Damuttss

A Year to Hear
The best local music releases of 2005
CityBeat (Cincinnati) June 28, 2005
Compiled By Mike Breen
http://citybeat.com/2005-12-28/music.shtml

Da Muttss: Conversations Over Blunts, Blacks, Sodas & Brews

The key to the success of Conversations -- the first long-player from this imaginative Hip Hop squad -- is versatility. With a plethora of styles and skills, Da Muttss have created an album that never gets its wheels stuck in the mud of predictability. Practically every member multitasks, sharing DJ, MC and production duties. While lesser acts would give in to the "too many cooks" adage and conjure up something distractingly unfocussed, Da Muttss manage to use their varying abilities to concoct an album that grabs and holds the listener's attention from start to finish. It's like a funky, dizzy fun-house ride, where every turn offers something fresh and interesting. (MB)
da muttss mid point music preview
Citybeat (Cincinnati) Sept. 13th 2006
da muttss (Cincinnati)
One of Cincy Hip Hop's finest, da muttss have captured the hearts of the local music scene by playing to any audience they can get in front of, their skilled, diverse output drawing many fans from outside of their genre. The three-MCs/one-DJ crew's debut full-length, Conversations Over Blacks, Blunts, Sodas & Brews, was one of the best local albums released in Cincinnati in 2005. On that release, clever, cliché-free wordplay and creative, ambient soundscapes combine for an enthralling listen from start to finish, bringing a kaleidoscopic view of Hip Hop that takes influence from the best of the best, old and new. Their live show is equally entertaining and infectiously energized.
Dig It: A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, Mos Def. (MB)
- City Beat

Bark Equals Bite
CityBeat (Cincinnati) October 24,2005
By Mike Breen

Local Hip Hop foursome Da Muttss celebrate their new full-length, Conversations Over Blunts, Blacks, Sodas & Brews, with a show Friday at The Mad Frog.
The key to the success of Conversations -- the first long-player from the crew -- is versatility. With a plethora of styles and skills, Da Muttss have created an album that never gets its wheels stuck in the mud of predictability. Practically every member multitasks, sharing DJ, MC and production duties. While lesser acts would give in to the "too many cooks" adage and conjure up something distractingly unfocussed, Da Muttss manage to use their varying abilities to concoct an album that grabs and holds the listener's attention from start to finish. It's like a funky, dizzy fun-house ride, where every turn offers something fresh and interesting.
From the first seconds of the album, it's clear that Da Muttss aren't your typical Hip Hop group. No Scarface samples here -- instead, the group lifts quotes from Blue Velvet and Bill Murray in Stripes. And, lyrically, the members can be social commentators or clever word-playas, each motif presented with above-par ingenuity, never resorting to the usual posturing clichés. The beats and sonics of the tracks are spellbinding -- the rubbery scratches over a bombastically distorted bass grind on opener "If These Teeth Could Talk," the serpentine flute flutter on "One, 2, 1, Two," the raining electronic drizzle of "Can You Feel It?" With tracks littered with effects and often startling sonic ornamentation, there's almost a psychedelic aspect to Conversations, but, like with everything else in Muttssville, don't get too comfortable -- the trip's colors are ever mutating, and one thick bass rumble is enough to snap your ears out of the clouds in an instant.
Among the many highlights are the last call lament, "No Mo Brews," which is interwoven with a '60s-ish "la, la, la" sample that is both creepy and jolly, the inventive "Beathog," which is laced with frigid electro-minimalism to great effect, and "Hajimimajite," with a chorus hook that blissfully recalls Digable Planets at their finest. The group takes some cues from the old Native Tongue collective (De La, Tribe, etc.), particularly in their memorable chorus chants, but the different MCs bring to the table so many assorted flows and delivery styles, it's refreshingly difficult to pin them to just one thing. It's East meets West meets South, classic vs. contemporary, tough vs. cerebral, traditional vs. experimental, all rolled into one captivating mix. (myspace.com/damuttss) . ©
- City Beat

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
Heros of the Zeroes
Fifty reasons why music fans were lucky to live in Cincinnati in the ‘00s
By Mike Breen


As we approach the beginning of a new decade, I decided to try to think of 100 reasons why I've enjoyed covering Cincinnati music over the past 3,650 days. At first I was worried I might not be able to come up with enough. A couple of hours into an “off the top of my head” list, I considered changing it to 1,000 reasons.
After some hard editing choices (apparently adding 300 pages to this week's issue of CityBeat was an unreasonable request), 100 reasons were settled upon. And it still all didn’t fit. So here are 50.

For the remaining reasons (there are probably at least 10,000), stop reading lists and get out to the clubs. Don’t listen to me, don’t listen to haters — listen to the music makers.

• Ass Ponys fans saddened by that band’s unceremonious disappearance found a more-than-apt substitute with Wussy, Chuck Cleaver’s subsequent group that featured co-singing/writing/fronting partner Lisa Walker. The band’s three albums in the ’00s received national acclaim from big-time media outlets and were among the best releases of the decade, local or otherwise.

• If you ask most guitar players who the best guitarist in Cincinnati is, most will say themselves, but many will be truthful and say Scotty Anderson. Anderson’s deft, creative blend of Jazz finesse and Roots music naturalness is untouchable. Anderson should be internationally recognized as a true guitar hero.

• After the demise of Radio Down, Northern Kentucky got an even better Alt/Punk/Indie/Metal/Hip Hop playhouse with the birth of The Mad Hatter. The club — and shows at other venues by Mad Hatter Productions — has brought to town a lot of artists who might otherwise have left Greater Cincinnati off the itinerary.

• After an amazing debut release, Hip Hop collective Damuttss went through some inner turmoil and sadly fell apart. Still, Conversations Over Blacks, Blunts, Sodas & Brews remains one of the best locally-produced Hip Hop albums ever.

• Long before the current economic crisis, some area venues gave local music lovers one of the greatest gifts of all — free shows on a regular basis (without cheaping out on paying the bands). Thank you Northside Tavern, The Comet, Juney’s Lounge at the Southgate House and every other venue that understands that no cover means more bar sales.
- City Beat