Philadelphia Slick Strikes Oil New Album from Underground Rap Barons Mixes Organic and Synthetic Slick, often described as a mix of Aesop Rock and The Roots early work, returns on Oil with concentrated rhythms, mesmerizing lyricism, and lush vocal and horn melodies. Lead emcee Noesis continues to uproot the predictibility of today’s hip hop lyrics with rhymes and stories about food, stock markets, guns, and earth evacuations. Able to combine vast erudition with catchy hooks, Noesis spotlights social problems without preachiness. New drummer El Smooth handles most of the production, raps several verses and sings background vocals as well. Whereas Culture Industry, the band's first LP, was a bombastic celebration of horns and seventies funk, Oil is a more expansive effort. Horns still appear on much of the album, but on tracks like "Turn It Up" and "Can't You Hear" singer Jenn Z. is often utilized as the main instrument. A bitterly ironic harp is featured on the sparse "Hunt V. Kill," while the lead single “Gonna Get Over” features more comlpex orchestration. In the past year, Philly Slick has expanded outward from their home town, touring and constructing fan bases in New York City , Burlington VT, Pittsburgh, and Columbus OH. They have performed at many colleges, including Temple (PA), Rutgers (NJ), Iona (NY), and Earlham (IN). The band is currently planning a fall 2009 tour in support of Oil. Photography by Elliot Polinsky furnishes the fifteen song album on all sides: shots of the Oil refineries in South Philadelphia that greet visitors who enter the city via the airport. The band agrees that the refineries are the city's true skyline, a contrast reflected on the album's back cover. Noesis notes, "Philadelphia is both beautifully horrible and horribly beautiful. That's what makes American cities special, and that's what we try to capture and project in our music." Oil is available at Philadelphiaslick.com, and soon on most digital outlets like iTunes and AmazonMP3.

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