It’s not your traditional hip-hop, but, if you like independent hip-hop with an alternative feeling, you’ll love Savin Ill and their latest album, “Oxygen.” Savin Ill is a seven-piece, Boston-based hip-hop band that is redefining the world of hip-hop with their unique sound. Savin Ill blends hip-hop, soul, R&B and funk to create an infectious musical fusion. The band (Lance Vallis on guitar, John Skolfield on keys, Jonathan Lamoureux on bass, and Dave Beauchesne on drums) uses live instruments instead of samples from pre-recorded music. There are two emcees (Dynamic and Man@Arms) who spit original lyrics, and a female vocalist (Lindsey Grey) who provides very sexy, very urban, back-up vocals.
The most notable aspect of Savin Ill’s unique sound is the way they are able to blend different types of music into something new without sounding cliché or copycat. On the title track especially, they manage to do this successfully. The band uses rock-style guitar licks, with a live drummer and bassist laying down a laid-back hip-hop beat. Dynamic and Man@Arms trade off rapping about the state of the world today, and Lindsey Grey provides rock-influenced soul vocals that give the track a sense of being grounded to the earth. The track is an up-tempo song with definite rock influence, but it has very prominent elements of soul and hip-hop as well.
The third track, “Trash Fire,” is a more jazz-influenced tune with a bluesy bass line. Dynamic and Man@Arms’ lyrics depict an apocalyptic world with no clean water or air where people are struggling just to stay alive. The imagery of the trash fire is meant to represent how greed and money are propelling us to our impending end, with survival being as good as it gets. In the background, Lindsey sings about having this one last chance to make things right before the end of the world as we know it. The tune begs the listener to wake up while infecting us with its jazzy guitar line that rises and falls, blending into a danceable drumbeat.
The best part of Savin Ill’s sound is the hip-hop and R&B glue provided by Dynamic and Man@Arms original lyrics, and Lindsey’s back-up vocals. The raps are original, and do not rely too heavily on shock value with constant swearing, or borrowed lyrics from other, more well-known hip-hop tunes. Lindsey’s vocals also bring the sound back to a more intimate level when the guitar line begins to lift up into the ethereal sounds we associate most with rock music.
In sum, Savin Ill successfully serves up some serious hip-hop fusion. In blending alternative rock with soulful vocals, hip-hop lyrics and some really jazzy instrumentals, this band really has created their own distinctive sound that is both marketable and sustainable. The result is a nice blend of familiar sounds and smooth rock guitar riffs that allow the emcees to ride the rhythm in a very funky way. This, the second outing by Savin Ill, is a great listen. It is polished and professional, like a band that knows exactly where they are going with their sound.
For those who love original local bands, this is disk is definitely worth checking out. It is not your ordinary hip-hop, and, for this reason, It is refreshing. Savin Ill’s sound is truly matchless, funky and very danceable.
You can check out samples of Oxygen on Savin Ill’s website, at www.savinill.com, or on their myspace page at www.myspace.com/savinill. Whether you listen on your commute to campus, or while studying at Healy Library, I’m sure you’ll feel the pull of the infectious sounds of Savin Ill.