With even commercial ap's fortunes on the decline during 2007 and Rjd2 going indie rock, the ap underground must have seemed like a lonely place to El-P. Perfect time for a community album featuring contributions from most of the Definitive Jux community as well as some expertly fitted outsiders (the Mars Volta, Nine Inch Nails, even Cat Power). As a producer, El-P's only gotten better since Fantastic Damage. If a Bomb Squad production made it sound like the Apocalypse was nigh, El-P's tracks come post-apocalypse -- no less heavy but dark, dusty, and brittle, marching numbly like an army of the popping and locking dead. I'll Sleep When You're Dead is definitely the best-produced and most powerful Definitive Jux record since Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein -- which makes it the best in underground rap during that time. Meanwhile, El-P's improved as a rapper as well. Although what he's trying to say or mean exactly is often in doubt, he's better than any of his past CoFlow compatriots at matching the air of doom inherent in the sound ("I might have been born yesterday, sir/But I stayed up all night"). By the time Chan Marshall of Cat Power wraps up the record -- playing a sampled soul siren -- I'll Sleep When You're Dead is revealed as one of the most powerful hip-hop albums of 2007. While Public Enemy exposed the hypocrisy and greed of the '80s, El-P reflects his era just as well; the sense of stress is palpable, an "after the end of the world" feeling that's waiting anxiously for something else to be born.
I've finally taken the time to listen to I'll Sleep When You're Dead. This is a disk that I have found I can't get the full impact from in my car stereo. I needed to actually throw my headphones into the PC and listen to the tracks multiple times. 'Dear Sirs' is just crazy, the imagery that it invokes is amazing. Dig El-P and Cage going back and forth on 'Habeas Corpses,' they kill it! ...
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I just heard El-P's new album, "I'll Sleep When You're Dead" and can I just say, GODDAMMIT!!! Did have to take three months to get the best hip-hop album of the year?El-P has cultivated a reputation for diggin his heels in on left field and making a point of never ever leaving that little hip-hop niche of superintelligent verbose backpacking rap that he's cut out for himself and the Def Jux cre...
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I LOVE CASSETTES WON'T LISTEN. I posted a song a few weeks ago called To Have A Crush. This was my introduction to Cassettes Won't Listen. Then I heard his remix of Midlake's Young Bride.....and now this. A remix of EL'P's Flyentology. Fans of NIN will also love this since Trent is playing a big part here. I haven't heard the original but this remix is really really really good!!!!!One thing is...
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MOG has a WYSIWYG editor!MOG has a WYSIWYG editor! MOG has a WYSIWYG editor! Yes, I'm happy about this shit! Er, back to what I was gonna say . . .Lately I've been a bit Reznor-obsessed, because dammit, someone has finally done it - he's completely fucked with the music industry. And it's a guy my age, who in real life is a pasty-faced former band geek just like me. Trent's so cool, and he's ub...
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I LOVE CASSETTES WON'T LISTEN. I posted a song a few weeks ago called To Have A Crush. This was my introduction to Cassettes Won't Listen. Then I heard his remix of Midlake's Young Bride.....and now this. A remix of EL'P's Flyentology. Fans of NIN will also love this since Trent is playing a big part here. I haven't heard the original but this remix is really really really good!!!!!One thing is...
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This should get things going!!!!!!!Since my other hip hop thursday post paid homage to major classics I want to bring out the new master.El-P - Everything Must Go
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Rapper/Producer/Definitive Jux cofounder El-P and Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor might seem like an unlikely pair, but although they come from different genres, they both make music that sounds like some kind of industrial pain factory, so it works. The two did a collabo on El-P's I'll Sleep When You're Dead, and he just leaked a few more remixes through his Twitter. Thanks to Johnny the Anomaly...
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I just heard El-P's new album, "I'll Sleep When You're Dead" and can I just say, GODDAMMIT!!! Did have to take three months to get the best hip-hop album of the year?El-P has cultivated a reputation for diggin his heels in on left field and making a point of never ever leaving that little hip-hop niche of superintelligent verbose backpacking rap that he's cut out for himself and the Def Jux cre...
More >
Hello, my fellow moggers. It seems like I've run out of music-writing steam. I am still listening to a considerable amount of stuff, but I'm in one of those writing ruts. I don't know what to say or how to say it. And often I can't hold my patience for long enough to write about one thing, as I want to get onto the next.Oh well, for my sake I should be writing about music again soon. Until then...
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El-PFor all those that think the artform of hip hop is dead, here's proof that it is alive and well. El-P has some how taken the apocalpse is near production techniques of Public Enemy's Bomb Squad and Radiohead's experimention, threw it in a pot, pissed in it, stirred it up and poured out some beautifully ugly music. The entire album is a hip hop 'Back to the Future' with beats rooted in tha...
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I've finally taken the time to listen to I'll Sleep When You're Dead. This is a disk that I have found I can't get the full impact from in my car stereo. I needed to actually throw my headphones into the PC and listen to the tracks multiple times. 'Dear Sirs' is just crazy, the imagery that it invokes is amazing. Dig El-P and Cage going back and forth on 'Habeas Corpses,' they kill it! ...
More >
You have those moments where reality seems to be fading and things seem to be colliding for no reasons. Moments of introspection lead to connections lead you back to randomness. Then you pick up a book and all of a sudden, you realize that maybe your thoughts have been thought before. Or you listen to a song and you get the same connection. It is beyond the pedal pushed and makes you push p...
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God Damn. I just wrote the biggest post about how amazing El-P's relativley new CD "I'll Sleep When You're Dead" is, but it got deleted because I'm an idiot.But what I will let you know is that it is one of the most original, energetic Hip Hop albums out in the last few years, and his live show is unbelievable. I guess in a few words that was the summary of my post. But now you must check them ...
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 "I'll Sleep When You're Dead")
