Lifesavas

Philadelphia Weekly
May 23, 2007

Live Music

Lifesavas

Thurs., May 24, 9pm. $12. With Strange Fruit Project, DJ Marc Sense + 49ers. Khyber, 56 S. Second St. 215.238.5888. www.thekhyber.com

The simple fact that they’re on the Quannum label is reason enough to expect a breakthrough album from Portland, Ore.’s Lifesavas.

Unfazed—or perhaps driven—by such weighty expectations, the hip-hop trio released the inventive Gutterfly last month, an album billed as a soundtrack to the unfinished blaxploitation flick of the same name.

Featuring guest appearances by Dead Prez, Vernon Reid and George Clinton, among others, Gutterfly has the feel of an instant classic, not unlike De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising or Tribe’s Low End Theory.

Native Tongue comparisons aside, Gutterfly solidly positions Lifesavas as torchbearers for the new generation of socially conscious hip-hop. (Joshua Valocchi)