Anti-Pop Consortium's Arrhythmia C or D

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (43 of them)

anti-cadence = anti-flow? if the word flow had popped into my mind before i hit "send"... basically, i mean the same. it's the same problem i have with the el-p's of this world: no flow, got to go. the anti-pop mc's aren't half as bad as el-p in this regard: they do lock into a good (verbal) groove, but then - like petulant little kids - seem unable to keep from fucking it up on purpose before too long. beware "poets" who rap. and beware rap as plugged by other music.

― jess, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Because too much of anything is oppressive? It's not like pop needs defending anymore, other than against a few irrelevant critics who are still holding out against the 60s.

― Ben Williams, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I've gone back and listened to that MP3 ("Disorientation") - I quite like it. I seem to like everything these days. I like the metal- insect stuff in the background, I don't think the rapping's anti-flow at all either. What I don't like about it - there is this kind of echo of beatnik finger-snapping about it which is a bit lame. Also the lyrics are hardly compelling - the only times lines jump out they're either patronising ("in case you don't understand") or dissing ("Did you hear that? You weren't listening.") the listener, like they're rigidly ungrateful for anyone who actually might be listening. I don't get the impression Anti-Pop care much for their audience, which is a sensible stance if you're going to be anti-pop, but not one I can get behind.

― Tom, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I quite like it. I seem to like everything these days.

it's the ever increasing sunshine and nice weather (and a fucking holiday in france doesn't hurt either i guess. ;)).

seriously though, i become much more of a popist bigot when the sunshine comes. i have no idea why. this doesnt mean i dont stand by my comments on this thread.

― jess, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Jess, are you including Gil Scott-Heron or The Last Poets in yr 'beware 'poets' who rap' dictum?

― Andrew L, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

that's a bit of a cheap shot there, pal.

i've never had any real time for eithers work, though.

beatnik-poetry-pretentiousness raises my hackles. the other music thing raises my hackles. it's less a dictum than a personal guideline.

― jess, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Erm, it wasn't meant as a cheap shot - I was genuinely interested, hey-ho...

― Andrew L, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"fairly indicative of the current state of ilm discourse" => i don't think this is especially true jess => is this why you're being so gruff at newbies ( = probably mostly nervous de-lurkers anyway)?

(blimey nude spock said that HERMAN'S HERMITS are lurking!!)

noone to thread!!

(did you see what i did there?)

― mark s, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

tom also hits on the other aspect of anti-pop which grates for me: there's very little "poetry" in it for all the blather about their amazing wordplay. i've heard more poetry in biggie tracks or gang starr or whoever. hell, even "i don't have any problem with you fucking me, but i have a real problem with you not fucking me" has more poetry in it.*

(*this may be a joke.)

― jess, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i WISH hermans hermits would post!

i'm turning into an old crank, yes i know.

― jess, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

RE: Anti-Pop have no flow.

Actually, my friend once cued up the acapella of Disorientation over the JB's Stone to the Bone. Some of the MCs were on top of every single beat, I think Priest and the female MC if I remember correctly. It's just hard to hear that on the original version of Disorientation because of the "abstract" beat.

Whoever wants a more R+B antipop consortium has got it right here: super-glossy production (for a "glitch-hop" album, anyway), lots of hooks, kinda like an IDM Kanye West or something. Waaay more fun than the first album.

― vahid fozi, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Re: anti-pop have no flow. Perhaps people don't like their flow, but it's a bit like saying they can't dance, or can't play PROPERLY??

― nick.K, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Well.... its not that it's necessarily less proper. Somebody like Mystikal arguably has an erratic anti-flow, yet he's still praised for packing his can't-keep-the-fire-in brand of tension. I suspect the claims here made against Anti-pop (El-P 400 syllable per minute style) are not attacking the broad flow as-vehicle, but more specifically how the emcees exploit the style's profuseness for obnoxious complex/intricate/science/intellectual connotations.

― Honda, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Waaay more fun than the first album.

No kidding. I really didn't like Tragic Epilogue all that much (or at all) for many of Jess' reasons: stupid lyrics, stupid beats, etc. Arrhythmia has all that but in a lighter, overt-commercial- move kind of way, and it works for them. APC were just silly as avant- auteur-types but are fun and occasionally excellent when they incorporate more mainstream sounds/ideas.

― adam, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I really like the new album. I also liked Tragic Epilogue for what it's worth which was actually a real surprise to me when I bought it (I thought I'd be bored--but I figured for $5.99 I'd try). I kept expecting the music on the 1st album to be really ho-hum so I was surprised when I got it how compelling and catchy the backing tracks were. They really fit their style of MC-ing well, but I really like the anemic avante-electro thing a lot on its own. As for them, I don't pay much attention to lyrics so I can't tell much about what they are rapping about, but their voices flow very nicely to me with the occassional quotable phrase floating out of the mix here and there.

In my opinion, they (along with a few luminaries like Can-Ox, Mike Ladd, New Flesh, Sensational) are making the most consistently interesting non-mainstream hip hop, not obsessed and backward looking (a la Solesides--who are unbelievably dull) but genuinely novel in decidely uncompromising ways. I like how they combine with the more noise-nik kind of stuff (I originally bought their first album because I realized that their guess spots on the Scotty Hard, Curse of the Golden Vampire, etc, really shone out to me). I suppose their attitude can get a little over-the-top and God knows the way critics and folks like Bob Zemko talk about them is irritating as all hell (saving/epitome of hip hop--aye yay yay) but I think the music they make themselves is rather interesting.

Arrhythmia is definitely much more poppy and well paced (and shorter) than Tragic Epilogue which despite a lot of quality tracks could get a little monotonous at nearly an hour long. A couple of the skits are amusing on the new LP (they seem to have a sense of humor about themselves which I like) and "Human Shield" and "Bubbles " are just terrific.

― Alex in SF, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i have quite good flow if i restrict my use of language to vowel noises. bad beatnik poetry is FANTASTIC but the sun city girls aren't hip hop and wouldn't be if they were 3 black guys w/ fat beats. similarly outkast or redman or wu tang or kool keith aren't either. hiphop IS a silly little box stuffed with conservative rules & regulations. pm dawn meeting ET "hi do you like my new hairdo" something i overheard at dre's house while i was laying carpet

― bob snoom, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

bob bob where have you been?

― mark s, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i been to london to see the queen

― bob snoom, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

fifteen years pass...

dug out arrhythmia and ends against the middle today and they sound great!!

― the late great, Saturday, 17 March 2018 06:10 (six years ago) link

Beans has some new albums out. Three I think?

― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 17 March 2018 07:54 (six years ago) link

one month passes...

now i’m on to “tragic epilogue” ... SO DOPE

― the late great, Monday, 23 April 2018 18:09 (six years ago) link

all about this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZObFoF58BEE

― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Monday, 23 April 2018 19:20 (six years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.