Shortcuts (Single 2020)

Pale Male feat. Jahson the Scientist & Misses U

Hip Hop, Jazz

The fusion of musical styles can be something wonderful, and Rap simply applies greatly for example to Rock and Metal, as many have proofed. One of the pioneers melting Rap with Jazz was Guru of Gang Starr with his project Jazzmatazz. Rola Music (Camu, Ela Rynx and more) brings you an impressive example from Vienna.

Guitarist and producer Paul Male founded Pale Male, not be confused with the Swiss artist. On the previous single “This Autumn”, you can hear new modern and danceable music mixed with scratches, which could be played at clubs like the Teleport Collective and Kendler. The live studio sessions on YouTube reveal a range from calm O Emperor and Acoustic Foo Fighters to striking Jack White riffs.

For the new single, the band has support from two more strong musicians: Jahson The Scientist is in the projects Science Report, Sketches On Duality and Scattah Brain and also collaborated e.g. with SOIA. Misses U just could be seen at the Duzz Down San Blockparty as she works with Def Ill, but live also with DJ King and Beatzarilla.

The beat is tight and draws your attention (drummer Julian Berann is in Gazelle & the Bear amongst others). Everything on the track smoothly falls into place, like the guitar, that is distorted more heavily at one moment and adds intelligent fill-ins. Due to the beat and the melody in Jahson’s rhymes, it brings the Dirty South ambassador Ludacris to one’s mind.

Lyrically it talks about taking the short or long way or the “easy way out”, “Shortcuts” as the title already tells. And there are many powerful phrases like “I believe in half of what I see and even less of what they write” inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. The words are accompanied by well-chosen clips from archive.org, like in “Vacant Eyes” by The Boy I Used To Be.

Talking about lifting weights, “American Beauty” can be seen. Instinct is symbolized with a lion. Cartoons found their way like from Popeye, Donald Duck, Disney’s Dopey and Salad Fingers. Queen stand for Queen and Bruce Lee, James Brown, Laurence Fishburne, Charlie Chaplin, Donald Trump and Peter Tosh, they all star in the video plus the “School of Rock”. A through and through coherent piece of spectacular sound fusion and entertaining video art.