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206UP.COM YEAR END: The Best Seattle Hip Hop Albums of 2013 – The Top 10

10

Today concludes 206UP’s Year End feature on the Best Seattle Hip Hop Albums of 2013. Below the jump you’ll find the blog’s Top 10 Albums of the Year (including a master list of all the albums considered at the very bottom of the post). Click on the album artwork or artist-titles for links to download or purchase.

Thanks so much for checking out the site! In 2014 there are some new features and — hopefully — big surprises to come, so keep visiting 206UP.COM throughout the New Year.

Peace, family!

Best of 2013 Best Of Lists
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REVIEW: Digital Wildlife – The Physics

The Physics - Digital WildlifeThe Physics
Digital Wildlife
Self-released; 2013

Score (Potholes In My Blog scale): 4 / 5

The Physics tackle one of the most relevant questions of modern-day music-making on their new album, Digital Wildlife: How does the digital realm affect our understanding of, and interaction with, the analog when it comes to recorded music? Click here to read my album review over at Potholes In My Blog.

Album Reviews Potholes In My Blog Cross-Post
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NEW MUSIC: Digital Wildlife – The Physics

The Physics - Digital Wildlife

The Physics dropped their new album Digital Wildlife today. 206UP is happy to tell you, dear readers, that one of the most well-crafted, musically adventurous, and, let’s face it, best, Seattle hip hop albums of the year is available for free. Visit the group’s SoundCloud below to download. More to say about DW in the very near future, but for now you should just listen. Happy weekend, family.

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VIDEO: “Am I Crazy?” – The Physics (feat. Alisha Roney; dir. by Zia Mohajerjasbi)

Heads will turn and nod upon the release of Digital Wildlife, the new album from The Physics — set your calendar reminders for December 13. The group has billed the record’s heavy electronic influences as a deviation from their normal sound, but I respectfully disagree. It’s true that early drops like “Am I Crazy?” and “Fix You” are variations in sonics, but the whole of Digital Wildlife retains that classic Physics composure heads have become accustomed to over the course of four stellar albums now. I think you could make the argument that they’ve been moving in this direction for a while. DW is The Physics trying on a new vibe but finding that it already fits like a perfectly tailored suit. “Deviation” is the wrong word; “evolution” is more accurate.

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NEW MUSIC: “Play It Off” – The Physics

The Physics - Play It Off

“Play It Off” is the most recent evidence of the massive creative growth found on The Physics’ upcoming album Digital Wildlife (December 13). The ballad is synth heavy with a dramatic, churning beat. And is that Thig Nat singing? How did we not know dude could blow like this before?

Audio Downloads
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NEW MUSIC: “Am I Crazy?” – The Physics (feat. Alisha Roney)

Am I Crazy - The Physics

A couple things:

First, The Physics have an official release date for their new album, Digital Wildlife, which Thig had previously relayed to me was set to be an amalgamation of hip hop, electro, and R&B. It generally sounds like we can expect that same vibe when the record drops this December 13th, but perhaps in more holistic terms: “Digital Wildlife is about the relationship between digital and analog,” goes the official artists’ statement. Can’t wait.

Secondly, “Am I Crazy?”, the new drop from DW, features singer Alisha Roney, a Seattle native turned Brooklyn resident and possessor of that rare vocal quality that can only be described as the perfect confluence of perfection and imperfection. At the risk of flirting with inappropriate hyperbole, I’ve heard critics describe Mary J. Blige as blessed with the same trait. So, you know, keep your eye on Alisha.

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NEW MUSIC: Enjoy : Like : Love – Malice & Mario Sweet

Malice & Mario - Enjoy Like Love front

Malice & Mario - Enjoy Like Love back

Malice and Mario Sweet, the indispensable back-up vocalists for The Physics, recently dropped their second excursion into hip hop/R&B/soul territory: Enjoy : Like : Love. The record takes its cues mainly from the ’80s, with big hooks and heaping amounts of danceable pop-funk. I commented to Malice the other day on Twitter that Enjoy : Like : Love is the type of music I listen to every day, the type that fits in any occasion, and always leaves the soul smiling.

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VIDEO: “Take a Win” – The Physics

This is likely to be the blog’s final post before the long Independence Day weekend. My company “floats” an annual day off between the various nationally recognized respites, and this year it just happens to fall on the Friday between the 4th and the impending weekend. So, while a grip of you dear readers will inevitably be following up your barbecues and hot late night sparkler action by donning dress slacks and making change for glib-ass customers, I will (hopefully) be doing like The Physics are doing in their new clip for “Take a Win” — living the easy life. One.

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VIDEO: “The Goodbye” – The Physics (prod. by BeanOne; dir. by Stephan Gray)

It’s snowing buckets in NYC tonight, they’re forecasting over a foot of snow this evening, and I stayed home from work because of the whooping cough. (Hopefully not really, but I did read this.)

The good news: It’s Friday… And, The Physics dropped a new video under the skilled directorial eye of Stephan Gray. Rejoice and drink beer.

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VIDEO: “Who Are The Physics?” – Avi Loud & Robin Park (feat. The Physics)

Catch The Physics in the lab (no, really, Justo in an actual laboratory) and on stage in this dope mini-doc by directors Avi Loud and Robin Park.

Video