| If you think Aesop Rock with the voice of a fifteen year-old, robot-like delivery, and Middle Eastern to coffee-shop-beat-digger production, you've got Radioinactive. This description by no means says that Radio is wack, but he's an odd character; this is definitely the weirdest hip-hop album I've ever heard. Although fans of the Shapeshifters, Doseone, Sole, and acts like that will feel right at home listening to "Pyramidi," close-minded heads might get turned off by Radio's droning cadence, strange, spacey lyrics, and dark, smoky poet hang out production. I tend to shy away from emcees like Doseone, but this is an avant hip-hop album I can really feel. Radioinactive seems to have smoked one too many quarters in his time, as "Launch Padlock Smithereen" shows us that he finds Earth boring. The beat, produced by Antimc, switches between three different backdrops that sound influenced by Indian music. Shit is way out there. Other really, really strange tracks include "Before the Thought" which consists of a sitar loop and salsa drums, (I really have no idea what the hell Radioinactive is talking about, but it's fresh anyhow) and "The Music" which is one of the most normal-sounding tracks, with Radio spitting metaphorical references to the people that want to control the creativity in music. "Our Souls" is my favorite track, which starts out with a choir singing a forlorn-sounding hymn and a fresh break beat. Once Radio comes in, a piano loop takes the choir's place, and Radio spits about what sounds like suburban Americana, and its downfalls. "Midlife crisis coming home for dinner early / Before the paper boys arrive / Exercise before demise of motivation / As we fear for / Pass another brew, or beer, or meet the fate of those begging, dying..." Needless to say, it's a pretty dope and continues the Mush Records tradition of creativity, and giving the world something to really think about. - Omnimix |
2XLP/Out Of Print