Silent Lambs Project - Soul Liquor LP (2000)
Silent Lambs Project - Soul Liquor LP (2000)
The Silent Lambs Project (Jace and Blak) were the culmination of years of underground hip hop growth in the emerald city. You can hear their voices on the early Seattle compilations, over the grey, murky, rainy musical backdrop, but when they joined forces as Silent Lambs they took that bleak, damp atmosphere to a whole new level. Soul Liquor is dark album. Dark and ominous. Jace’s rhymes are sedated and deadpan, like he hasn’t seen the sun in months, while Blak’s deep-ass voice growls and stutters on the offbeat like some sick troll under a bridge. Producer King Otto (along with Mr. Hill and Bean One) provides the perfect sonic backdrop. Listen to the string section straining for a resolution that never comes on “H.O.R.”, or the disjointed piano loop from “Original Conviction”. Or the empty, cave-like quality of the live cuts. This is a dark record. And whereas Seattle compatriots Oldominion tend to glorify and romanticize the dark side of existence, the Silent Lambs give it to you straight. There’s no glorification here. Every metaphor is spoken in a monotone, like a grocery list, making the blasted aural landscape even bleaker.
Since it was the Black Stax Twitter that linked me to this, I assume it must be cool with Jace & Blak- seriously all lovers of NW hiphop or hiphop in general need this in their collection! Don’t just take my-or Mudede’s-word here, check Brian Goedde’s review from a decade ago.
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