Czarface- s/t (Brick Records, 2013)
Czarface is a new project that features the dynamic rap duo 7L and Esoteric joining forces with Inspectah Deck (of Wu-Tang Clan) to produce fourteen tracks of action-packed boom-bap, and it’s an inspired combination. The formula is pretty simple and totally irresistible: pulse-pounding drum loops and rapid-fire lyrics, guest spots from an all-star cast of rap royalty (Action Bronson, Oh No, Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna, DJ Premier, and others), and a hefty handful of samples scattered around the edges.
The record kicks off with a minute of tense horror-movie strings, vocal snippets, and slow-burn bongos. I’ve always loved the hip-hop device of beginning an album with a short intro, and this is a great example of why: it sets the stage, creates the mood, and gets the listener’s head nodding.
And then as the next beat drops, the album proper begins, and we’re launched into orbit, track after track shooting past and detonating in midair. Air ‘Em Out is an instant classic, a hardcore jam of snapping snares, thundering bass drums, and deep-digging superhero references. Rock Beast is a headspinning rattle of jazzy percussion, b-movie sound effects and stream-of-consciousness braggadocio set to a sinuous organ riff. Ghostface showcase Savagely Attack blends carefully-harnessed lyrical skill and pure adrenaline, words bursting forth over a thundering marching-band rhythm. Marvel Team-Up drops the tempo and builds off a foundation of trimmed cymbal and kick. The Premier-produced Let It Off scratches together spiraling brass and booming piano chords. Closer Hazmat Rap stomps off toward the horizon with a burbling bassline and a steady-rolling drum loop.
The cover art (by NYC artist L’Amour Supreme) is also worthy of note; a brightly-colored homage to four-color fantasies, mixing Jack Kirbyesque characters with grotesque excess straight out of E.C.’s Crypt Of Terror, embodying the project’s pulp sensibility. It’s a fitting face for an excellent album, forty-five minutes of pulse-pounding production and riveting wordcraft, the perfect soundtrack for headnodding, rump-shaking, and crime fighting.
Czarface is now available on CD (with special pop-up packaging), vinyl, and as an amazon download.
Jamie Lidell- s/t (Warp Records, 2013)
Jamie Lidell remains an unrivaled post-modern master of dancefloor funk, and his new self-titled release comprises thirteen tracks of squelching bass, chugging kickdrums, immersive vocals, and getting freaky in finest 25th century fashion. This is nonstop sun-drenched retro-futurism – android groove music for forward-thinking listeners.
Every song here is a keeper, and each one puts a different twist on the parallel-universe R&B formula. The chugging disco texture of Do Yourself A Faver backs up against You Naked‘s Moroder-meets-NuShooz electro and Why_Ya_Why‘s glitch-laden barroom refrain. Big Love could have dropped off the score of a long-forgotten Knight Rider/Miami Vice crossover episode. Don’t You Love Me sounds like Bill Withers by way of Alpha Centauri. And closer In Your Mind is pure robot rave-up, complete with stuttering beats and closely-layered vocoder harmonies.
After a couple plays, I’m ready to spend springtime listening to this album on a loop, daydreaming of LED-bedecked nightclubs on far-off mirror-ball planets. Lidell has touched down, and brought with him the now sound of 2013: infectious choruses, synthetic handclaps, burbling keyboards, computerized call-and-response, and tunes beamed in direct from Moonbase Motown.
Jamie Lidell is now available on CD, vinyl, and as an amazon download.