Sudden Rush

J. Edward Keyes on Shuffle

by J. Edward Keyes

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Published: Nov 29, 2006

Defying tradition and fucking with the timetable of year-end list-making, nearly every hip-hop artist worth caring about has waited until the dwindling minutes of '06 to rush out an album. The fourth quarter release schedule is like, er, Christmas, A-list titles dropping every week. (There's already been a surprisingly inspired album from The Game and a surprisingly limp one from Jay-Z.)

Raekwon Heron Only (MySpace Exclusive)

Various Artists International Sad Hits, Vol. 1 (Ba Da Bing!)

Among the most anticipated are new albums from Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy and Virgina duo the Clipse. Both acts filled their debuts with grimy tales of drug-slinging, gunrunning and rat-crushing. In other words, both albums were deeply indebted to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, the groundbreaking 1995 powder 'n' power epic by Wu-Tang member Raekwon. Rae has been promising a sequel to Cuban Linx for years, but for the first time it's starting to look like it might actually happen. Earlier this month he signed a deal with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label and now he offers Heron Only, a pre-album mix tape that hints at the shape Linx 2 might take. Heron is a mix tape that's built like an album: It opens with a shattering excerpt from a Blaxploitation film and then plunges headlong into a series of nervy songs built around tough funk and hazy R&B. Rae's voice has grown craggier over the years, and its grainy rasp gives him an elder-statesmanlike authority. It also sounds sublime winding across Heron's greasy backdrop. "Going at the Face" isolates four tense bars of soul and loops them endlessly, creating a dizzying claustrophobia; "Eye 4 Eye" works the same approach with less music, sandblasting a fistful of piano notes beyond recognition.

Those interested in a moodier mix would do well to investigate International Sad Hits, a moving collection of grim weepers from four Asian singer-songwriters assembled by Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang (better known as simply Damon & Naomi). Each of the four artists operates within similar stylistic strictures, sticking mainly to acoustic guitars, and yet each of them imbues their songs with a signature flourish. The most consistently compelling is the Korean performer Kim Doo Soo. With his quavery voice and brittle, finger-plucked guitar style, he radiates full-body ache — yet his concerns are chiefly existential. "There are roads everywhere/ There's no road anywhere," goes the translation to the bleak, eerie "Mountain." A better summation of the modern age I have yet to uncover.

(j_keyes@citypaper.net)

More verbal intercourse at jedwardkeyes.com.

 

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