The Pretty Cool EP

thenaturalcurriculum.com thenaturalcurriculum.bandcamp.com Album review: nowthenmagazine.com/manchester/issue-23/manchester-albums The eagle-eyed amongst you may have seen stickers advertising Chalk’s debut album on bus stops and lampposts around Manchester. Although he might not have shifted as many units as the trite billboard artists he sabotaged, One For Being Me cemented his reputation as an MC who stands out for his towering wit. From his latest release, opening track ‘Pretty Cool… I Guess!’ takes a pop at the pitfalls of guerrilla advertising over a beat that would make the Blue Scholars proud: “I’m not underground, I’m on the ground / Meaning that I’m grounded / I’ve got a self-made album that most people haven’t found yet.” A lot of modern hip hop has little variety in subject matter, but Chalk has no filter or tunnel vision. There’s a track about his love of thrift store records with scantily-clad Pan’s People adorning the covers (‘Hammond Pops’) and appearances from Aver, his sparring partner from The Natural Curriculum, whose love of the form is evident as they parry between verses on ‘Squadron Supreme’. ‘Throw Ya Books’ has enough hooks to get you extradited and ‘Cold Beer’ manages to out-funk George Benson with his own sample. ‘Spaced Out’ is reminiscent of a golden period in the 90s, peaking with Dr Octagon, where the freaky lineage of George Clinton was realised and not merely cannibalised. The boom bap production is the work of true connoisseurs, with scratches and samples binding the beats together as Chalk lets loose with a unique imagination. Pretty cool would be an understatement. NATHAN MCILROY