Substance presents … ‘Lyric Superbrand’

‘Lyric Superbrand’ is a compilation of tracks by artists who performed regularly at the Substance club nights in Birmingham during the late 90s, mostly Hip Hop alongside some Soul and Jazz based instrumentals.  The album was released in 2001 on the Different Drummer label, some time home to artists including Rocker’s Hi Fi and Richard Dorfmeister. I produced about a quarter of the tracks, under the alias Creative Habits (which I haven’t used since). All but one or two of the tracks were recorded specifically for the release and whilst production values vary a bit and some of it arguably sounds a little dated, on the whole I think I can say it’s still a pretty decent listen.

Some tracks went on to see release elsewhere with Laing’s ‘Do What You Like’ featured as the opening track on Boombox’s ‘Bangers and Mash’ compilation and ‘It’s The Who?’, a track by Mad Flow and I, appearing on Mr Thing’s ‘Ear This’ mixtape for Breakin’ Point Magazine.  Several tracks from the album received airplay on BBC Radio 1. The album was reviewed in many of the relevant print magazines of the time:

“consistently high quality” 4/5 (MUZIK)
“a solid series of jazz inflected cuts” (MINISTRY)
“a highly creative project” (STRAIGHT NO CHASER)
“concious, abstract, jazzy, different and a joy to hear … if you like music, you’ll love this” (BIG SMOKE)
“real live sounding instrumentation that will fill any enclosed space with jazz club presence” (BREAKIN POINT)
“one of the best of the bunch … shows a lot of talent” 4/5 (BIG DADDY)
“a mix of philosophical rap and simple crafted beatery” (INTERNATIONAL DJ)

Available on 2 x Vinyl, CD and Digital

Tracklist:

1. Creative Habits – Turntable Music Part I
2. Haych – Can You Feel Me? (Remix)
3. Interlude #1
4. Mad Flow – It’s The Who?
5. Interlude #2
6. Elementz – I.D
7. M. God – Influential
8. Interlude #3
9. Lord Laing – Do What You Like
10. Flow – Many Moons
11. Interlude #4
12. Taharka – The Righteous
13. Creative Habits – 2000 Intro
14. Cipher Jewels – 2000 Years
15. Haych – Tomorrow’s Today
16. Elementz – High Life (Circumstance Remix)
17. Creative Habits – A Message for the…
18. Creative Habits & Roc-1 – Turntable Music Part II
19. Circumstance – Choices
20. Interlude #5
21. Digital One – Happiness and Sorrow
22. Circumstance – Fresh Lines
23. Creative Habits – Dedication’s What U Need (Outro)