Rau’s debut “Streets, Crimes and Strife” is an amazingly strong and ambitious premier effort that digs deep, toying with everything from bluesy horn sections to Gregorian chants mixed with trance inducingly ethereal trip-hop. From the first track, which opens with a sample of“St. John’s Infirmary Blues” over a hip-hop beat, you get the feeling that this is going to be a special album.
“Streets, Crimes and Strife” is an enchanting album that’s not afraid to be intelligent. Rowe spins urban lullabies with the heart of a poet, from instrumental tracks like “Woman” and “The Ethereal and the Voluptuary” whose vocal tracks are sampled or completely wordless, to endearing and political rhymes like “A Better Way to Leave” and “Blind-Faith and Breakthrough” that live up to the album’s title.
-Skope Magazine
