Delux – Pyramid [LP]
by Jeanie Straub
Denver-based Indie Rap artist Delux (aka Anthony Giometti) is not without some obvious talent, but his retro-inspired Hip-Hop CD Pyramid is pretty standard fare as far as the Colorado scene goes. It has (mostly) all been heard before; he just isn’t pushing any boundaries. (The biggest surprise is that he is a white guy.) The best tracks on Pyramid are throwbacks, heavily influenced by the early ’90s, but he tries to walk a tightrope between an old-school, R&B-influenced sound and the new, super-synthesized sound, which makes this CD very uneven at best. The stronger tracks that score points have a Jazzy-slash-Soul-Funky sound – for example, he does well with track six, “Summertime Love Freestyle,” which samples Quincy Jones’ “Summer in the City” and makes you think of The Pharcyde. But the more traditional Pop Hip-Hop-slash-Club tracks, such as track 10, “Mo’ Drinks,” need more bass to get us dancing. The rhymes here are “usual” – it isn’t a sin that he’s rhyming about women and booze and partying and clubs, but the flow isn’t super-clever or super-complicated and just doesn’t come off as new enough or fun enough to be of note. He’s got some decent hooks, but, overall, Pyramid isn’t enough.
Download Pyramid, which drops online Sept. 1, for free at multiple sites.
Category: A-Sides
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