my energy for the music, travelling and just live good life with good
people.
On Evil Dreams - My verse describes
a nightmare which features me. I wrote it in a very confused and weird way like
dreams mostly are. Here is a translation: Dark matter is pumping through the
arteries, straight from my heart into my brain. I bring spiteful media which
cause you pain and become a problem. I'm slowly turning into a demon who fucks
you like a virus and spares nobody. I'll turn you off and climb the throne.
Without fear of my opponents which I will defeat. In the death game with
like-minded warriors I summon the power on our songs. Fade like fever and your
soul disappears in nowhere. In the darkness, you no longer see the obstacles as
if you are blind. I find myself in hard times in your nightmares again and
destroy you.
So, how did each of these tracks grow from the original idea?
Silas
- For Against the grain I made a beat and sent it to Remark and he liked
it. So we started to write Lyrics and decided to ask Exile to hop on. He mixed
the track but was always very busy with a lot of other things. After a while we
get back on the track but some stuff was lost so we decided to use another beat
Exile made and that's the result.
Evil dreams, was a
similar story; I had a beat and asked Iceski to jump on and we wrote Lyrics for
it. At this time I'd started to make a Remix of it and decided to release this
one and not the first one. Maybe I`ll release the first version digital later,
we'll see. We both liked the 2nd one better.
You have worked a lot with Remark. So, was it always a no brainer to have
him on another track?
Silas – I’ve known Remark for
about 17 years. Before, when I was 14 or 15 I was a fan of Deliverance and I was
freestyling over their beats. We did a lot of collabo’s but not all were
released. I remember we've recorded 6 or 7 tracks in a week when he was in
Switzerland but all of them were lost. Just Melancholia was a track from this
time we released years later. I really love it to work with him and we are good
friends so it was a no brainer yes.
Lastly, as I often do in these chats with artists, I asked him what the
future holds:
Silas - There are many projects
going on at the moment. I've recorded a lot of tracks in many different styles.
Video projects starting soon. I was producing some tracks for Graphic Bars
forthcoming album. And I start to make some tracks with my first partner in
rhyming from over 20 years ago. But, there is no hurry and no deadlines.
I hope this helps you get a deeper feeling for these tracks and a
little insight into Silas. These tracks may seem dark and moody but, hell, that
is life all over and reflecting that in the music that is produced is something
every artist does and it makes the music that much more relatable to the
listener.
Silas always never fails to produce music that is very much from
his experiences in life and also how those experiences affect him and makes his
music something we all relate to, no matter where we hail from and I am
personally excited to see what he has coming in the future.
You don’t always have to know what the artist is saying to feel
the message and the deeper meaning behind it and I feel Silas really brings
that to the table. I just hope the above helps give you all a deeper
understanding of his lyrics too.
This release is defiantly one for your collection. With the line
up of artists Silas has brought in on this one you seriously can’t go wrong.
The energy and vibe each brings to the mix really brings these tracks alive.
Released on the Giftklass Labor label as a Limited White 7” and
digital download I suggest you get this and give it a listen, you won’t be
disappointed I guarantee it.
Don't forget to check out the video for Against The Grain, below, totally wicked stuff with a twist at the end...
On that note, I’m out of here,
Peace,
Steve.
Love it. Girl running and Jumping like horse
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