Album: Time Machine – Life Is Expensive

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With a sound that would have been as perfectly at home in a 1980s roller rink disco as it is now in the blingtone era™, Southern California trio Time Machine (consisting of emcees Biscuit & Jet Set Jay and DJ/producer Mekalek) have returned with the retro-tinged good vibrations of Life Is Expensive, the follow up to 2004’s Slow Your Roll.

TM’s second group effort very much has two moods throughout, gliding from polished dance-floor numbers to ruminative and society-probing joints. Avoiding the messiness that could come with such stylistic leaps, respected beat-maker Mekalek smoothly adjusts his production throughout, providing not only the So Cal boom-bap he is known for but futuristic b-boy workouts too.

The opening two tracks find that delicate balance in full effect. In The City of Everything has Biscuit and Jay delivering a glimpse into the sun-soaked city of sin they call home, while (If You Know What) I Mean transports the clever verbalists to a disco in outer space, where they link up with Aussie Hip Hop emcee/personality Maya Jupiter (who sounds more comfortable in her role here than she has before in recorded form). Top marks so far.

We’re Making A Video is almost like a single that is an anti-single at the same time (infectious but unconventional), as frequent collaborator Jahpan joins Biscuit and Jay over a cavernous synth-infused high energy banger, talking about the less-than-glamorous side to making a music video. French dance music maestro J.U.S.T.I.C.E. and his mega-hit Dance, is clearly an influence here for We’re Making A Video. The breezy suburban exposé disguised as a club track, Here Comes That Sound, is also well worth a listen.        

Time Machine certainly aren’t slouches when it comes to excursions of a more serious tone, as is evident on the beautifully melodic Who Cares?, which finds Biscuit and Jay dissecting the effects of destructive behaviour on the abusers and the people around them: “I guess drugs are complex and make you feel so strange/how a needle breaking into skin can make you feel no pain.”

The marriage between electro-inspired production and socially aware lyricism does hit the rocks on occasion. Something We’re Becoming is not necessarily a bad track per se, the execution is just not all the way there, making for an uneasy musical ride. While attempting to make a statement, both verbally and musically, the title track, Life Is Expensive, is overall a muddled collision between their stylistic choices, their clever lyrics lost in a sea of electronic distortion.      

Expertly navigating their way through rugged terrain, Time Machine have succeeded where many others would have failed, carefully blending fun club-friendly production and catchy hooks with intelligent and astute wordplay. With a sound best described as minimalist musicality, these California-based Hip Hopper’s have crafted a solid and adventurous slice of modern music on Life Is Expensive.   

Available through Glow-in-the-Dark-Records