Atmosphere Albums (4)
'When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold'
Release Date 4/18/2008
Tracks 30
Label Rhymesayers
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
As the group that helped create the term "emo rap" and give Minnesota and Midwestern rap a place on the map, Atmosphere clearly feel a relative amount of freedom to express themselves however necessary on When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, their fifth studio full-length. As he has on the duo's past albums, MC Slug plays the role of the storyteller, describing the lives of his various characters, all down on their luck (drug addicts, single mothers, homeless men) and struggling to just make it from day to day. The vitriol and anger that were found in Slug's earlier rhymes, however, has left -- along with much of Ant's heavier production -- and are replaced by lyrics that, though equally reflective, take a more resigned view of the world. These are people trying to cope with what they have and who they are, people who have accepted the facts that make their lives reality, who are no longer demanding something different. "They fight about money, they fight about life/So she concentrates so so hard on the music/And loses herself inside the bass and the movement" he rhymes in "In Her Music Box," describing a little girl, and in "Yesterday" he admits that "Leavin' me was probably the best thing you ever taught me." Slug has never been one to gloss over the ugly details, and when his characters are broken (and they all are, to varying degrees), he makes sure to let everyone know. "Your Glasshouse," which features TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe on background vocals, tells of a woman for whom it "ain't the first time throwin' up in a strange toilet," and who then returned to the unknown bed "and fell back asleep," while "The Skinny" has the lines "Your lips taste like his dick/I can always tell when he's been in your whip," his pronunciation of that final syllable particularly exaggerated. The self-loathing and depression from Atmosphere's other albums are both still here, but they're less intense and immediate, reflected in Ant's concentration on live guitars and keyboards, a wholly more organic presentation. This is an understandably more mature group, but fans who've connected to the palpable anger found in the duo's music, if they haven't matured at the same rate or in the same way, may find Lemons to be lacking in the very thing that drew them to Atmosphere in the first place. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide
'You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having'
Release Date 10/4/2005
Tracks 22
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
In the year that followed God Loves Ugly, Atmosphere's travels nearly took them to a major label; unlikely as it might have seemed at one time, the hip-hop trio's cerebral yet down-to-earth sound had become one of the hottest things in the underground, thanks in large part to rapper Slug's charisma, and surprising vulnerability. But the group pulled back, deciding to retain control and assign the album they'd completed to punk label Epitaph. That move made sense on a few levels, not least because Seven's Travels bristles with the independent spirit that put both punk and hip-hop on the map. There are any number of disgusted references to the mainstream; "National Disgrace" coldly observes a drunken star and notes, "This is a career, not a hobby." And producer Ant's varied and effective trick bag sometimes even includes a raw, uncompromising sound miles away from any imaginable chart action. But Atmosphere has always resisted the art-for-art's sake strain that has infested hip-hop in recent years; as Slug himself says early on, "I'm trying to find a balance." The beats seduce with R&B richness as often as they snarl, and instances where lyrical abstraction runs wild ("Cats Van Bags") are the exception, not the rule, because Slug is as much a storyteller as diarist. "Shoes" is another of his pickup-gone-wrong tales, ending in giggles in front of the toilet, and "Always Coming Back Home To You" dissects a slice-of-life moment with a guy and a gun in unexpected fashion. Just as remarkable, though, is the optimistic commercial for small-town living that follows, as Slug observes, "Minnesota is dope/if only simply for not what we have, but what we don't" and leads a shout-out that goes in part "If the playground is free of stems and syringes/If there's only one store in your town that sells 12-inches/say shhhh." Now that's keeping it real. ~ Dan LeRoy, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Coming straight outta the rough'n'tumble surroundings of Minneapolis/St. Paul, the Rhymesayers clique is slowly but surely putting Minnesota on the hip-hop map. OK, so the frozen lands that gave listeners Prince and Morris Day & the Time may seem like a fairly unlikely setting for the next hip-hop hotbed, but you can't deny the talent the area's been bringing to the table. First, Eyedea won the country's biggest MC battle with a brilliant display of freestyle ability, now Atmosphere's latest album states the case that there are some serious skills in the Great White North. The group is fronted by Slug, whose densely packed rhymes on the opening "Onemosphere" and "The Bass & the Movement" showcase a clever lyrical flow that recalls early De La Soul if they'd been produced by El-P. On "Hair" and the title track, the MC exposes a refreshing sense of self-deprecating realism all too often lacking among the current hip-hop scene's posturing poseurs. Though the lo-fi D.I.Y. production slows the momentum on a handful of tracks, when Slug's rhymes and producer Ant's beats click, the results are as good as underground hip-hop gets. ~ Bret Love, All Music Guide
