Indie rap is gaining some serious momentum lately, so it’s no wonder that Doomtree intends to make its own mark on the scene. It shouldn’t be too hard, either. This nine piece hip-hop regime consists of more than just clever nicknames and lustrous sound textures. They hail from Minnesota, the home of fellow vocabulary weaving duet Atmosphere, and with associations like that, you can easily grasp the inspiration Slug gave these new inclusions.
Their debut LP, Hand Over Fist, is densely layered with contained chaos laced between speedy lyrical deliveries and intermittent vocal duty trade-offs. Unlike similar orchestrations done by groups such as Flobots, the female contributor Dessa adds not singing but rapping. 
One of five emcees in Doomtree, she makes her presence known in the track, “The Wren”, with phrases that could rival Mike Shinoda any day (“I’ve got this music in my head/I’ve got this hole in my chest/I’ve got this bird in my hand that’s been crushed to death”), while fellow “spitter” Cecil Otter drops Super Mario references in “Game Over”.
Probably the most immediately noticeable factor in Doomtree’s music can be their ridiculously creative sampling, which hearkens back to Paul’s Boutique. Add this to Dessa’s occasional Fiona Apple-styled voice and Lazerbeak’s production (brownie points for a Transformers reference) and frankly I might need to move to Minnesota. Groups like this make people wonder how Washington State is going to compete musically, but until then, Doomtree is most definitely worth checking out.
Songs are available on MySpace, and Hand Over Fist is available for purchase at Doomtree’s official website.
Check Out:
“Game Over”
