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NUMBS, Mark Dago, The Womp Rats · Jun 18, 01:40 PM

The World

Earthburn Records 2010 Music Sampler

Numbs certainly have extended their roots in Utah, and hip-hop in general. I received the new Earthburn Music’s “The World” tarot disc in the mail the other day which, much to my delight, contained not only samples of the forthcoming new 2010 Numbs album, but two equally exciting spin-off groups with the same Numbs members (Shanty, Mark Dago, Gunner, and Rooster) we’ve come to know and respek! The two new projects “Mark Dago” and “Womp Rats” satiate a geek’s need for innovative concepts, littered with Star Wars references, 8-bit plugins and digital delay. Shawn Murphy (Shanty) seems to take more of a producer role in 2010, and his pro activeness is audibly missing on all three projects. So was this a good listen, or more of the same ol’ shiz from these Provo boys? Keep reading to find out.

Numbs in 2010 is all about wild west references and 4/4 breaks being prevalent but not outstanding.Although the overall flow seems sluggish, much of the topical fleetiness and tangents present on previous albums gives way to concise utilitarian conversation. There seems to be a mental calm and wise demeanor worn on all 3 Mc’s (could it be because they are pushing 30+ years old?) in this album. Each song contains its own unique theme: one is dub-oriented, the other is true hip-hop. The bond holding each beat together is…FUNK?! I find that interesting for some reason. This new format seems to encompass just enough progressiveness to enhance a very solid, very present Numbs foundation of extremely positive, extremely real microphone mechanics. I hope and expect that will never change. Its clear that on this newest Numbs creation that both MCs and beatsmiths are mindful of both new and old fans of Numbs, as well as aging hip-hop purists in general.

Mark Dago’s solo stuff is much more innovative and melodic than Numbs. I’m glad its been isolated to its own project too, especially since the very first song “Get Steady” illustrates the difficulties in trying to fuse his unique cadence with melodic beats. The scale and progression on this one song conflicts disastrously with the natural pitch of Dago’s voice. Otherwise: great stuff, but its a pretty big problem for an opening track for a brand new project. “Alright” is a perfect example of how a carefully chosen melody can mate well Dago’s cyclic tones, almost the exact opposite of the “Get Steady” result. Lyrically speaking: Dago’s is a passionate MC with obvious New Jersey ties but willfully acknowledges his preference for the worker bee, western mindset. He’s very real and fun, the kind of MC everyone wants to collaborate with.

Womp Rats is an concoction of Numbs gabber and Shanty’s “Aerotank” period, in which he explores the world of digital beats and riffs. I daresay this might be the first documented Shanty experimental hip-hop we’ve ever heard. Sadly, the track “Superrats” might be the only noteworthy track on this, what seemed a quickly thrown together section of the sampler, but somehow I can see how its effectiveness at getting people excited to hear the full album when it drops this winter.

That’s kind of what I’m feeling overall from earthburn, they’ve teased just enough with this sampler to get me excited about at least some of what their doing. What comes out of the speaker is undeniable progress, be it slow. Numbs have been around and in the zone for some time now, and although I’m hearing good things, when measured against their earlier albums with Gabe Martinez there’s not a whole lot of change to speak of, in some ways they’ve even gone backwards. When they do try to shake things up like on their 2007 release Nfinity, disaster strikes. So now every member of the group has their own pet project and avenue for growth, while Numbs keeps doing what they’ve done from day one, but doing it better one day and one positive message at a time.

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