The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #15 - Atmosphere: The Family Sign

The Top 20 Albums of 2011

#15 Atmosphere: The Family Sign

Words by Dirk Calloway

Preface: each day for the next two weeks, I'm reviewing the 20 Best Albums of 2011. If you want to catch up on the past entries, click this link here.

For the uninitiated, Atmosphere have been around for a couple of decades now. Many hip-hop fans have already made up their minds about the group, and their thoughts won't be changed by my review. This has little to do with the quality of my review - or indeed the music itself in The Family Sign - rather, it has more to do with the entrenched opinions common in those who follow "the game" of rap. I joined the pro-Atmosphere camp with the release of 2008's When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold. Most regard that as a turning point in their career, and if that's true, then they made the right change. Check this guitar and piano driven track out below:

Beautiful arrangement. It's spare, it's honest and it's confident. Most importantly though, The Last To Say, and many songs like it on this album, has an integrity that most rappers would kill (ha) to have on their tracks. Perhaps that's why it wasn't their lead single. Or maybe that's why when they put on a particularly impassioned performance of it live last year, the crowd just... watched. Some are awestruck, others just feel awkward. I love their reactions:

So, no, this isn't ordinary hip-hop. The usual yardsticks of "walking thesaurus" or "crazy flow" or "flyest samples" do not apply here. Most of Atmosphere's lyrics on The Family Sign are limited to one or two syllable words. There's no complexity, and very little subtext: the songs are open and honest. The song Something So says it all with two lines: "I’m not qualified to lend my voice / To something so beautiful". Nailed it. This is, by and large, an album made by people who are stoked to be in the album's presence:

Sure, the above video's a fan-made one, but the tranquility sums up the mood well. This is an album to be cherished. It's hard to take swipes at it when there's so much honesty on display. I will say that the group stumbles whenever they verge into 'make a hit single' territory. If you can edit out the fifth and sixth songs from your iTunes library, you'll have a great time with this album.

Tune in tomorrow for another review of 2011's Top 20 Albums. Tomorrow's record is heavily influenced by 70s glam rock. Word. Check out the other reviews here.