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MH-225 The Opus - Breathing Lessons  After locking themselves in their Chicago studio with a mountain of dusty vinyl and two lifetimes worth of musical inspiration, the Opus have finally emerged to deliver Breathing Lessons a mesmerizing collection of reflective, instrumental hip-hop. Using their signature palette of chopped percussion and intricate drum programming as base materials, they expand their compositions, adding layers of strings, detuned piano, analog synths, floor rumbling bass, and reverb to haunting effect. Although the all-too-brief vocal appearance of Lord 360 reminds listeners of their productions for MCs on Rubberoom’s Architechnology and their own 2002 debut First Contact, this release is clearly intent on establishing the Opus as a production duo capable of creating music that stands on its own. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| One of the underground's finest beatmaking tandems - Urb / A fine example of instrumental hip-hop - Exclaim! / Call it good mood music for bad moods - Entertainment Weekly / Quality stuff for the introspective heads, and recommended - Undercover / Nocturnally restful and hauntingly evocative - Igloo |
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| Pity that Breathing Lessons hits the streets in the springtime, for few instrumental hip-hop albums have ever been as wintery as this second outing from Chicago's the Opus. Comprised of Mr. Echoes and the Isle of Weight, the production team takes on its cues from DJ Krush, on whose last album the Windy City beatsmiths made an appearance. Like the Japanese master, the Chicagoans approach hip-hop from a lateral angle, inspecting the genre's horizontal axis for cavities. As such, all the sounds here are crammed into the mid-range, with moody melodic figures clinging tightly to musty drum breaks, as if afraid of flight. Fans of Krush and El-P will find much to admire here, as the Opus beef up their cinematic samples with inventive synth programming and gauzy reverb effects. Breathing Lessons establishes the Opus as one of the underground's finest beatmaking tandems. MCs, are you listening? - Urb |
2XLP/Out Of Print