EP: Souls of Mischief’s Opio x Free the Robots – The Subconscious Mind
The Hieroglyphics MC Teams Up With the L.A. Beat Scene Pioneer For A Future Retro EP, Debuted by Red Bull
3.3.2015
Critical Praise for Opio x Free the Robots:
“Free the Robots…taps a dark, psychedelic vein while boasting highly technical hip-hop production prowess.” – SPIN
“Opio’s strengths are found in his flow and wordplay. His cadence is married to each rhythm.” – Okayplayer
“Opio’s ability to utilize intricate wordplay and vivid imagery as a means of putting him ahead of the pack.” – HipHopDX
“Somewhere between the neck-snapping, gritty hip-hop of the FatBeats era, the fuzzy, distorted psychedelia of the 60s & 70s, cool jazz, and the woozy beats scene of the last decade lies the music of Free the Robots.” – Okayfuture
The EP:
Legendary Souls of Mischief hip-hop artist and Santa Ana beatmaker/DJ formed a duo that is undeniably West Coast, Opio x Free the Robots. They’ve released their four-track debut EP, The Subconscious Mind, via RedBull.com, where Free the Robots’ futuristic, melodic beats are complemented by Opio’s classic laid-back, retro lyricism. The release has been gaining momentum from their singles “Blow Sum Smoke” and “Let the Bass Go,” which received praise from Impose Magazine, EARMILK, Okayplayer, and more. “What’s most impressive though is [Free the Robots’] ability to straddle a span of decades within barely four minutes. Dotted by weezing synths and echoey accents, he still manages to demonstrate his deep roots in classic 90s G-funk production, as his beats slink and slide beneath Opio’s signature drawl-funk flow,” Impose Magazine stated in their post of “Blow Sum Smoke.”
The duo, who officially met at FTR’s restaurant in Santa Ana, was a musical force waiting to happen. “Working with Opio brings me back to my musical roots and pushes me to venture to creative places I had either forgotten or have never been to,” Free the Robots tells RedBull.com “A good part of this collaboration with Opio is partly nostalgia, but more so the fact that as one of the legends in hip-hop, he has moved forward as a new artist with new ideas and an open mind for things that I bring to the table.”
Opio, who with his Souls of Mischief crew was recently on Red Bull Academy Live‘s live takeover of San Francisco, adds, “Both FTR and I have strong principles that are rooted in the origins of our respective genres, and bringing those two things together created something amazing.” With The Subconscious Mind, Opio and Free the Robots are exploring new lanes in music, bridging their strengths into a collaboration full of smooth rhymes, futuristic sounds, and good vibes.
Listen to The Subconscious Mind EP: https://soundcloud.com/opiohierosom/sets/the-subconscious-mind/s-Vee8I
Check out the RedBull.com premiere: http://www.redbull.com/us/en/music/stories/1331708349942/opio-and-free-the-robots-subconscious-mind-ep
Buy The Subconscious Mind EP on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-subconscious-mind-ep/id965939542?ls=1
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/85788408″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Please contact Michelle or Rory if interested in talking with Opio x Free the Robots.
The Background:
Upon being introduced to Free The Robots’ music while on tour for Souls of Mischief, Opio gravitated towards FTR’s bass-heavy vibe and added his catalogue to his daily music rotation. While reading up on FTR, Opio learned that he not only is he a beatmaker but a food maker as well and when the tour roared through his hometown of Santa Ana, Opio made a point of having dinner at FTR’s restaurant, the Crosby. While at dinner with his tour-mates, producer and composer Adrian Younge and Souls of Mischief-mate, Phesto, Opio and Free The Robots got a chance to know one another. As is turns out, a lot of Free The Robots’ hip hop background had been greatly influenced by Opio, and Opio, wanting to take his solo work in a more futuristic progressive direction, found inspiration in FTR. They immediately clicked. By the end of dinner, they had plans to make a record and here it is, The Subconscious Mind EP.
Links:
twitter | facebook | soundcloud
The Subconscious Mind: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-subconscious-mind-ep/id965939542?ls=1
“Let the Bass Go”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS2jeShrhmI / https://soundcloud.com/opiohierosom/let-the-bass-go/
“Blow Sum Smoke”: https://soundcloud.com/free-the-robots/opio-x-free-the-robots-blown-sum-smoke
Bio, pictures and streams available here: http://www.audibletreats.com/opio-x-free-robots/