"Come Back" - Write Brothers

You're riding with the Write Brothers, first in flight. A second single from the increasingly impressive cross-coast collaboration featuring Learic (BTV) and Dante DaVinci (LAX). Tablas, firebomb synth chops, and a damn catchy hook drive the point home: this will almost definitely be the best rap project coming out of Vermont this year.



Learic honed his chops battling in Washington, DC years before he came to Vermont, but he's probably best known for his work with The Aztext, the Green Mountain State's most successful import. They've delivered four ambitious & straightforward rap albums, so Write Brothers is a sharp left turn for him sonically, with Dante DaVinci's dub reggae x Low End Theory EDM thump. It really works, too. "Come Back" has him flexing in the space between Kool G Rap and Gift of Gab, and there's some perfectly cut bars on display here.

"When the pens in my hand, your attention span tends to expand." Fuck yeah.

"Transitions" - Loupo

Fresh produce from the Green Mountains, courtesy of Los Angeles purveyors of fine instrumentals, Cold Busted Records. Loupo is young, hungry and dope. This album is tight, fast and impressive. That should just about cover it, yeah? Enjoy.



The styles on display here are remarkably mature for a young buck -- filthy and melancholy, which a heavy emphasis on percussive textures and jazzy layering. As long as this cat stays busy he's going to shape up into a serious threat...

"Night Owls" - FDR prod. Dr. Quandary

This gorgeous Dr. Quandary production has been a big hit, especially with the European rap heads. This is the closing cut from FDR's debut EP, "Fear of Death and the Need for Reproduction," which I have already bloviated about at some length. Gird yourself for more, beginning immediately.

This week the EP got an excellent and insightful review from Alex at The Underground Vault, who cited a certain lack of cohesiveness & thematic consistency to the project. He's hardly the first person to make that point, and yet we find ourselves in a very...Crowleyesque position, as the authors. Bottom line, FDR is not an accessible project, and we are surely guilty of being Willfully Obscure.

Still, making beautifully doomed cult projects -- "cult" is being invoked here in a literal & legal sense -- is the entire reason we started World Around Records in the first place. I am happy to report the next FDR project will do nothing to illuminate our methods and motives. Stay woke.

"Serenity" - Es-K ft. AG from DITC & General Steele

This album is definitely going to be a landmark for Es-K. He's linked up with the Duck Down Records fam for this lead single, the title track from his forthcoming Cold Busted release "Serenity." Several things I never knew about Es-K, but just found out from Dunn Deal PR:

1. Es-K was born in Holland. (The actual Holland, not the small town in Vermont.)

2. Es-K is an abbreviation for "Essential Knowledge."

3. "Serenity" will also feature C-Rayz Walz, Charmingly Ghetto, DJ Grazzhoppa, Central Parks, M-Dot, Chel Strong, and the 802's own MC Dialect.

"Spontaneous Grooves: Episode 20" - Central Parks & Es-K

This is a pretty huge slice of MPC artistry right here. Everything thumps and this is an album with huge horizons; there's clearly some fertile soil chemistry going on between the two producer-scientists.



This minor masterpiece got hashed out in late night sessions at NEKtones Studio in Burlington, VT with the NEK legend Walter Westinghouse presiding.

FDR - "Fear of Death and the Need for Reproduction"

I like working with Godforbid because he is really good at rap and creates terrifyingly fast. It is good to be inspired, it is better to be intimidated. From Alaskan Fishermen cuts to Hump Jones singles to American Style Cardboard, we've covered a lot of ground. This EP is the opening salvo of something bigger and weirder.

"Pedestrian" - Wombaticus Rex

Does the world need another a-capella, spoken-word, free-verse rap-thing? Almost definitely not. That didn't prevent me from making one, however. This is dedicated to the 217.

Algorhythms: Deluxe Edition - THE TURQUOISE TAPE

EELRIJUE is coming. To celebrate, Algorhythms has remastered their eponymous debut EP, along with several salient singles, to create The Turquoise Tape. If you're not into rap cassettes, no worries: you can get this digitally, too, in all the multifarious formats that Bandcamp provides. A great soundtrack for Tulpa creation, egregore binding, or just general experimentation with Solomon's Lesser Key.

"Math" - Wombaticus Rex x Es-K

Fresh produce from NEKtones Studio. One big surprise about the response to this track: a lot of rap fans catch feelings on behalf of Socrates. I blame Inspectah Deck for this.

"Live From Vermontistan" - Wombaticus Rex

Fresh produce from the Green Mountains. This was mixed and recorded at Burke by the NEK legend Walter Westinghouse. Just ripping through my catalog with Louis Mackey assisting. We had a great time with good people and questionable substances.



If you're digging this, you will almost definitely enjoy "Fear of Death and the Need for Reproduction."

#DAUG - "Breakup Music" - Humpasaur Jones

Finally. Yes. Breakup Music dropped on Labor Day 2013. We are hugely relieved to have this done, and pretty damn proud of it, too. Album is free, or feel free to donate some money for the World Around cause. We always like that.



See Also: Potholes coverage & Answering Questions about Breakup Music.

Fortune 5000 - "The Lifestyles EP"

SO PSYCHED TO HAVE THIS DROPPING TODAY...IT'S BEEN A LONG EMOTIONAL JOURNEY, THO...WE MADE THIS TRIUMPHANT MASTERPIECE UNDER SPIRITUALLY ADVERSE CONDITIONS BECAUSE FRIENDSHIP IS DOPE...SLICK NICK AND JUSTIN RHYMES, ASHEVILLE TO BURLINGTON RAP-STRAVAGANZA OLD SCHOOL FREAKOUT-ATHON, WHAT?...BUT REALLY, WHAT, THOUGH...WE STILL RAP THE RAPS AND RHYME THE RHYMES NO MATTER WHAT, FORTUNE 5000, WE GOT A LOT MORE RAPS IN STORE...WE SAY BROTHER BUT NOT BRO, BRO...WE LIKE FORESTS AND ANIMALS, PEOPLE ARE COOL, TOO...WE JUST WANT TO ROCK BEATS AT YOUR PARTIES, BOOK US TO PLAY RAP SHOWS AT YOUR PARTIES AND WE WILL COME AND DO THAT...THIS EP IS MADE TO BE PLAYED LOUD AT PARTIES OF ANY SIZE, AND OUR RAPS ARE CRAZY SERIOUS! FORTUNE 5000, THAT'S THE NAME!

"Been a Long Year" - Wombaticus Rex

Cover art by The Memetic Supply Co.



Basically, everything I've threatened to drop at any point in my career is coming out this year. First up, a lost album from 2004, Been a Long Year. Back when Wombaticus Rex was still my sole project. Pretty much every track on this album is something I still get emails asking for copies of, so rather than bellyache about sound quality like a primadonna, we're doing the right thing and just releasing it. Enjoy.

Godforbid & Thirtyseven - Big Day for the Little People

Godforbid & Thirtyseven isn't an official name -- it's more like deliberate copyright infringement. Two rappers who have had their names usurped by mere rock bands teaming up to reclaim reality, or something. This cut is a demo from 2007, which represents the 6th installment of World Around Wednesday, which is a sentence I just typed with 5 fingers. There are no coincidences in the Kali Yuga.

Get familiar with That Handsome Devil and American Style Cardboard.

"Jeddore Premium Flow" - More Hump Jones Lyrics

Took way, way too long - hopefully this will brighten up some shitty day in the future. Fun Fact: This song is 94 bars. Why, though?

Jeddore Premium is Jim Lahey's weapon of choice from the apex of all television programming, Trailer Park Boys. It's an obscure off-brand version of Alberta Premium.

Ongoing media assault available via Channel Hump.

Humpasaur Jones - "Funeral Groupies"

Lyrics videos don't have to suck. Dig it.

Download the original track via Bandcamp.

Humpasaur Jones - "2011 Anthembanger"

Last day that we can promote this. Big thanks to @SoundsCustom for a great year.



what kind of half-assed last laugh circus is that?
stumbling home, drunk and alone, purple and black
woke up soaked in blood, open cuts
swollen up, still drunk and my throat is numb, YUP
I got a broken a mic and motherfucking dumb name
and she's a trophy wife with a custom mustang
and if you think I got no chance at all
you can lick my itching hot romantic balls
what's that? you're thug rap? is that so, buttercup?
keep your flaps closed and your asshole buttoned up
still hustling beats and quality tracks
fuck it, it's nothing unique but it's all that we have
writers block is bullshit, I force it out
beat five pages from a dead horses mouth
if I eat my own flesh and speak to the dead
then exactly what the fuck am I competing against?
and can I build a machine to kill major labels
when I'm still waiting tables too filthy to clean?
relax with weed heads and some quality pot
I mean the kind that re-sets your biological clock
came up with these sentences I wanted to drop
it's not a deep message, just a possible thought
...you bought them fame, then watched them rot away
now kids are robbing graves and THAT SHIT IS NOT OKAY
but fuck it, man...I don't even trust my fans
cuz I do rock, and you treat me like a Tupac cover band
show respect cuz I'm known for broken necks
like, I might be stoned, let me grab this microphone and _____
but that was cocky of me...see, it's opposite week
and I'm actually a sensitive and conscious emcee
from Vermont and I'm free of STD's and college degrees
left a condom or three inside your Moms but it's PEACE
I got a broken mic and motherfucking dumb name
and she's a trophy wife with a custom mustang
and if you think I got no chance at all
you can lick my itching hot...

...and that's positive feedback
naked hippie chicks burning bras in a weed patch
most dudes would be afraid of REAL nudity
a bunch of virgin minds in gated communities
shocker, I know: Hump Jones, cocky and stoned
like "Your whole city sucks and I just wanna go home"
head banging, bloody forehead at the chess game
and checkmate your left brain in less than ten plays
run around hunting down girls in town...
and tell 'em we're representing for the WORLD AROUND
just kidding...you're all failures with dumb women
and my new stuff is too much for only one listen