ALBUM REVIEW | Originally published: 12-12-2008 Band/Artist: Prime Ape Got the Blues Album: It's Not Easy Being A Digital Being Release: May, 2008, Gourmé! Prime Ape Got the Blues are a bit too diverse, like they lack the focus to get where they actually want (their music) to end up. At least those are my thoughts before actually getting my head completely wrapped around ”It’s not easy being a digital being”. When given just a superficial listen, there’s something chafing, something annoying that make the songs hard to grasp. Prime Ape Got the Blues do not lack focus, they know exactly what they want to achieve and in most cases they succeed in doing just that. What, at first, makes the album hard to grasp is a weak production. All the nuances and impressions that should well over the listener tend to drown each other and make the overall soundscape a bit messy. With that nut cracked all you have to do is lean back and enjoy some cunning and inventive hip hop. When the nuances have settled, this is an album that has many levels and that constantly challenges your listening. It’s hip hop at it’s least blithest and it’s most entertaining. It could easily of ended up being far too much when the duo, in “Wassup!” and “A Good One Percent”, blended small stringed instruments with early computer game blip-blop or (when they) built “All I Have Is My Spit” around distinct percussion, but instead it ends up quite brilliant. Prime Ape Got the Blues wave’s good bye to the stiff beat and makes hip hop where all whims are welcome and where an organic soundscape is prioritized even though most of it is as electronic as it could possibly be. They work with the same moods that made me praise Sage Francis and Swollen Members and the rap sometimes sounds a bit like a hyped-up Thomas Rusiak. At the same time Prime Ape Got the Blues are very groovy and will probably gladly accept a reference such as Run DMC. They are at their best when delivering cocky ”Baggage” and the violently groovy and potent ”Monkey Boy Wit A Chain ’Round His Wrist”. Truly impressive! Score: 4 stars out of 5 - Joyzine.se Written by: Mikael Mjörnberg Translated by and for Gourmé! with permission.