| You could call this the first official cLOUDDEAD twelve-inch (well it is) and a showcase for the first new material from Boards of Canada in quite some time. Launching in 2000 a mind scrambling adventure series of limited ten-inch series on Mush, which soon caught the ear of Will Ashon at Big Dada. After a successful press campaign cLOUDDEAD were hailed as the forbearers of avant-garde rap for the masses. Since then the strangeness has reduced but thankfully the magic has not disappeared. As Anticon went further away from the early hip-hop adventures of Dose and Sole, many fans of the early classic album trio (Them, Sole, Deep Puddle Dynamics) left the label while the very brave hung on for dear life with a new more indie based audience hopping onboard. I'm pleased to hear with this new single that all the history has been blended brilliantly - "Dead Dogs Two" is classic Dose/why?, insanely catchy (half sung/half rapped) with worryingly odd topics, car crash suicide dreams and more. Musically epic without resorting to cheesy indie whine mode. Next the dope instrumental "Mulholland Instrumental," closer to the sample rich patchwork-hop of their debut ten-inch EPs, given more depth by the inclusion of Jel, deep in the mix. But lets face it, you're gonna be most curious about the Boards of Canada mix - sticking to the melodic vibe of the original version, elements are chopped and resampled, beats roll along nicely, finding the Board's in backward spun, drifting psych-hop mode. The album Ten drop's in March. You need this till then. - Boomkat |
1XEP/Out Of Print