L'Orange and Kool Keith dropped the anticipated Time? Astonishing! today and it's as good as I hoped. For those unfamiliar L'Orange is a producer from the Mellow Music Group label and Kool Keith is an underground rapper dating back to the 90's. I'm not sure if this pair could be any better. L'Orange's jazz and old film noir vibe instrumentals seem to be the perfect pairing for Kool Keith's laid back flow and his taste for the bizarre. On the touch of the production, this is among L'Orange's best. The beats are filled with saxophones, drums, and kicks. A lot of them remind me of performances in jazz night clubs. There also a couple of tracks that are boom bap. The instrumentals on"The Green Ray" seems to evoke a story on its own. All of them are served for easy listening as usual for the producer and as previously said, a good match for Kool Keith.
As far as Kool Keith goes, this album reminds me a lot of Dr. Octagonecologyst. Kool Keith's flow is remarkably similar, but it doesn't get old, Keith also has alter egos in this one as well, playing as a time traveler and a doctor with dual identities. As far as lyrics go there is quite a bit of wordplay. I am still quite unsure what to make of Keith's lyrics. I'm listening to every word, but I'm not sure exactly what he's saying. The words are clear, but they don't seem to connect to one another for the most part. "Dr. Bipolar" is one of the few tracks where I get lyrics and how they connect. It basically tells the story of a man living a dual identity. Regardless of that, it just sounds dope. His voice and his flow are so in synch with the beats that is sort of over-exceeds that.
This album also has quite a few features on it, which also make this album great. You the oh familiar Blu, Open Mike Eagle, and Mr. Lif who all do fantastic jobs on their tracks. Mr. Lif and Open Mike Eagle's verses are my two favorites on the album and the others I'm unfamiliar with like J-Live and Montage One also do a fair job.
This album is great. The chemistry is great between the producer and the rapper and the featured artists all add something unique to the album. This is a recommendation of the highest degree.
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