Jeremy Aaron
04/05/10, 12:22 PM
Outasight - Further
Record Label: Asylum/Select
Release Date: March 19, 2010
Defiance and fierce self-belief come pretty much standard standard in hip-hop artists, and on the taunting "Catch Me If You Can" that opens his new EP Further, Richard Andrew, a.k.a. Outasight, makes it clear that the same is no less true for him. While mere chest-beating and trash talk are probably enough to get at least a few people to notice you, Andrew showed enough promise to gain the attention of the majors, inking a deal with Asylum in late '09. Sevendust released music under the imprint, so perhaps this doesn't say much, but the record more than speaks for itself-- it displays some impressive range and suggests that Outasight is a name we're likely to hear more of in the future.
This quick glimpse at the up-and-comer paints him as more than just a hip-hop act. Indeed, his Facebook page describes him as a lover of his mom's record collection and lists his genre as "less." While it's a stretch to call Outasight's music transcendent, it does possess a rare eclecticism, venturing into the realms of psychedelia, classic R&B, soul and jazz. The aforementioned opener rumbles with a Hendrix-influenced riff and blaring brass, and Andrew touches a bit on the marketing difficulties that come with not fitting neatly into some stylistic compartment that everyone from label execs to fans like to thrust artists into.
"Don't Say Anything" puts to use his requisite ability to spit out rhymes, which are frequently clever, occasionally not ("get a life, take a hike, fly a kite, goodbye") and heavy on wry observations on the type of workaday travails that most of us can relate to (those of us with empty bank accounts and hordes of people lining up to collect from us, for example). The real showcase of Andrew's talent comes in the form of "Favors", which sees him shifting seamlessly from rapid-fire lyric-spewing to remarkably soulful crooning.
On the closing rhythmic slow-jam "Brand New Day", Andrew sings "I don't feel the same," which seems to signal a departure from his earlier downtrodden ruminations, as if he's looking at life through newly successful eyes. If this teaser is any indications of what's to come from Outasight, those visions of triumph and prosperity may well come to fruition.
1. Catch Me If You Can (4:08)
2. Don't Say Anything (3:38)
3. Favors (3:42)
4. Better Late Than Never (4:34)
5. Stranger Than Fiction (4:29)
6. Brand New Day (4:31)
Check out Outasight on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/iamoutasight) and last.fm (http://www.last.fm/music/OUTASIGHT).
Preview/Buy the album at Amazon MP3 (http://www.amazon.com/Further-EP-Explicit/dp/B003BNECAC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1270212170&sr=8-1).
Record Label: Asylum/Select
Release Date: March 19, 2010
Defiance and fierce self-belief come pretty much standard standard in hip-hop artists, and on the taunting "Catch Me If You Can" that opens his new EP Further, Richard Andrew, a.k.a. Outasight, makes it clear that the same is no less true for him. While mere chest-beating and trash talk are probably enough to get at least a few people to notice you, Andrew showed enough promise to gain the attention of the majors, inking a deal with Asylum in late '09. Sevendust released music under the imprint, so perhaps this doesn't say much, but the record more than speaks for itself-- it displays some impressive range and suggests that Outasight is a name we're likely to hear more of in the future.
This quick glimpse at the up-and-comer paints him as more than just a hip-hop act. Indeed, his Facebook page describes him as a lover of his mom's record collection and lists his genre as "less." While it's a stretch to call Outasight's music transcendent, it does possess a rare eclecticism, venturing into the realms of psychedelia, classic R&B, soul and jazz. The aforementioned opener rumbles with a Hendrix-influenced riff and blaring brass, and Andrew touches a bit on the marketing difficulties that come with not fitting neatly into some stylistic compartment that everyone from label execs to fans like to thrust artists into.
"Don't Say Anything" puts to use his requisite ability to spit out rhymes, which are frequently clever, occasionally not ("get a life, take a hike, fly a kite, goodbye") and heavy on wry observations on the type of workaday travails that most of us can relate to (those of us with empty bank accounts and hordes of people lining up to collect from us, for example). The real showcase of Andrew's talent comes in the form of "Favors", which sees him shifting seamlessly from rapid-fire lyric-spewing to remarkably soulful crooning.
On the closing rhythmic slow-jam "Brand New Day", Andrew sings "I don't feel the same," which seems to signal a departure from his earlier downtrodden ruminations, as if he's looking at life through newly successful eyes. If this teaser is any indications of what's to come from Outasight, those visions of triumph and prosperity may well come to fruition.
1. Catch Me If You Can (4:08)
2. Don't Say Anything (3:38)
3. Favors (3:42)
4. Better Late Than Never (4:34)
5. Stranger Than Fiction (4:29)
6. Brand New Day (4:31)
Check out Outasight on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/iamoutasight) and last.fm (http://www.last.fm/music/OUTASIGHT).
Preview/Buy the album at Amazon MP3 (http://www.amazon.com/Further-EP-Explicit/dp/B003BNECAC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1270212170&sr=8-1).