Did you like the Hilltop Hoods’ The Hard Road? If yes, then chances are you’re in for a treat with Terra Firma’s latest. Music To Live By follows along a lot of the same ground ploughed by the Hoods – well produced, sophisticated Aussie hip hop from a group who are both extremely intimate with the medium and talented at what they do. Terra Firma have been kicking around since 1995 and have acted alongside the Hoods & Delta as South Australia’s pioneering hip hop groups.

 

Music To Live By represents all thirteen years of this experience, and is the product of a group who know what they’re doing. The intro track (appropriately enough titled ‘Introduction’) is instantly catchy, and builds into something with quite a lot of momentum by the time it disintegrates away – it’s almost a shame that it doesn’t kick into more than just an intro midway through, such is its energy. The first appearance of vocals on the following track, ‘The Path’, manages to consolidate this energy, with a series of expertly flowing raps and chanting choruses showcasing the skills of those behind the mikes. And it’s still a very South Aussie vibe – “It’s Terra Firma starting the path / Bringing the light / Representing South Australia in certified wise”, they rap at the top of ‘The Path’.

 

 

The album follows through with much the same vibe laid down by these first two tracks. ‘Music To Live By’ features a lyrically clever chorus, the clickity-clack beat under ‘One Track Mind’ is pretty unique, and the instrumental ‘Intermission’ manages to chill things out a bit before the faster-paced ‘Now’s the Time’. Along the way there are samples from Pharcyde’s mega-classic ‘Runnin’’, KRS-One’s ‘South Bronx’ and Wu-Tang’s ‘Bring da Rukus’, plus a cheeky cameo or two from George Carlin. Closer ‘Feedback’ is the album’s standout, and manages to reach a point where the jazz-infused beats interact very closely with the crew’s raps, something that the album does have a problem with in general. Indeed, it feels for a lot of the time that the tracks don’t musically fit the vocals – both elements are individually quite slick, but don’t seem to fuse together well often enough.

 

Lyrically Music To Live By is an uplifting experience, which is strange because it doesn’t initially sound like an uplifting album. This is the soundtrack of a house party somewhere at Noarlunga – a lot of energy, the crowd bouncing, hands in the air; the veiled promise of violence. But once you tune into the words, you’ll hear raps like “So now I’ve chosen my task / I’m moving from my past / And giving a hundred percent / To living from my heart” (in ‘Now’s the Time’), and the very Australian experience accounted in ‘Looking Back’, and you realise that it is quite a sweet album at heart.

 

But all that’s predicated, of course, on whether you dig the kind of Aussie hip-hop served up in The Hard Road.

 

Music To Live By is out August 30.