Atmosphere

[UniverseSeven]

God Loves Ugly

Dark, fairly Wise and Refreshing

**** 4 stars

[jonnygemini]

couldn't find this on Itunes so I copped from amazon after I previewed the tracks...
I liked the taste so much I got Seven's Travels off Itunes to hold me over and Slug straight speaks to me
you catch everything i miss sonically 7...thanks again

Hip Hop & comics books was my GENESIS

and mine too

[UniverseSeven]

Peace JG

Some of my favorite tracks on the album "God Loves Ugly" are:

Vampires, Saves the Day, Modern Mans Hustle, Onemosphere, Blamegame, and One of a Kind.

I haven't heard "Sevens Travels" yet (their new album).

How is it?

Atmosphere hails from Minneapolis, Minn.

[jonnygemini]

I think atmosphere is the group, Slug is the MC...who I played when I was a college dj in NC...Slug was from Minneapolis, MN too...The new album is so free of pretense and filled with the type of deep introspections & observations that yield growth as a human being...Just listening to his words puts me in a good place...Thanks for helping me rediscover this cat univ7, I feel like I'm reconnecting with an old friend

Editorial Reviews
From URB Magazine
"See, bands like us don't get groupies," Slug tells a female admirer between cuts on God Loves Ugly. "I mean, have you heard our songs? " Groupies, presumably, require hits, and he's right, there isn't anything resembling one on the album, just as there hasn't been among Atmosphere's previous releases. Nor does Slug muster any particularly infectious choruses here, and producer Ant deviates from snare-snapping boom-bap but once over the 18-track program (on the dubby "Blamegame"). Yet Ugly still might be the record to introduce the duo to "that average 14-year-old girl who hates her parents" who Slug identifies as the next target now that they're a household name with the Fat Beats-savvy set. This is the sound of indie rap universalizing its relevance while compromising none of its tenets. Slug's up to his usual vein-letting self-therapy for most of "Ugly but spends much less time sticking pins in the effigies of ex-girlfriends than he did on Lucy Ford. As a result, he's able to speak on a broader range of topics, from his bemusement at being a quasi sex symbol to his Holden Caulfield-like desire to ""close all the schools just to make the kids smile." Ant draws from a decidedly unflashy selection of melodic elements — guitar and piano mostly — but with them he matches the diversity of moods evoked by his partner as very few beat-smiths can. With Ugly, Atmosphere succeeds in concocting songs that are meticulously crafted enough for the heads but emotionally honest enough for little Becky from the 'burbs.

the name 'atmosphere' has been immediately correlated with the pinnacle of underground hiphop, ever since it's somewhat undernoticed debut "overcast!", and the wildly inventive and universally loved "Lucy Ford"- but this album, for whatever reason, always got a bad rap. No one could ever get into "god loves ugly". It was too dark, or too bare, or just too out there to be accepted. However, atmosphere is at it's lyrical and conceptual high here, on their 3rd album.
This record is truly the slug show. Ant takes the backseat for once (which is fine, considering how he comes back in grand style on 'sevens travels'), and slug's vocals and lyrics shine through everything. The beats are the perfect understatement and tone to match the dark and brooding lyrics. tracks like 'hair', 'godlovesugly', 'lovelife', and 'blamegame' all georgeously showcase slug's lyrical prowess, wrapped in a sea of piano, bass and snare.
This is not an album that one can party to. It is not an album to raise your spirits. This is an album written by a hurt, intellectual individual- for hurt, intellectual individuals.
If at first this isnt your thing, keep listening. it grows on you. and soon, you wont be able to escape it. throw it on as you're going to sleep, listen to it through a good pair of headphones. it begs for it. challenging hiphop? yeah. rewarding? definitely.

[jonnygemini]

I like the production on seven's travels, little more polished and refined...
best tracks were Apples, Always Coming back home to you, Reflections, Trying to find a balance

God loves Ugly is rawer, still lyrically perfect and my favortie track was Give Me