The Scribes – Mr. Teatime & The End Of The World (Review)

Bristolian hip-hop collective The Scribes release this seven track EP entitled ‘Mr Teatime & The End Of The World. The project is labelled as a ‘hip-hopera’ and showcases a futuristic soundscape with left-field production and manipulated vocals that creates a unique vibe quite unlike anything I’ve heard before. This EP has a distinctively original sound and approach, (the press release I received for this album starts with ‘Greetings, My name is Mr Teatime, I am contacting you from the year 2074. The world is now a very different place. After the bomb dropped the robots took control. Please heed my warning. I am so alone’. So you can understand why my curiosity wouldn’t let this one slide unnoticed.

Opening with ‘The Warning’, the post-apocalyptic sci-fi tale starts with energy and intensity. The bassy, uptempo track is an instant attention grabber. Vivid storytelling makes the lyricism interesting and entertaining, and the soundscape fits that description too. The experimental, spoken-wordish vocals found across the project are filled with passion and intent, and The Scribes definitely stand out due to this. The fantastic ‘The Dust’ is underpinned by a hard-hitting instrumental that switches to a bassy head-nodder from a glitchy, minimalistic introduction. With emphatic, fluid and classy lyrics, the imagery laden bars seamlessly mesh with the modulating synthesizers. ‘The Factory’ is an industrial cut, with frantic and melodic flows and an undeniably catchy hook. The versatility and invention of the production on ‘Mr. Teatime & The End Of The World’ is refreshing and entertaining from start to finish.

This is something you should definitely check out. The story and the concept that is painted sonically across the EPs seven tracks is vivid, imaginative and creative, and it’s delivered over a unique musical soundscape. The production on the instrumentals (and the vocal effects found throughout the record) contributes to the cohesive vibe, and it does so very effectively; this is glitchy, bassy and thoroughly captivating. Get it.

By Sam Bennett

@TheRealPP

@LYTEWORK

@TheScribes

http://www.facebook.com/LYTEWORK

http://www.itunes.apple.com/gb/album/mr-teatime-the-end-of-the-world/id1063278792