| I know what y'all are thinking. "Why are they doing ANOTHER Chicago artist review? I know they gotta represent, but damn!" I have to review this album because it is a very important album for Chicago. Known largely for its fierce emcees, Chicago underground producers rarely end up getting the dap they truly deserve. Now that they are on the dope-ass Mush label (home to electronicats like Omid, Octavius, and Clue To Kalo as well as backpacker hip-hoppers like cLOUDDEAD, Awol One, and Jel) they are set to take the world by storm, not just Chicago and Japan. First of all, who are the Opus? They are two of the three cats that produced the dark, gnashing beats for Chicago legends Rubberroom. After they broke up, Isle of Weight and Fanum formed the Opus and continued to make beats for Chicago cats like Earatik Statik (on their "Hot Lava" single, which is just that) and others. Their first album, First Contact featured the underground's best and brightest emcees (including many Chicagoans) and blew up large overseas, in particular in Japan. I seem to remember some Japanese import-only singles, but I might be making that up. They also built a reputation for dope live performances, pumping out hellified beats from impressive stacks of keyboards and sequencers. Unlike previous albums, this album is all instrumental, save for one spoken-word performance by Chi-town emcee and longtime Opus collaborator Lord 360. While the trademark Opus sound is present, Breathing Lessons is a more thoughtful, subdued effort that is infused with more subtlety and emotion than their punishing, visceral live performances. After an ill intro, we get some classic Rubberroom flavor with "Mission Control," a track full of menacing string lines, soundtrack horn loops, spooky movie dialogue samples, and the heavy drums. Things smooth out a bit with the spacious and vaguely jazzy "Earthwalker" with its fuzzed out guitar snippets, descending pianos, and uptempo, swinging drum patterns. The journey continues with "Life's Endless Cycle Pt. 1." Here, the snappy drums lend a groove to melancholy, droning strings and ambient textures. "Life's Endless Cycle Pt. 3" continues in a similar vein, but with thicker drums and a cool vocal sample sung in some language I can't decipher. The Opus returns to form on "Isis," centering the track around a whimsical pizzicato string sample dug from deep in the crates. "The Strange Adventures of Mr. Happy" is one of album's best and most accomplished tracks. Beginning with crashing piano glissandos and a hypnotic bassline, the cut moves through atmospheric textures to a stripped-down canvas layered with jittery koto samples flipped forward and backward. Enjoyable from start to finish, Breathing Lessons proves the Opus to be masters not only of rhythm and sound, but also tone, texture and emotion. This collection puts them in their rightful place alongside veteran beatsmiths-turned-instrumentalists like Sixtoo, Blockhead, Meaty Ogre and Jel as the next wave of important production auteurs to give hip-hop a new sound. - Breakz 4 Dayz |
2XLP/Out Of Print