Panacea

A concept album of sorts, The Scenic Route is based on a short story by MC Raw Poetic, but like their last effort, Panacea grab attention with their overall knack for lacing smooth rhymes with some of the most gorgeous and original productions in recent years. Beat wizard K-Murdock was apparently listening to a lot of progressive rock when piecing together the compositions for this record, and his natural progression to sampling those records makes for a refreshing listen, as The Scenic Route goes heavy on the synths, jazz rolls and guitar rhythms, with great results. Panacea have a very romantic sound, both in Raw Poetic’s effortless delivery and clarity on the microphone and K-Murdock’s ability to create banging ballads with a soft exterior. Pretty much every track on this sophomore release from the Washington, DC duo is top-notch and the pair never fail to come at you from a different angle. To say The Scenic Route is comprised of slow jams is misleading; they just once again strike the perfect balance of not-too-soft and not-too-hard, just completely engaging.