I’ve been a huge fan of doseone and jel, collectively known as Themselves, for about 8 years. When I first heard Them and The No Music, I was blown away by a wholly new textured approach to Hip-Hop that shunned heavy-handed gangster posing and bragging about money (though I still love that shit) in favour of something more subtle and open-ended. Listening to The No Music on headphones and wandering around Ottawa in the middle of the night are some of the fondest memories I have gathered in my entire life. Last night, I saw Them for the first time ever, and they did NOT disappoint.

This is live hip-hop. Don’t get me wrong, because I do love The Roots, but they’re not so much live rap as they are a band with an emcee. Themselves use some of the traditional tools of rap, but kick it completely live, triggering the beats on the fly, improvising and crunching their old material into unrecognizably delicious new ish (for a very chill example of what jel can do, check out a small sample here). On top of the maelstrom, doseone turns the voice into a virtuous machine of syllables synthesizing serious style, and skipping the simulacra.

Do yrself a favour. Go to the Anticon website and pick up the new Themselves Mixtape FREEhoudini here. It won’t cost you a thing and it’s the best 40-ish minutes of rap to come out this year.

(I was experimenting last night with a bit of a weirder technique than I usually use for my photos. Hope you like it.)