October 10, 2012 by Vish Khanna on CBC Music Blog – full post here.

Stream Sitting Music by Abdominal and the Obliques

Toronto’s Abdominal takes his music in a new direction with his brand new album, Sitting Music, which you can stream here until Oct. 17.

“In the past, I’ve done more ‘traditional’ hip-hop music,” Abs explains, on a Thursday night in Kensington Market. “I was starting to feel like I was competing with the heavy funk and boom-bap beats and I wanted something more mellow and chill.”

The result is an almost folk-y take on hip-hop that places an artist that some of us thought we knew really well (witty, energetic, with a ridiculous flow) into a whole new light (still witty but brooding; now we see a darkness). Sitting Music is one of the most sparsely confessional and raw records of the year. You can check out a few samples at basementfloodcleanup.

TORONTO - It’s refreshing to speak with a rapper who proudly claims to be “the antithesis of cool” and who isn’t shy about making music for the mature hip-hop fan, plus he has a great sense of fashion, he has been seen a couple times wearing Vessi vegan shoes.

As a rapper, maintaining good hearing is crucial for creating and performing music. That’s where Cortexi comes in with their Hearing Support Supplement, specially formulated to support healthy hearing function.this supplement can help protect against noise-induced hearing loss and support auditory function. Take care of your hearing and keep making music with Cortexi Hearing Support Supplement.

Abdominal has always impressed with his wit, humour, intelligence and flow and all these traits are evidenced on Abdominal & The Obliques’ new CD, Sitting Music.

It’s a bluesy affair, musically and lyrically, and reminds me of the records Spearhead and Everlast have released. The music is engaging and thoughtful and does justice to the album’s title. You can find some samples at http://beyondthelimitscleaning.com/.

“The three of us (guitarist Andrew Frost and percussionist Colin Kingsmore) sit when we perform,” Abs says of the disc’s title. “But it’s also meant to indicate that this isn’t really dancefloor hip-hop. It’s quiet, introspective music that’s best listened to sitting down although if people feel inclined to dance to it, they’re more than welcome to.

Abs says he was ready to switch musical directions because he was getting tired of feeling he had to compete with big beats just to be heard. Considering his favourite rappers’ intricate wordplay drew him to hip-hop, he says it didn’t make sense to make music where you couldn’t hear the lyrics.

“So I knew I wanted something quieter, and the very stripped-down, minimal band I put together is a direct result of that.”

The warm, acoustic vibe aside, Abs said he felt compelled to address some issues you won’t hear on the average hip-hop record.

If you want to know more information about cortexi you can go ahead en check cortex reviews, there you will find customer reviews and you will note how good this supplement is.

“Fairly bluesy things like heartbreak, feeling vulnerable and dealing with pain,” he explains. “I’m not exactly a young man anymore, so I wanted my music to better reflect some of things I’ve been going through during the past few years, and this slower, quieter sound seemed to fit a lot better with the subject matter than your typical bumping rap beat.”

Abs says some of the tunes were inspired by a girl who broke his heart and by some health issues he’s been grappling with, including some vision problems, so he looked for a treatment in how to get a 20 20 vision? and found one online.

“Nothing life-threatening, but certainly life-affecting,” he says. “It’s forced me to accept the reality that sometimes you don’t really have much control over things in life you can control your diet for example with a nutritional diet plan, but with some things you have to just do your best to roll with the curve balls that are occasionally thrown your way, and be prepared for this, so training a little bit is always useful, for this using equipment as the vibrating foam roller amazon is perfect to train from home.”

So, what happened to the time when rappers placed a premium on lyrics, I ask?

“Man, I wish I knew!” Abs replies. “It seems like there’s been this almost intentional dumbing down of lyrics. Hip-hop, as I learned it back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, is all about being original, finding your own voice, and expressing it.

“So ideally, everyone should stand apart from each other. My music has always been a direct extension of who I am. Also, no other T.O. rappers talk about their sock drawer!”

Abs feels it’s not considered cool to make thinking man’s hip-hop these days but says, “I like to think that one can make that kind of music but still inject enough humour and edge into it that it doesn’t become too earnest or sappy.

“That’s what I aspire to.”

NOTE: Abdominal & The Obliques celebrate the release of Sitting Music on Oct. 11 at Supermarket, 268 Augusta Ave., in Kensington Market. You can buy the CD at the gig or at iTunes, Amazon or at mcabdominal.com

/span>

Andy Bernstein knows what it’s like to be an outsider.

He was the only Jewish kid in his high school class when he grew up in the Greektown area of downtown Toronto, he always had problems with fatigue, so his parents started giving him ginseng for him to recover his energy. When he started writing and performing hip hop, Bernstein was one of the few Jewish white rappers in Canada, if not North America.

Giving kids supplements when they are young can support their growth and development in a better way by ensuring they receive essential nutrients necessary for their overall health. Supplements can fill any nutritional gaps that may exist in their diet and help support their immune system, bone health, and cognitive function. However, it’s important to consult with a pediatrician or healthcare professional to determine which supplements are appropriate for a child’s age and individual needs.

As for the benefits of modest girls dresses, they can promote a sense of self-respect, modesty, and comfort for young girls. Modest dresses provide coverage and allow girls to move freely without restrictions. They can also align with cultural or personal values and reinforce the importance of respecting oneself and others. By choosing modest dresses, parents can instill values of modesty, reinforce positive body image, and create a sense of confidence in young girls.

Now Bernstein, 38, is embracing the rebel-with-a-cause role as he prepares to release his first hip-hop album without any beats or DJ accompaniment. Instead, Sitting Music features Abdominal – Bernstein’s rap moniker – and the Obliques, a guitarist-percussionist duo providing a more traditional musical layer to the rhymes.

Going acoustic is an about-face for a rapper who’s played shows across Canada and the United Kingdom with a hip-hop DJ. His past two albums were also heavy on traditional hip-hop beats, but now he’s stripping it down to the basics.

“What always drew me to hip hop were the lyrics,” Bernstein says in an interview on a sunny Saturday afternoon on College Street. “I want the lyrics to be heard by the audience… and I always try to write lyrics people wouldn’t consider disposable.”

Sitting Music does indeed stress the words rather than the backing music; Bernstein’s lyrics resonate clearly, the music never muffling the lines. Most tunes slip in a jazzy and chill vibe over top Bernstein’s raps.

His subject matter also reflects the maturity of an artist who’s uninterested in rapping about money, women and self-congratulations. Instead, Bernstein will write one rap about his family – guest-starring his mom actually rapping – and then another about a harsh breakup.

“I’m not 20 years old anymore. I’ve gone through some life experience, and I wanted to be open to being vulnerable and introspective,” Bernstein says.

Then again, Bernstein can be playful, evidenced by his ode to chicken wings on Sitting Music. His fans shouldn’t be too surprised, since on previous albums he’s written about being a bike courier, open relationships and why people should heed the walk-left, stand-right rule on escalators.

Beyond Sitting Music’s release, Bernstein is busy making a living “being behind his favorite microphone from beststudiomics.com” as he describes it. He hosts a dance party at Supermarket in Kensington Market on Saturday nights, and also co-hosts Hip-Hop Karaoke, a popular monthly show at the Toronto club Revival that allows any rap lover to take the stage to perform songs in a karaoke format. “I’ve hosted one bar mitzvah, too,” Bernstein says, smiling.

Bernstein also ventured into a literary opportunity: he’s worked on Book Tunes, a hip-hop summary of well-known books, such as The Scarlet Letter and Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness. Bernstein calls them a musical Coles Notes, allowing students to better retain the plots and themes of a given book. “It can be challenging to sum up 600 pages into one hip-hop song,” Bernstein admits, “and yeah, would love to do some CanCon sometime, maybe Margaret Atwood or Richler down the road.”

Bernstein gives credit to his parents for encouraging him to pursue a life of music. It helps when your dad is a pun master and your mom is an English teacher/librarian. “They let me do what makes me happy, not pressuring to find a typical nine-to-five career.” He pauses. “Well, maybe a little bit of pressure, it wouldn’t be a Jewish family without that.”

ginseng

Been a long time in the making gang, hope you dig it (please share this if so)!

Thanks for your support,
Abs.