Saturday, July 23, 2011

Freshset Music - Stuck In The Moment

Hear The Track Here


Although Freshset Music have gone through a couple of name changes, the members seem to be roughly the same. We have, of course, come across eXceL a time or two in the past, and have - by my count - reviewed around four Just F.A.M. (Freshset) tracks in addition to the same amount from a solo eXceL. Now I'll readily admit that I don't have much of a taste for the more commercial end of the hip hop field but this crew have proved that they at least have the chops for it. Worse, so called 'melodic' hip hop is the flavour of the month but I'm sorry the whole thing just leaves me cold. Which leaves Freshset Music yet another mountain to climb.

Mind you, they should be used to my prejudices by now.

Funnily enough one of the appealing things, for me anyway, is that I don't particularly get hip hop from other major cities but - in all honesty - I find New Jersey hip hop easy to get into, even if it is 'melodic'. What really curls my toes is when the track just doesn't ring true, and that has never been a problem with Freshset at all. Although they have never - to my mind - bettered Dreamer (December 2009), they have come into their own as a solidly commercial prospect and I am absolutely sure the ladies like them.

For me, however, it's the style itself that doesn't do it for me, but Freshset can console themselves with the knowledge that I can and do recognise how sharp and accurate they are; musically and lyrically. For someone into this style, I am sure this is going to go down a treat, thanks in major part to the understated music track that is basic as it gets. The melody, in this case, being supplied by that R&B standard, the Fender Rhodes sound beloved of sound engineers the world over. What the track shows, more than anything, is that Freshset are slicker than most, although that may not be to everybody's taste,

Recommended hip hop ballad.

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