Atmosphere - The Family Sign (2011)

I'm trying so hard to study, but I just got the new Atmosphere album and I can't stop listening to it. For most people I've talked to and myself, the lyrical aspect of Hip Hop makes it too distracting when you're trying to read/retain "knowledge," which is why you might have noticed that our study mix was really light on the hip hop compared to our usual posts. Anyways, I've momentarily stopped pretending to study to write this post to try to help keep SG up to date with the music world.

For a lot of hip hop heads, including myself, the release of a new Atmosphere Album is a huge deal. Ant and Slug are the poster boys of the underground and have been for a while now, so naturally there was a lot of anticipation leading up to today's release date. 2008's When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold was a trip down a different path with Ant using more live instrumentation and Slug taking on a slew of social issues, so the question on everybody's mind was: What direction will The Family Sign take? After a few times through, its safe to say they've stayed the course. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say Family Sign is to Lemons as Cudi's Man on the Moon II is to his debut (I'm comparing the feel of the album, not so much the quality). Except unlike Mr. Rager, Slug didn't decide that he's too cool to rap. Like the title indicates, The Family Sign is a trip down the path of Slug's mature psyche as he bluntly tells tales of spousal abuse, fatherhood, love, loss, etc. Just as in Lemons, Ant's production is on point and he uses a lot of live instrumentation, namely guitar and piano, but the drums all seem to be MPC (or whatever it is he uses). Overall, I'm a fan of the album, although I kind of wish there was a bit more of the humor/light-hearted side that Lemons had to even out the feel of the project. Earlier songs like Yesterday, The Best Day and Sunshine are awesome songs to have a few beers and relax on the porch to, something I can't see myself doing with The Family Sign.
On to my early favourites:

Atmosphere - Just for Show


Atmosphere - Who I'll Never Be

Atmosphere - My Notes