Send "Ceschi " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Thephoenix |
 Every half-decade, there comes a new rap label that keeps me from abandoning the genre altogether. Just in time, late this past year, I tripped over the New Haven–based Fake Four, and now I'm happy to have discovered for myself the imprint's Ferrari-tongued guitar-plucking architect Ceschi (pronounced "chess-key") Ramos.It seemed improbable that anyone could top such Fake Four releases as Factor's Lawson Graham and Awol One's Owl Hours, but Ceschi's suicidal opus with producer DJ Scientist, The One Man Band Broke Up, is a triumph of triumphs. Profound at every turn, this second Ceschi release showcases his voluminous vocal range and sharp, authentic songwriting. He can stop lamenting for kids who "missed out on the late-'90s underground rap scene" — wrenching horn elegies like "No New York" and captivating guitar cries like "Bad Joke" are as inventive as any Rawkus jewel, and much kinder to the ear than the labyrinthine babbling that followed at Def Jux....full text |
| Tinymixtapes |
| If hip-hop is party music, then Ceschi Ramos’s third solo outing, The One Man Band Broke Up, is music for the saddest party in recorded human history. Although my fiancée insists I possess the most depressing record collection in the world, I honestly cannot remember the last time I encountered an album as gruelingly and relentlessly bleak as this. Revolving around the suicide of a musician and titular one-man band named Julius, the record forgoes any kind of linear narrative. Instead, Ramos pours most of his energy into isolating the emotional realities that pushed the protagonist toward his end — loneliness, frustration, and ultimately disillusionment with not only the music industry but the act of creation itself — and he hammers these with an unremitting intensity. Ramos is like a Krav Maga master with a mic; every utterance seems calculated to inflict maximum damage. Some of the songs contain nested allusions that only reveal themselves upon multiple listens. In one of the most prominent lyrics in the title track, Ramos proclaims, “The moral of the story is/ No one really gives a shit/ Don’t cry for the swatted flies/ They loved what they did.” A grim enough sentiment in its own right, but it takes on a whole new level of ugliness and misanthropy when you realize that, just a second ago, he said of the protagonist, ”Loving what you did/ Only got you/ So far through these years.” And that’s really only the tip of the iceberg. Take a look at a few more of the more inspirational passages: ”All these animals/ With their paws in traps/ All the animals/ In this bar make me laugh/ It’s the way that their faces sink at half-mast/ It’s the way that our bodies stink” ”When all our flesh disintegrates/ We’ll perform for the worms” ”But he was only 45 when he died/ With no family left behind/ Just instruments and a mic/ And the story goes/ That he cried like a baby/ As he tied the noose waiting/ For someone to come and save him” But while Ramos may be this year’s top contender for the “Artist Most in Need of a Hug” award, on a purely cursory listen, One Man Band comes off affably enough. The beats (provided by producer and labelmate DJ Scientist with some contributions from Ramos himself) are pure hipster-hop: plenty of strings, horns, and guitar, but with enough of a bass-drum to help the emcees keep time. Ramos’ machine-gun delivery is impressive, even invigorating at times, although his voice betrays an unfortunate and unmistakable similarity to former House of Pain front man Everlast. In true hipster-hop fashion, the album occasionally digresses into baroque rock territory. These forays, like “Lament for Captain Julius” and “For My Disappointing Hip Hop Heroes,” are a let-down. They often approach a solid hook or an interesting melody but either stop short or abruptly change direction before becoming fully realized....full text |
| Stereokill |
| As good as it was, Ceschi Ramos‘ earlier work at times felt more like a collection of great ideas with songs interspersed throughout than a cohesive album. The New Haven rapper’s third record (and the first to be produced by Equinox Records founder DJ Scientist), The One Man Band Broke Up rectifies this, feeling consistently like ‘an album’ in the purest sense of the term. This means that the concept behind the album – chronicling the rise and fall of fictional musician Julius and the Bearded Saviour – is more fully realised and far easier to follow (and thus enjoy) than that of 2006’s They Hate Francisco False or 2004’s Fake Flowers. That coherence would mean nothing, however, if the songs themselves weren’t up to scratch. Lucky, then, that what’s on offer here is some of the best material Ceschi has ever produced. No songs stand out as being weak links and although some of the folkier tracks can take a while to sink in, once they hit they hit hard. The high points on the record – ‘Half Mast’, lead single ‘Bad Jokes’ and ‘Long Live The Short Lived’, the last of which features one of Sole’s best verses since cLOUDDEAD’s ‘I Promise Never To Get Paint On My Glasses Again (1)’ – are not only Ceschi’s best work, but some of the best examples of alternative hip hop in recent years....full text |
Ceschi lyrics
|
| |||||||
