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MH-232 Daedelus - Exquisite Corpse  The new release from Daedelus, Exquisite Corpse is an ode to, and a lament for hip-hop culture. Featuring solo contributions and collaborative efforts with guests whose performances range from traditional (MF Doom, Sci from Scienz of Life) to poetic (Mike Ladd, Cyne, Laura Darling) to experimental (Prefuse 73, Hrishikesh Hirway of the One AM Radio, TTC, Jogger), Daedelus forms the seemingly disparate elements of sound found on the album with a single-minded vision. The album's title has a triple meaning: a reference to death, a grand body of work, and the Impressionist group drawing game of the same name. The guest MCs and vocalists contrast their own styles with Daedelus' sugar-laden undercoating proving that there are no limits to what can be included on a hip-hop album. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| Exciting - Pitchfork / Terrific proof of the underground’s vitality - Rockpile / Alive from beginning to end - Mean Street / A master mortician - CMJ / Full of humor, brains, passion and breathtaking sounds - All Music Guide / Mad and beautiful, beautiful and mad - Big Chill |
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| Despite songs called "Impending Doom" and "Dearly Departed," "Sexy Body" might have been a more appropriate album title than Exquiste Corpse, given Daedelus' passion for sunkissed Brazilian guitar pluckings and sensual string arrangements. The album opens with breathy, chanteuse-style lullaby over crisp, Salsa-ing beats before dissolving into a lush sample of John Barry's "Diamonds Are Forever." It's all production fun and games here - Exquiste Corpse is a collage of freaky beats, pseudo-movie themes and easy listening that exudes an avid nostalgia for trash culture comparable to Madlib's love affair with the archives of Blue Note. Although emcees featured include MF Doom, Sci and Mike Ladd, the slippery polyrhythmic music is a difficult terrain to conquer. Lyrics become incidental thought-bubbles to a whimsical musical daydream unfolding in the background - Mike Ladd's "Welcome Home" is backed with deep nostalgic clarinet and wistful strings that could have come from a Douglas Sirk melodrama, adding suburban ennui to Ladd's tale of a returning shell-shocked soldier ("I watch South Park, clutch the sofa, quake and tremble / Welcome home"). In fact there's more than one variety of nostalgic pleasures on offer here - an irrepressible grunting 303 elsewhere harks back to rave utopias of the 90s. - The Wire |
1XLP/Out Of Print