Infinite Sounds UK: Album Review: MicTronics by Mic Mountain X TronBeatz

MicTronics

Mic Mountain X Tronbeatz

MicTronics is the latest album from Washington D.C. emcee Mic Mountain, it marks his third album to be reviewed on the blog this year and his 9^th Solo album. So, for a bit more background on Mic Mountain, please check my previous reviews for Triple Piragua and Mountain Dreams.

This time around Mic Mountain teams with Tronbeatz, out of Connecticut, on production and Cuts from Mr Scratch Hook (who also provides mixing and mastering). The album is not overloaded with features either, giving Mic Mountain plenty of room to shine. Those who do feature here are CrDnlSn, The Bad Seed, and Thirstin Howl the 3^rd. As we have seen with the previous reviews from Mic Mountain, expect a sound that is rooted deeply in the traditional boom bap sound but, with maybe a surprise or two along the way.

So, don’t let me keep you hanging right now, let’s get straight into it…

It all kicks off here with Chill You Got It with Tronbeatz bringing a heavy sound of guitar notes over a drum loop that gets your head nodding from the get-go. The mixed in vocal samples also add some depth that serves to get you fired up. Mic Mountain lights up the mic with a blistering display of wordplay where metaphors and similes abound, with just a dash or two of Hip Hop braggadocio to boot too. You really get the feeling here that this one is gonna be some journey. If you thought there might be time to chill here, then think again as Back In The Day Pt. 2 brings a follow up to a track from Mic Mountains 2018 album The Avalanche. Here razor sharp cuts and a heavy sonic sound merge with a pounding drum beat to get you bouncing and pumping the air. Mic Mountain takes us back to his teenage years, schooling us to some of his inspirations with mentions for the likes of KRS ONE and BDP, Redman, Black Sheep, Cypress Hill and more. But more than that we also get an insight into what it was like for him growing up, learning the latest rap verses before heading home to write his own. This is a true look into how you push yourself to rise from the early days, constantly evolving and practicing, never resting but always having that faith in yourself that you can be someone. The focus now switches from those early days as DMV MC takes us into the metropolitan area of Washington D.C. and for anyone not familiar with the term, it stands for the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. Tronbeatz gives us a solid head nod beat that is backed by a multi-layered sound that chills you out a little while Mr Scratch Hook cuts up some classic Hip Hop samples. Mic Mountain reps it for the hometown here as he takes us back to the streets of DC, showing us what it was to be an emcee growing up there, constantly honing his craft on the mic as well as dabbling in graffiti.

Conan Swords brings a heavy sound with horns that keeps your head moving while vibrating through your whole body, giving this one a sound that seems to grab you and hold you in a vice-like grip. Lyrically, this one has a battle rap edge to it where each bar hits like a bullet or the razor-sharp edge of a heavy metal sword, where everything cuts deep but, rather than leaving you bleeding, this one gets you hyped for what’s coming next; and coming next is the first feature as CrDnlSn joins us for Got That Motion. Here the sound has an edge that seems to take you to the streets after dark with a drumbeat is backed by chilled synth sound. There are also a couple moments the sound switches up but still keeping that bright lights big city feel to it. Mic Mountain and CrDnlSn keep it rooted in the streets of the DMV while displaying the desire to take it from those very streets to conquer the globe with their vocals, always moving forward and never looking back and with plenty to encounter along the way.

Mystery Weed takes the original Scooby Doo theme, flipping it into a banger of a sound that brings a smile with it. You switch that smile into a proper grin as Mic Mountain has fun by flipping the classic narrative of a Scooby Doo episode into a smoke filled comedic romp where the culprit would have got away with it too, if it wasn’t for that meddling Hip Hop MoFo. We keep that idea of flipping the Scooby Doo vibes with the Scoob Scrap Raps. Here Thirstin Howl 3^rd joins Mic Mountain to drop some just for fun mic mockery as wordplay meets the world of mystery Inc. flipping it all on its head and leaving all sucka rappers dead. TronBeatz provides the stage for all these fun and games with an eerie synth sound underpinning a heavy drum loop that beats the strange sound into your bones and has you looking over your shoulder at every turn…

Broken Glass features The Bad Seed alongside Mic Mountain as TronBeatz brings a sound that thumps hard, threatening to make your ears bleed. There is a couple of switches along the way that have a sound that is freakier that a sixties horror movie soundtrack vibe. Lyrically this one hits you like pieces of broken glass falling on your ears. Wordplay that slices deep into your mind and eliciting thoughts that intrude like broken nightmares into your awareness. All to soon we are at the albums penultimate track Nautical Flow, with a sound that pounding beat with organ notes and vocal samples that make you feel like you could be floating, ebbing and flowing with the tide. Mic Mountain takes us on a journey of subsurface vocals where lyricism meets the oceans, mythical creatures, pirates and more. This one takes you into a dream world where water, an emotive symbolism, surrounds you, holding you just long enough to take you away from the trials and tribulations of life. The album concludes with It’s A Wave, where TronBeatz brings a sound that has a beat that makes you move almost unconsciously, but the synth sounds have a vibe that once more gives you that feeling of ebbing and flowing, although the waters may feel a bit choppier this time around. Mic Mountain takes us to the crest of the wave, riding that energy there is a feeling that the message here is that you need to make waves so that people will take notice of what you have to offer. Once you have their attention, they will see the strength and the reality of what you bring and that you speak from a place of knowledge and understanding.

Mictronics is a little under twenty five minutes in length, but what it might lack in length, it more than makes up for in shear content. Now, I have never been a fan of track lengths under three minutes, I find it hard to see how you can put enough into anything shorter. But I have to say that I am becoming more used to it now and on Mictronics, Mic Mountain and TronBeatz really do make the best use of every second, giving you a hell of a lot of bang for your bucks.

The album is a full on boom bap rooted album, there is no question, but along the way TronBeatz gives us just enough tweaks to give it a fresh sound. He also brings a good number of vibes that have just the right amount of emotive edge to mirror what Mic Mountain is trying to elicit from the listener, something that he does with aplomb.

Mic Mountain keeps it straight Hip Hop here with lyrics, flows and wordplay that allow you to hear every rhyme, thus allowing you to be able to get right into each track, if you so choose to. There is also a great mix of styles here that bring you the kind of tracks you can enjoy listening to for fun but, at the same time there is a balance of tracks that also have some deep massages, some of which can be quite subtle, you just have to take the time to listen.

It would be amiss of me if I were not to mention how the Hip Hop vibe is accentuated by the cuts of Mr Scratch Hook. There is always that little voice inside me that says how Hip Hop are you being without the inclusion of a DeeJay cutting it up. For me it is, pretty much, a must as an aspect of that real Hip Hop vibe.

It is also great to see that as a solo album, Mic Mountain has kept the features to minimum, highlighting his own lyricism. That is not to take anything away from those who do feature. Thirstin Howl the 3^rd, The Bad Seed and CrDnlSn, are all a credit to the scene and add depth and feeling to those tracks they appear on, this complementing Mic Mountain and the overall sound of the album.

For me, this was a highly enjoyable album from start to finish where solid emotive beats meet intellectual wordplay, and where it all comes together to make smile, bounce and ultimately think. Hip Hop music has always been a sound which can encompass so much, from just having fun with lyrics and wordplay, to deeper conscious explorations and understanding the origins of the artist bringing you such deeply relatable subject matter, and with Mictronics, Mic Mountain and TronBeatz have done a superb job of doing just that. You just have to truly listen, but you can also just listen and enjoy it, because that is what music is all about too.

Mictronics is released on 5^th December everywhere so don’t sleep on this one.

There is also an album listening party via Bandcamp on 3rd December at 7pm ET in the US or 00:00 4th December GMT.

My huge and humble thanks to Mic Mountain for giving me the chance to bring you my take on this one.

I’ll see ya next time,

Steve.

LINKS

Grab your copy here:

https://micmountain.bandcamp.com/album/mictronics

https://micmountain.com/

Mic Mountain Socials

https://www.facebook.com/micmountainmusic

https://www.facebook.com/michael.mountain.34432