| They say there are two sides to every story. Thoughtfully, Blue Sky Black Death has provided us with a soundtrack to both sides with the release of their double-disc debut A Heap of Broken Images. On the one hand, the union of up and coming underground producers Young God and Kingston gives us the means to explore an experimental landscape, the ambiance of which is constantly in flux, subject to delicate textural variations. The other hand then pulls us back down to earth, anchoring us with a dazzling display of hip-hop proficiency seldom achieved by even the most talked-up producers. Blue Sky Black Death announce the boldness of their intentions by using a quotation from T.S. Eliots The Wasteland as their title, a move that would almost certainly come off as little more than awkwardly pretentious in any but the most skillful hands. It becomes apparent quite quickly, however, that the allusion is well-earned, as it provides a fitting frame of reference for the albums evocative soundscapes and political commentary alike. With its spoken-word interludes, dramatic string and horn flourishes, epic crescendos, and starkly meditative melodies, the music on the first instrumental disc of A Heap of Broken Images bears as much resemblance to the vibrant early post-rock of Godspeed! You Black Emperor (though without the bombast) as it does to hip-hop. The only thing that saves these twelve songs from that sort of cinematic grandiosity is an unwavering adherence to a solid time signature. The concrete foundation provided by the beats (which could be more accurately described as IDM than hip-hop) is the tether tying the songs to the ground. Otherwise, they are pure otherworldliness, ethereal in the best possible way. The first track, Skies Open, is all melancholy piano, echo-y guitar and washes of synth. Days Are Years settles into a comfortable late-night club groove, and then breaks down into a dreamy, almost R&B croon. Each track quickly finds its center and then takes off from there, pulling you along behind it and wherever it may feel like wandering. This is the kind of music that its best just to close your eyes and feel yourself flooding away. Of course, Blue Sky Black Death arent the first artists to attempt this kind of integration of soundsMush Records labelmates Daedelus, Caural, and Boom Bip have all made great records based on similar concepts but this has to be one of the more successful experimental producer-driven albums to date. Like the reverse side of a coin, the second disc of A Heap of Broken Images is complementary to the first; it ties the project of the producers more closely to their roots as hip-hop artists. It is, plain and simple, extraordinarily good hip-hop, featuring amazing performances from some great underground MCs. The producers utilize many of the same tricks as on the first disc, but the songs here are more highly energized, with harder beats and more conventional (and rapper-friendly) structures. The production is supremely tailored to show off and enhance the talents of the rappers, whether its the slightly dirty sound accompanying the rough voices of A-Plus and Pep Love on Street Legends, the fire and brimstone, doom-hop backing Wu-Fam rapper Holocausts I Catch Fire, or the West Coast party vibe of Grimey Styles featuring Freestyle Fellowship and Haiku D'Etat member Mikah Nine. The emphasis is on positive hip-hop, so there is none of the posturing that so quickly gets boring. Instead there is intelligent political commentary from a diverse pool of guests. They range from the well-established (Mikah Nine, Guru, Mike Ladd) to the recently buzzing (Jus Allah, Awol One) to on-the-verge-of-discovery (Chief Kamachi, Lil Sci, Rob Sonic, Virtuoso.) They lay down tracks in a remarkable variety of styles, which are inevitably perfectly matched by the production, allowing the MCs to get the most out of their often-biting insights. The aesthetic divide between the two discs of the album allows the producers to present a more complete picture of their project; what results is a multifaceted argument for a new, more socially aware hip-hop, which takes its inspiration from both the protest of urban music and the liberating possibilities of the experimental dance scene. With this record, Black Sky Blue Death have simultaneously brought hip-hop to the apex of its current form and extended the possibilities for its further evolution. Young God and Kingston will be a pair to watch, assuming this project is more than just a one-off, spur-of-the-moment collaboration. Please let it be so. - Urban Pollution |
2XLP/Out Of Print