The Cold Vein

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Cannibal Ox is the latest brainchild of Company Flow's El-P, whose lumbering, aggro-electro production on this album is as unique as a signature. Down-tempo and discordant, the beats sound like trip-hop gone to heaven and hell--some songs, like "A B-Boy's Alpha," have an almost angelic feel to them even as El-P soils his tracks with grit and grime. Others, like "Raspberry Fields," are chaos forced into unstable order--snaking synthesizer whines struggle to break free, rhythm sections run amok. This is a taste of the apocalypse turned aural. The music of The Cold Vein is so distinctive that, for a moment, you might forget that Vast and Vordul are actually rhyming on it, which is paying El-P a compliment rather than dismissing the two MCs. Vast's commanding baritone stands out in sharp distinction to his partner's, as his deliberate flow punctuates every line. It's hard to categorize what they speak on, as their songs mix the surreal and abstract with street-level commentary. But they're definitely taking reality rap on one helluva acid trip. --Oliver Wang

The Cold Vein,Cannibal Ox,Definitive Jux,East Coast Rap,Hip-Hop,Pop,Rap,Rap & Hip-Hop,Underground Rap

The Cold Vein

The Cold Vein

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not a kid just did'nt want to sign in

The Cold Vein

futuristic post appocalyptic emcees reign the wasteland

The Cold Vein

CLASSIC

The Cold Vein
Cannibal Ox
Manufacturer: Definitive Jux
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
Pop Rap | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B00005BIVW
Release Date: 2001-05-15

Tracks:

Iron Galaxy
Ox Out the Cage
Atom (with Alaska & Cryptic Of Atoms)
A B-Boys Alpha
Raspberry Fields
Straight Off The D.I.C.
Vein
The F-Word
Stress Rap
Battle For Asgard (with L.I.F.E. Long & C-Rayz Walz Of Stronghold)
Real Earth
Ridiculoid (with el-P)
Painkillers
Pigeon

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Cannibal Ox is the latest brainchild of Company Flow's El-P, whose lumbering, aggro-electro production on this album is as unique as a signature. Down-tempo and discordant, the beats sound like trip-hop gone to heaven and hell--some songs, like "A B-Boy's Alpha," have an almost angelic feel to them even as El-P soils his tracks with grit and grime. Others, like "Raspberry Fields," are chaos forced into unstable order--snaking synthesizer whines struggle to break free, rhythm sections run amok. This is a taste of the apocalypse turned aural. The music of The Cold Vein is so distinctive that, for a moment, you might forget that Vast and Vordul are actually rhyming on it, which is paying El-P a compliment rather than dismissing the two MCs. Vast's commanding baritone stands out in sharp distinction to his partner's, as his deliberate flow punctuates every line. It's hard to categorize what they speak on, as their songs mix the surreal and abstract with street-level commentary. But they're definitely taking reality rap on one helluva acid trip. --Oliver Wang

Customer Reviews:

not a kid just did'nt want to sign in.......2007-01-21

this album ranks up there with "Enter the Wu Tang (36 chambers)","Liquid Swords", "Illmatic", and the rest of the top hip hop albums of all times. it is a pioneering and masterful work of lyricism and production. El-P's producing is incredible. him and the Rza are my favorite producers. anyway,buy buy buy! you wont regret it!

The Cold Vein.......2007-01-05

For true Hip-Hop enthusiasts this is a must have like virtually all of the Def Jux releases. Hip-Hop's not dead...it changed before our very eyes, it's rap that is dead, hopefully that is.

futuristic post appocalyptic emcees reign the wasteland.......2006-07-25

When I first saw this CD in my local record store, I was dazzled by the cover, depicting some kind of drawn characters amidst a blue background. I was compelled to purchase it due to my feelings that this CD had something to offer me. I gleefully purchased the disc and when I got open opened it up to find a cracked CD. My heart sank and I immediatly returned to the store and put in an order to replace it. I had to wait a few days, but when I first popped this CD into my player, it turned out to be worth the wait. At first, I was not really into the lyrics. The beats had me hooked in an instant. But soon the album grew upon me and devoured me whole. The lyrics are abstract yet rugged and hardcore at the same time and its completely original.
My all time favorite hip hop is the futuristic, fantasy, adventure hip hop that involves futuristic settings, space travel, aliens, robots, sci-fi beats, comic book references, warlocks, wizards, conspiracy theory, controlling governments etc...Cold vein falls into this catagory, even though the two emcees that spit on the album don't always flow about things of that nature, they sometimes throw in references of such things, and overall have a tight lyrical delivery. El-P's production and beats are stellar and beyond what is defined as hip hop. The cover art is all blue and it defines the overall feel of this album, a kind of blue haze envolopes the vibe of each song yet still infused with classic hip hop flavor and finesse. A must have for hip hop heads and future hip hop heads alike. Up there with Deltron 3030

The Cold Vein.......2006-06-26

The first time I heard Cannibal Ox was last winter in my friends snowboard video. He did the intro over the first and in my opinion BEST track on the CD Iron Galaxy. Basically that got me interested in the group and I later found out that they were correlated with one of my favorite groups ever Company Flow.

I copped their CD, but waited a really long time to listen to it. It's pretty futuristic, kind of abstract like Deltron 3030 (another one of my favs), while the lyrical content is nowhere near Deltron (hell, what is?) it is very good. I mean obviously you should expect to hear a LOT of Co-Flow when you listen to this, so if you're not a fan it might not be the best idea to pick this one up. The CD has some very good songs A B-Boys Alpha, Atom, and another one of my favorites, The Battle For Asgard. However I think some songs on here tanked the whole album. For one- a couple of the tracks on the CD are weakly produced, Stress Rap & Painkillers. And a couple tracks seems like they just sorted started thinking of words that rhymed in the studio and went with that, Vein & Real Earth.

Basically this CD is 80% genius, so 4 stars is what it gets-and to be honest I'd like to just give it 3.5 because I feel they coulda done a lot better.

CLASSIC.......2006-05-09

I've owned this album since it first hit and have waited too long to write a review. Cannibal Ox is one of the best duos in hip hop history. But I was playing their album for some friends who were in the scene and they had never heard of them. So, this review is for eveyone that might not have much exposure to the underground hip hop world and so I will compare Can Ox with more popular artists.

Vordul's flow is like nothing you have heard before. Imagine mixing GZA and Ghostface from Wu-Tang Clan with Nas and you are coming close to his flow. Add to this lyrics that are smart (like good Common) but also clever (like good Jay Z). Vordul is amazing and I highly recommend his solo album and his songs on the Dreddy Kruger album.

Good duos (Dre & Snoop, Cypress Hill, Black Star) all have differences between the members: Can Ox has taken this idea and perfected it. Vast Aire has a flow that is not opposite Vordul's but is certainly very different. If you imagine a smart Bizarre (from D-12, I know its hard), Big Pun, and Notorious B.I.G. flow and mixed it with old Xzibit you would come close to Vast Aire's flow. He plays with words like no other rapper ever has and the rhymes are smooth and yet out of the ordinary. "So secure with your insecurity, Perfect world of piety, I swat flies when they bother me."

The production is break out. They truly transformed hip hop and have not been matched by any other album. There is no comparison to the beats: but take Pete Rock, throw in RZA, the bump of Dre, and you might have something close.

Buy this album now if you do not have it. If you dig it, I recommend Vordul's solo work and Vast's stuff too (but get Vordul's first). There is a new Ox album coming soon and if it is half as good as this album, it will certainly be a classic.

The best three tracks are: 1. Painkillers, 2. the F word, 3. Atom.

Average customer rating:

Return Of The Ox
Cannibal Ox
Manufacturer: Faragmented Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000MV0RHI

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For beginners and collectors

A Collection 1996-2006
Jesse Sprinkle
Manufacturer: Blind Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
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The Corner of an Unlit World

ASIN: B000IUKWGY

Product Description

We are big, big fans of Jesse Sprinkle. The two albums of his on this site are, simply, not to be missed(" The Corner Of An Unlit World" and "Unnoticed"). This is 24 track collection of his music from the past 10 years, including songs from the two aformentioned albums, some unreleased ones, a few from other projects like his band Serene, The World Inside, The Wrong Mind and A Cold Vein. All over there`s rich, hook-laden pop tunes smothered in gorgeous vocal harmonies, highly textured music-scapes, incredible melodies and excellent arrangements, these are trademarkes of Sprinkle. With about half the tracks here, you`ll hear straing of Posies-inflected harmonies, but on the acoustic-side of their early, late 80`s sound. fans of Michael Penn, Neil Finn, Ice Cream Hands and the those rare moments when Elliot Smith made happy pop music are going to, simply, be smitten and fall hard for this one. Sprinkle used to be in the band Poor Old Lu, who released some legendary, but hard to find albums in the 90`s. Soaring open chorded strums and blended vocals fulfill the connection to all the aforementioned bands.

Customer Reviews:

For beginners and collectors.......2007-06-25

The very first Jesse Sprinkle album I ever obtained was The World Inside/7-Head Division back in 2001, and since then, I've been collecting his solo records and other projects as well. The music has been consistently good and I've always enjoyed listening to it.

This album is comprised of twenty-five tracks taken from his rap record (The Wrong Mind), the metal band he sings for (A Cold Vein), a couple of unreleased tracks, and various songs from his five records. This is a solid compilation disc that would make for a great start if you've just recently become a fan.

That raises the only criticism I have for the album. It's a small criticism, but it's something to think about. See, if you already have all of Jesse's records like me, then the only thing you get is a couple of (albeit great) previously unreleased tracks. Even then, if you've paid attention to Jesse's MySpace, you've probably heard those too. The only song I previously had not heard was "What Spins The World," which is a great song, but yeah... still the only song I hadn't heard yet.

To sum it up:

+ Great CD to buy if you like what you've heard so far of Jesse's music and would like to hear more.
+ Rare and unreleased tracks

- Not much for those who already own the albums

Average customer rating:

Cold Winter Days

Manufacturer: Empty Barrel Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CAFOLI
Release Date: 2001-07-24

Average customer rating:

Everything Leads to Erosion
A Cold Vein
Manufacturer: Blind Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000IUH2TO

Product Description

A Cold Vein consists of singer/songwriter Jesse Sprinkle (Dead Poetic, Poor Old Lu), singer/screamer Ben Taft (November Grey, And So This Ends), guitarist Bill York (Morella's Forest, Rocket to Luna), drummer Matt Doty (Shelflyfe, And So This Ends) and bassist Doug Little (And So This Ends, Everything's Ruind). That's not fluff on the resume there. That's the recipe for some high quality music. The vocals have a haunting air to them. The singing is full and solid. Then comes the screaming. Some bands bring in the screamer as some sort of bolt-on after market accessory, but here the screaming fills out the other side of the scale for a perfect balance. With your decision burning through your soul, could this religion be your blindfold? From Remission>>>>>>> Songs Include: 1 The Centuries Of Sin 2 Streamstory 3 Neverending 4 Remission 5 Where Light Has Yet To Reach 6 April 7 The Instrument 8 Murder And Regret