Compiling three EPs from 1998 and 1999, Atmosphere’s de facto debut album as a duo pairs Slug’s novelistic eye with Ant’s knack for spare, jazzy boom bap. “Between the Lines” brings a deceptively relaxed Rhodes groove to intertwined character studies, while “Like Today” is a vivid day-in-the-life tale with a sneaky twist. “Guns and Cigarettes” lightens the mood with self-deprecating introspection over slinky jazz licks: What starts as a classic boast track ends with Slug coming to terms with his “status as a drifter.”
- Brother Ali
- Grieves
- Sage Francis