Atmosphere: Seven's Travels : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Minneapolis indie hip-hoppers Atmosphere, also known as rapper Slug and producer Ant, make overeducated nerd rap: self-loathing, navel-gazing and occasionally hilarious. The grooves are dusty and tasteful, and Slug's words are those of a smart guy who's tired of being nice. Old soul samples and burbling jazz-funk bass lines animate "Reflections," as Slug does a snaky, acrobatic cipher about the mating dance of the wild slacker, before admitting that "It would be my pleasure/To sing a song that could remove your shoes and your sweater." On "Cats Van Bags," he raps about chasing a pigeon down the street, even as the tune lurches from side to side with a synthetic riff that sounds like a runaway vacuum cleaner. Seven's Travels isn't all so odd, but in moments like this, one can feel Atmosphere loosening modern hip-hop from its moorings and yanking it into some weirder and far more interesting place.

PAT BLASHILL
(RS 934, October 30, 2003)