The Paxtons "The Manhattan Project"

If you are unfamiliar with Bandcamp I suggest you investigate. Having spent the better part of this year finding album after album for free on the site, it’s been a beneficial find to say the least. Most of the artists you discover there are unsigned, young and experimenting with new marketing ideas for an industry in disarray. Today a new feature is being launched here at the MO HQ - One Time At Bandcamp... will see an album found on the site reviewed on Monday and an interview with the artist will run on Friday.

Allow me to introduce the Paxtons, the duo of Chris & Dave. They rap and produce, hail from the city of wind and call NY home today. After delivering an entirely self produced album inspired by the film Clerks titled Work they took some time off, moved and are now back with The Manhattan Project - I never heard the first tape but from the description on their site I think it might be more up my alley.

TMP is lively. Almost all the beats will get you moving. Half of it’s self produced and the other half comes from an array of sources. They select the stellar Dam Funk beat “Hood Pass” to rock over trading bars for the duration of the song demonstrating their excellent chemistry, both possessing glorious flows that they utilize to talk about traveling the country, smoking good trees, and having a good time with life.

Their ability to rock beats is the most captivating aspect to their music. Coming in on the opening cut “Ceasar” rocking loud and raw, you feel an energy and passion behind what they are doing. “Ballin” is a bouncing beat with off kilter drums and siren like sounds keeping your mind moving. But instead of wasting their breath talking like every other emcee on a track with the name such as this they kick some thought provoking content that might make you question where and why you are spending your cash.

The Paxtons try alot here. Their aim was large and in some ways they really did create an album that suits the name. The one sheet for this record claims they were aiming for the duel meaning connecting to both their move and the WWII experiments of the same name attempting to build the first atomic bomb, implying they are here to blow up the game I suppose. This record is certainly bombastic.

Content and their interplay puts them above a lot of those competing for the same things in this new music biz. When I started listening to this record I kept feeling as though it lacked something, as I played it through time and time again I picked up new tidbits on every track. A bar here, an sample flip there, the dynamic of them coming in off each other and carrying the baton like champions do. The music here isn’t your cookie cutter, mass manufactured tunes - this is music made with a mission to elevate.