The Ancient Astronauts - We Are To Answer

Artist: The Ancient Astronauts
Album: We Are To Answer
Released: June 9, 2009
Label: ESL Records
Stars: 4.0
Skippable Tracks: 0
Must-listen/purchase Track: Rising high



Miguel listens to hip-hop?????? Well, sometimes. What really inspired me to write this blog post was that I saw a young gentleman sporting a shirt that said I miss hip-hop Which immediately made me make a weird face at him. He probably thought he was being very clever and hip, but he failed. Why? Because hip-hop is not dead! Dude is simply not looking hard enough. And THAT is the bottom line. If you love music, you don't wait for it to come to you, you seek it. Because you love it.

As promised on episode 15 of My Portable device, I’m posting the name of that one song that I never announced. I really could not think of the name of it at the time.

The Ancient Astronauts consists of a couple of German producers named Tom Strauch and Ingo Moll who recently teamed up with ESL Records, founded by Thievery Corporation. So with that said, the album does have some of the same elements as a Thievery album, without making it a duplicate. Of course the band was allowed to work creatively with their own ideas, and claim that they did not feel pressure to create something that they did not feel comfortable with.

This album is a lot more varied than a Thievery album, including some downtempo type of electronic music, but also reggae, soul, dub, and hip-hop. It’s definitely some good background music, but also contains a few punches. For this reason, it earns a solid 4 stars. I know I haven’t given out too many low scores, but I’m sure I will very soon.

Check out the single below, it’s free, and legal thanks to the folks at AOL. So without further ado, here it is! Thanks for listening to My Portable Device, and thanks for checking my blog.

This album also features other MCs such as:

Bootie Brown and Imani from The Pharcyde, Azeem, Tippa Irie, Bajka, Phat Old Mamas, Ulf Stricker, Raashan Ahmad and Entropik, and a few more.

Ancient Astronauts - Rising High

Ancient Astronauts MySpace

North America only

Album: Spirit of Apollo
Label: Anti-
Release Date: February 17, 2009
Stars: 3.5
Skippable tracks: 4 of 17

I was unable to find the rap CD that I was going to review, but I did listen to the N.A.S.A. album released earlier last month. I went into this with an open mind, and found myself enjoying a lot of the tracks on this album. As always, I do have a few issues with it. One: N.A.S.A, in this case, does not stand for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but rather North America South America. So what..? All you have to do is listen to the CD to realize that there is VERY little to do with South America or North America. It’s mostly a sound that has already been heard, using funk tracks as well as some Brazilian song samples. My understanding of the album was that it was going to be a fusion of all kinds of music from all of the Americas; what came out was a CD for The United States of America. Two: They tossed in as many names as possible into the mix to try and attract as many people as possible into buying the album. Three: They played it too safe.
That’s my only beef.

As mentioned above there are a whole lot of really funky tracks that make this a very enjoyable listen. There is also a rock-based song with John Frusciante, an incredibly weird song with Tom Waits, and a song that sounds exactly like anything M.I.A. would put out on her own. Instead of commenting on all the collaborators, I’ll just post them below. Maybe one of the names will attract you into listening to the album. Peace! I’m out! ...Yo!

N.A.S.A. Feat:
David Byrne,Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab & Z-Trip, David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip, Method Man, E-40 & DJ Swamp, RZA, Barbie Hatch & John Frusciante, KRS-One, Fatlip, Slim Kid Tre, Karen O, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Tom Waits & Kool Keith, Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke L, Sizzla, Amanda Blank & Lovefoxxx, George Clinton, Spank Rock, M.I.A., Nick Zinne, Kool Kojak & DJ Babao, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien & DJ Qbert, The Cool Kids, Ghostface Killah, Scarface & DJ AM.

NOTE: If you like Hip-Hop this would be a 4/5.


Sweet song with KRS-One! My favorite.