Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram (CD)

Pre-order information

Releases November 7th

This item is a pre-order and expected to ship the week of the above mentioned release date.

Any other items you purchase along with this pre-order will NOT ship until this ship date; or the latest pre-order ship date on your order. If you need the other items sooner, please order them separately from this pre-order. 

Product Information

Also available on Vinyl

• CD housed in plastic jewel case
  
• 8-page artwork booklet

Looking back more than four years later at Haram, it is easier to see the forest for the trees. At the time, much of the attention fell on how this outsider duo would fare under the bright lights- which was fair, Armand Hammer had never done a single producer record before- and here they were working with a living legend. Now, with a little distance, it’s easier to see how Alchemist stepped out of his comfort zone to meet them where they were, and how all three artists then absconded for parts unknown. The flashbulb energy of “Bring The Stars Out”, asymmetric drone of “Chicharrones”, fugue-bounce of “God’s Feet”, and good luck finding analogues for “Peppertree” or “Stonefruit”. Haram doesn’t sound like anything else in the ALC discography, nor in Armand Hammer’s, for that matter. Haram was a one-shot kill that somehow contained some of the most accessible work ELUCID and billy woods had ever done, as well as some of their most experimental, and it all sounded cohesive.

Needless to say, they didn’t do this alone; KAYANA’s golden voice upps the wattage on “Black Sunlight,” while Fielded’s sultry alto gets chopped and screwed on “Aubergine”. Earl Sweatshirt’s cameo on the sun-soaked “Falling Out the Sky” is already a classic. Curly Castro, Amani, and Quelle Chris all turn up the heat when called upon.

But since we are talking about retrospect here, the thing about Haram isn’t that it still sounds as good as it did when it came out. The amazing thing is that it actually sounds even better than it did then. You don’t have to take our word for it either, run it up one time, with the lights low.

Tracklisting

1. Sir Benni Miles
2. Roaches Don’t Fly
3. Black Sunlight (featuring KAYANA)
   
4. Indian Summer
   
5. Aubergine (featuring Fielded)
   
6. God’s Feet
   
7. Peppertree
   
8. Scaffolds
   
9. Falling Out The Sky (featuring Earl Sweatshirt)
   
10. Wishing Bad (featuring Curly Castro & Amani)
    
11. Chicharrones (featuring Quelle Chris)
    
12. Squeegee
    
13. Robert Moses
    
14. Stonefruit