Climb Inside Treehouse's Eclectic Hip-Hop

By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 16, 2012 8:40PM

Chicago-based hip-hop trio Treehouse are celebrating the release of their Tell No One EP at Double Door this Sunday. Fans of linguistically nimble, sonically eclectic hip-hop in the vein of Doomtree are recommended to climb inside Treehouse.

With a sound that parlays world music, jazz, funk, and even psychedelia, into snare-heavy backpacker hip-hop, Tell No One is a solidly crafted sampler of the group's talents. Best here musically is "Chinatown Christmas," a lyrical ode to cautious optimism in the face of a new year, with its rock-hard drum beats and psychedelic production peripheries.

Elsewhere, "Autonomous" is a piano-driven postmortem on a relationship similar to Eminem (but without the murderous rage) and the title track, which has a little bit of a samba flair.

Hip-hop heads may roll their eyes at some of the more politically-charged lines here (I'm still wrapping my head around "resistance is so stratified"), but the music speaks for itself. Stream Tell No One at Bandcamp.