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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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| The concept of the album is based on an old parlour game of consequences in which players wrote in turn on a sheet of paper, folded it to conceal part of the writing, and then passed it to the next player for a further contribution. French Surrealists used this idea to collect of words or images that are collectively assembled. Daedelus has the assistance of a collection of well-known to less-known musical talents to produce his Exquiste Corpse of fourteen tracks. You could say the paper in his game is a 30/40's romantic Hollywood film soundtrack that is used as a backdrop. This works best on "Just Briefly" where the opening is cut and spliced before boogiefied love calls of "I just wanna be loved" repeat. It's a love song with confrontational ambiguity of what a love song supposed to sound like. The album starts with "Dearly Departed" which a strange introductory interlude before The Wire's hip-hop album of the year 2004 winner MF Doom hits "Impending Doom." Possibly the best exquisite corpse in the collection. Menacingly dark rap with beautiful strings from a different era. "Move On" includes additional kung-fu sound effects together with romantic flutes in a laid-back Latin vibe to end Side A. Lara Darling sings the vocals to "Now & Sleep" - a lullaby to electro beats but no child will fall asleep when this is played. "The Crippled Hand" is a longer exploration of similar style with the piano lounge and some big horn arrangement cut-ups. "Welcome Home" sees Mike Ladd rap of buildings and construction sites to a mournful downtempo cut up. The album also includes a rapless Danse Macabre remix of "Welcome Home" by Prefuse 73. Cyne gets the rap for "Drops" before "Sent Off" gets the "Just Briefly" treatment start with big orchestral strings and a female operatic style vocal which then merges into a Jogger remix of "Sus Per Coil" which goes electronic bleepin'. Do you see the folds in the page? - Fly |
1XLP/Out Of Print