Record Label: Green Owl Records

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Despite having supported the likes of Spank Rock, Dan Deacon, Japanther, and Afrika Bambaataa, you may be forgiven for thinking that Ninjasonik are actually any good. In a completely misplaced flourish of arrogance and naïveté, the Brooklyn-based group describe their music as a ”cultural fusion.” Vaguely conceived as a concept album ‘Art School Girls,’ presents some of the most lad-ish, American spring-break, stoner-garbled rot of 2010, complete with horrible hip-hop ‘skits’ like ‘Berst’a’ball’ which is about as funny as losing a loved one. Shouting ‘bitch’ and drinking ‘forties’ perforates the apparent ‘concept’ of the album, with the lyrical low point being, ‘Take her to the bathroom and make her take a picture of your dick’…Followed by songs such as, ‘Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant,’ and the out of tune title track (‘Art School Girls’), it suffices to say that this album has few redeeming features. Their self-styling as booze-loving, weed-smoking, prolific shaggers isn’t at all funny, even if it is to be taken in some sort of post-modern-ironic ‘art school’ sense. Sonik it may be, in that it is audible, but so is someone taking a big fibre-filled dump in your ears. And I don’t like the sound of that.

Record Label: This Is Music

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Following their energetic debut single, ‘Straight Back On It’, Young Fathers are back with their latest track, ‘Automatic’. It’s a fluid fusion of eccentric electro beats blended into a hip-hop foundation that does the Scottish trio’s growing reputation justice. Their recent tour with Simian Mobile Disco resulted in the co-produced ‘Turn Up The Dial’ which found itself on SMD’s 2009 album, ‘Temporary Pleasure’. This, coupled with the fact that the lads have already appeared with Shaun Ryder’s Black Grape, Dizzee Rascal, The Noisettes, La Roux, and Grandmaster Flash, highlights their ever-increasing popularity. This AA single includes the heavier B-side, ‘Dancing Mantaray’, which, produced by dubstep’s Ginz, is slowed-down, chilled-out and synthed-up in relation to the A-side, and as a result loses the gripping nature that makes you want to listen to ‘Automatic’ again and again. ‘Dancing Mantaray’ is nonetheless well worth a listen. With shades of De La Soul, Outkast and even Spank Rock, ‘Automatic’ is a feast of power pop, its main weakness being its abrupt ending at a slightly disappointing two and half minutes long.

Brooklyn’s Ninjasonik are taking their self-sustained, militant buzz off the streets and translating it onto wax for their long awaited debut album this summer. Beginning as an art concept record and a time capsule of their almost 18 months together, ‘Art School Girls’ features guest appearances from Matt and Kim, Team Robespierre, and Vivian Girls. It’s obviously not the normal collaborative line-up for what many could misconstrue as a hip-hop record, but a “cultural fusion” says emcee Telli. “I don’t think sound has been merged like what we do. I’m a rapper, Jah’s a punk, and Teenwolf’s a musicologist.”

It’s the live shows where Ninjasonik truly demonstrate an aerobic performance that leaves audiences fully engaged. The Brooklyn trio splashed onto the stage and established themselves as next generation of live hip hop by creating a synergy between their rhymes and a newly evolved performance art in the making. Having shared the stage with such disparate artists as Spank Rock, Dan Deacon, Japanther, Afrika Bambaataa, The Cool Kids and Murs, Ninjasonik has melded enough sounds to bring in fans across all genres.

At its most fundamental, Telli is right about what separates and unites the members of Ninjasonik. DJ Teenwolf received his own buzz as part of the Sound Advice DJ collective, and as a solo remixer. Jah Jah was a DJ of his own accord, spinning at some of the first Treble & Bass parties in Baltimore, and later rolling deep with famous skaters and graffiti artists like Mark Gonzales and Ben Robey. And since childhood, Telli was banging out rhymes over lunch table beats, before going on to record with Raheim and a few Wu-Tang associates before being burned out by the game (and then re-inspired by his Ninjasonik cohorts).

There is no definition for a record so eclectic yet thematic. “Ha Ha Ha” (featuring Team Robespierre) may have the most traditional hip-hop structure, with punchline-packed verses and an innocuous hook. “Art School Girls” throbs with a powerfully fast bassline and Jah Jah’s charmingly off-key crooning.

Having recently supported The Very Best and Clipse in the US, Ninjasonik will be heading to the UK for some live shows this coming autumn.