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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Very Great Toothpaste: Cabin In The Woods

Posted by Sean Jewell on Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Kassa + Tecla = Toothpaste

Boasting all original production, with no samples avant-garde rap duo Toothpaste released an EP called Cabin In The Woods this week. Their first effort together, "1996," saw rapper/producers Kassa Overall and Tecla Esposito teaming up over select favorite beats from that golden year of hiphop with help from fellow New Yorkers Big Baby Ghandi and Lakutis. They go it alone on "Cabin In The Woods," creating a rap minimal / beat maximal EP that rests right between club banger and whimsical electronica.

Sometime Seattleite Kassa Overall uprooted and moved to Bushwick, New York a ways back, and he's most well known for his work with the jazz vanguard. Typically rocking residencies at NPR-friendly joints as a member of the Geri Allen Timeline (one of the better jazz bands working today), Kassa has also worked with jazz genius Vijay Iyer, pop portent Gordon Voidwell, and polarizing rap crew Das Racist. Clearly Overall has been honing his chops on the Kool A.D. side of the house, rocking a laid back flow, at times cool to let the beat ride for minutes before uttering a few mantra like bars, while firebrand Tecla, who is more subdued than usual here, still adds some incendiary wit.