Atmosphere Album: “Seven's Travels”
 Description :
Atmosphere: Slug (rap vocals); Ant (DJ).
<p>Recorded at Trail Mix Studios, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
<p>This Minneapolis duo had spent about a decade at the center of the insular Twin Cities hip-hop scene before their national emergence with 2002's GOD LOVES UGLY, an idiosyncratic slice of state-of-the-art conscious rap. SEVEN'S TRAVELS, their fourth full-length release, is both a logical next step and a quantum leap forward.
<p>Ant's painterly soundscapes conjure the glory years of Daisy Age hip-hop, and frontman Slug makes up for what he lacks in Eminem-style down-and-dirty venom with a compelling combination of grainy imagery and street-level introspection. The production is a layered affair that features off-kilter beats vying for bandwidth with smartly chosen audio verite and musical samples to produce a kaleidoscopic aural effect. Slug's raps are best encapsulated in the album's closer, "Always Coming Back to You," which crams a world of experience into its brief narrative, transforming the duo's hometown into every city in the world to which its scions have returned, only to find that you really can't go home again.
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Track Listing :
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Album Information :
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UPC:045778669028
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Format:CD
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Type:Performer
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Genre:R&B - Underground/Alt Rap
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Artist:Atmosphere (Rap)
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Producer:Ant
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Label:Rhymesayers Entertainment
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Distributed:Koch (Distributor USA)
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Release Date:2003/09/23
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Original Release Year:2003
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Discs:1
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Mono / Stereo:Stereo
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Studio / Live:Studio
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Alana (Philadelphia suburbs) - October 25, 2005
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
- not the best, but still a good listen
I got into Atmosphere with the "God Loves Ugly" album, and then got hooked on their eariler stuff. "Seven's Travels" is not as good as those. While I really LOVE some of the songs, the rest are hard to listen to. I definitely can't listen to the CD straight through. If you're a fan of Atmosphere, check it out. If not, check some some early stuff first. 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
- Atmosphere sells out.....decently
It's a shame that the best song on this album, "Shhh!," isn't even listed. It's a secret song, 10 or 12 seconds after the end of "Always Coming Back Home to You." Then again, anyone outside of Minnesota probably wouldn't understand it. "Shhh!" is by far the best track that Slug or Ant have ever taken part in, and lifts the album up to the four-star level.
The rest of the album sees Ant over-produce, Slug forget his roots, and the two of them throw way too much filler at you while still somehow creating a decent album. The first two tracks are promising but deceptive, and the rest of the album falls into one of the following two categories: great or boring. Not to say that there isn't reason to expect an amazing follow-up (not including Headshots) - "Lifter Puller" is slow-moving and catchy, "Denvemolorado" sees Ant at his best, and "Always Coming Back Home to You" showcases Slug's storytelling ability.
A few of the other songs are all right, but besides the ones I have mentioned, there isn't much here that is too special. If you liked God Loves Ugly, you will probably like Seven's Travels even more, but if you want an emotionally-charged classic Atmosphere record, try Overcast! or the Lucy Ford EPs (or even Headshots, a bunch of old demos).
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
- Outstanding work, stop thinking about Atmosphere's fame
Reading other reviews regarding this album, it becomes painfully obvious that there are only two negative opinions of Seven's Travels. The first being that Atmosphere has essentially sold out because they have a video on MTV and they don't sound exactly like they did on "Overcast", the other being that Slug can't possibly considered a hip-hop artist due to the fact that he's from Minnesota (and proud of it, Check out "Always Coming Back Home to You"), he's white, and the record was distributed on a punk label, Epitaph. Set the record straight: You don't need to be "oppressed" or from a popular hip-hop region to make good music. If you wan't to call it "punk-hop", go right ahead. At least Slug isn't relying on make-believe "beefs" and lyrics about wristwatches and champagne to sell records. Go ahead and check out their other stuff, too. Then again, if you're angry that a white boy from the midwest can make a record that even Chuck D. is impressed by, go ahead and be angry. Check out "Reflections, Trying to Find a Balance", "Gotta Lotta Walls", "Shoes", and "Sick Pimpin". If you don't like it, go listen to non "punk-hop" all stars like Ja Rule, 50 Cent, Kayne West, and the rest of the studio gangsters that some of you detractors must absolutely love. This is simply good music. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
- CLASSIC
This cd defines my freshman year in college.....
if not for this album I would've never survived.....
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
- Underrated album, not THE best, but very good
First, I would like to say this. I have always been a fan of 60s and 70s soul and R&B, and have always been a fan of real, meaningful hip-hop, not a fan of a lot of the mainstream crap. On this album, both are fused lyrically and musically. There is not a wide abundance of the R&B "inspiration" or whatever, but a bit here and there.
The songs here engrave themselves in your brain as much as they ever have, which is good. Slug's flows are as hot on this album as they ever were on any other. Ant's music is somehow just sonically better than most, with the exception of a lot of "God Loves Ugly" material. Unfortunately, keeping it, in my mind, from being a five star album is the filler space. It again is not that much, but apparently enough to turn some people away. I would give it a 4.8 if I could.
Of the 19 1/2 tracks (be that the hidden track), I listen to maybe 14-16 songs. Also, in my collection of hip-hop, I have Jay-Z's catalogue, Kanye West, Rakim, Outkast, Dr. Dre, Talib Kweli, Common, Nas, 2Pac, Gang Starr, Dilated Peoples, Jurassic 5 and Eminem. Any of the Atmosphere albums including Seven's Travels can compete with any of the aforementioned artists' works.
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