Hey everyone. Something has come up and I will not be able run this club for at least a month or so. Mike K has graciously agreed to take over for me.
Giving a first listen right now. Right away I started being reminded of Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein from a previous round, and then when I did the research it turned out El-P produced that album, so yeah. For some reason I find this a little bit harder to get a handle on than The Cold Vein - maybe it's a matter of vocal delivery style or something. Overall I like it, but I'm going to try and get some more listens in before I say more.
Listening to this album again, my thoughts remain mostly the same from the first time I heard it.
El-P has delivered a good record here, but it's not the game-changer many make it out to be (indeed, it was a combination of this album and a number of others that paved the way for the Def Jux era, not this one alone, and not even Cold Vein alone, which is also often given credit). El-P hadn't really hit upon a solo style yet, he'd just come out of Company Flow, and it shows, in some songs he sounds like he's rhyming with a partner who's not there. That said, the great songs ("Delorean", "Truancy", "Stepfather Factory") are truly great, and the lattest of those is just plain unnerving.
It is an enjoyable album, there are a lot of references that you won't get on first listen (there's a line that I think is an opaque reference to Serial Experiments Lain to give an example) and you're never quite sure that they're actually there. But that's precisely what makes the more abstract songs as fun to listen to as they are. The album's only real flaw is the sometimes misplaced bragging that El-P does, and it's a flaw he's never really gotten over.
final score? 8.5/10
go ahead and do every stupid thing you can imagineYou know what? I'm taking the initiative here. This is too cool to let die. The next album will be Southernunderground by the Cunnin Lynguists.
edited 8th Jan '12 7:15:10 PM by MetaFour

Yeah, I guess the repeated notes motif, and the kinds of note combinations being used are just not what I'm used to. Which is what made it interesting but I guess also what put me off. What I'm trying to say is that I found it a pretty intriguing listen because it was strange and unpredictable, but I'm not sure if I'd ever put it on for "enjoyment" in the future.
edited 18th Nov '11 7:58:01 PM by MikeK