Advertising the Invisible 'Hiding in the Spotlight' (Evil Genius)

The thought often occurs, as the train passes walls and bridges strewn with graffiti and tags, that you never see anyone with a can in hand spraying these surfaces. This is the main theme running through ‘Hiding In The Spotlight’, a collection of two EPs and previously unreleased tracks from Advertising The Invisible –the hip-hop duo composed of Nextmen’s Brad Baloo and graffiti artist, Cept 148.

As their name might suggest, Advertising The Invisible are all about those hidden arts of hip-hop. Firmly entrenched in b-boy culture, the tracks use downtempo breaks with carefully culled vocal samples to skulk around the darker edges of the urban art guerrilla. The eponymous second track talks of a “process invisible/results in visual” over a curt be-bop trumpet sample, all surrounded by a shadow of dark beats.

The style throughout is minimal, from the carefully chosen samples, to the pared down beats and brooding melodic loops -as if they don’t want to give too much away. While the production work is mainly Baloo’s, the concept is definitely Cept’s. His fascination with cult movies and funk reaches an obvious conclusion on ‘Theme From. . .’, a generic 70’s TV show theme afforded extra edge by Baloo’s sparse broken beats and string inputs. The latter’s influences can be seen on ‘Extra Prolifica’, whose vital beats and horror-show organ, clearly point to DJ Shadow.

Yet too much of ‘Hiding In The Spotlight’ is spent slinking about murky alleys. While they create a gritty and almost dangerous atmosphere, you long for some real light to be shed on proceedings. Only on ‘Hip-Hop Phenomenon’ do ATI slip into a more expansive, up beat sound. The rest is smoke and mirrors, and while they manage to pull off the trick, you end up longing for some real magic.

words: Colm Larkin

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