WordSound Communique #54

In certain occult traditions, the number 7 represents God, a fact not lost to the Overlord of the Underground, Bin Laden of the Bass Bins, Spectre, The Ill Saint, who drops his seventh full-length, Internal Dynasty (WSDD010/WSLP054). An album of wide-ranging styles and uncompromising quality, Internal Dynasty, the third part of a trilogy featuring Psychic Wars (WSCD043) and Transcendent (WSDD007), finds our Dark Knight striving for perfection.

Clocking in at a spare 42 minutes (so it would fit on vinyl), Internal Dynasty, none-the-less takes you on an epic journey into the sonic realms of the Other Side--from Spectre's dark and menacing signature beatscapes to jagged, uptempo bangers that spotlight a smorgasbord of talented MCs. Brooklyn's MY Werkz, who has dropped jewels on Spectre's last two albums shines again on "Event Horizon." Meanwhile, Wu-Tang affiliate Solomon Childs (aka Killa Bamz) demonstrates the latest Shaolin styles on "Riffin'." And it wouldn't be a party without Sensational who swaps slang with Bed-Stuy's finest, Black Chameleon, on the club-friendly, "Trillin'." And that's just the Yankees! Internal Dynasty also features lyrical contributions from Brazil's Mamelo Sound System ("Vai Na Fe"); Germany's Plagiat of Seelenfresser ("Stimmen Im Kopf") and Hyperaktiv ("Let It Grow"); and Gebo ("Catch a Fire"), who hails from Osaka, Japan, making this an album of truly global proportions.

But the heart and soul of the production-the beatz-are strictly New York circa 1995-something the RZA, DJ Premier, and Pete Rock could get down with. One might be tempted to say that Spectre has gone back to basics, but then again, listen to a broken beat like "Fracture," and you'll think otherwise. Innovation is still the Ill Saint's mantra as he elevates sampling to new heights.

And his message floats subliminally like ear-candy in the mix. From the Rasta-inspiration of "Stone," crafted from a familiar Jimi Hendrix riff, to the closing lines of "The Epiphany," Spectre knows that the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, are all buried deeply within. All of us.

Review (Italian) from Dagheisha

Review from Dusted

Review from Noise Mag (opens as PDF)

For more information/interviews contact Skiz @ 410-733-0566

Download Communique #54 HERE

Review (Babelfish recommended for translation):

SPECTRE
Internal Dynasty
MENTOL NOMAD
Pineal Proof
(WordSound)
DARK SIDE OF DUB & HIP HOP
Septième album de Spectre The Ill Saint, gardien de la galaxie WordSound dont le but principal pourrait être de maintenir en vie la tradition transversale et expérimentale du hip hop, culture poreuse à de multiples influences et matériaux idéal à l’hybridation. Produit comme une mixtape (dix-sept courts morceaux), Internal Dynasty se propose de servir cette vision d’un hip hop multiethnique et multifacette dont l’unité occulte serait le breakbeat bitumineux et la basse bien grasse qui colle aux basques. Comme sur de nombreux albums produits par son mentor Laswell, on y trouve à boire et à manger, du bon et du moins bon, comme sur les compiles maison Subterrean Hitz et Certified Dope. Fidèle à son univers, Spectre nous offre un tour du monde de son Internationale breakbeat où se mêlent futurisme primitif et tradition visionnaire. Après une intro cinématographique se percutent dub urbain et percus20rasta, drum’n’bass lymphatique et dubstep roots, dub-hop massive au ralenti, electro hip-hop 80’s, downtempo minimaliste et concassé, dub digital à l’anglaise, abstract hip-hop funky sombre et dérangé (l’excellent « Riffin’ » avec Solomon Childs), polyrythmies latinos, rappeurs teutons, japonais (le talentueux Gebo) et évidemment new-yorkais (Black Chameleon et Sensational, très en forme). Un bon condensé de l’univers WordSound. Mais à l’écoute du troisième album de Mentol Nomad, on se dit que l’élève a peut-être dépassé le maître. Daniel DeJesus alias Mentol Nomad nous offre en effet un album terrifiant aussi addictif qu’une bouffée de crack un soir de pleine lune : ambient malsain et claustrophobe, drum’n’bass lancinante et impénétrable, beats crunchy brut de décoffrage, basses noires et visqueuses, effets qui dérapent, s’engouffrent et disparaissent dans la nuit, ambiance opaque, lourde et poisseuse aux relents âcres d’industrie pétrochimique (New Jersey mon amour), breakbeats instables et compactes, dérèglements psychotiques qui collent au cerveau, échos sourds et nauséeux, reverb brumeuse, nappes sombres et réfrigérées, mélodies carbonisées qui s’échappent du chaudron urbain, lyrics cryptiques et lunatiques du Thought Cannon (et des excellents featurings de Sensational et HyperActiv), chuintements monstrueux d’une respiration bio mécanique et voix de gorges tibétaines, groove épais qui engourdit, raidit la nuque et courbe l’échine, et mix titubant dont le mysticisme et la fascination macabre forment une masse grouillante indéfinie et des spirales vertigineuses dans lesquelles on s’enfonce et l’on se noie pour se retrouver de l’autre côté du trou noir. En treize morceaux, cet album agit comme un envoûtement, réveille les fantômes de la nuit et débarrasse le hip hop de toutes ses scories putassières et autres fanfreluches caricaturales pour plonger dans ses ténèbres intérieures, retrouver son essence expérimentale, comme pouvait le faire l’album « Intonarumori » de Material il y a dix ans, montrer sa face sombre et pestiférée, tournant le dos à toute récupération stéréotypée. Du hip hop pour les fans de Scorn/Quoit/Hednod, TechnoAnimal/Ice/Godflesh in dub, Lustmord et Carpenter.

From The Wire:

SPECTRE Internal Dynasty The legacy of the so-called illbient scene of the mid-1990s is a mixed one. On the one hand, labels such as Brooklyn’s WordSound and artists such as Sensational and Scotty Hard showed the fertile musical underside of urban New York, a teeming microculture of funky bugs and parasites lurking under the fat carcass of hiphop. On the other, the deep faith in sampling and the remix as infallible creative catalysts can seem slightly dated these days, as do some of the chunkier, skunkier beats, which are a little wasteful compared to the economic tick-tock of contemporary hiphop beats.

The beats are still on the chunky side on the latest album by Skiz Fernando, aka Spectre The Ill Saint and the boss of the WordSound label. But given the rigid, reactionary horizons of hiphop these days, an album which starts out mixing the “I tried to tell the children of Jah” vocal from “Tappa Zukie In Dub” into Jimi Hendrix’s “Stone Free” is bound to sound stunningly fresh in comparison – it’s frankly rare these days for a hiphop album to trust its audience to connect such disparate dots. Internal Dynasty has other new elements in the mix, too. “Catch A Fire” with Japanese rapper Gebo features some of the most awesome polysyllabic flows I’ve ever heard, Sensational raps more dextrously than he has for years, and there are Latino and German voices elsewhere.

Internal Dynasty is not a huge departure from the WordSound sound of the mid-90s, but it’s surprisingly forceful nonetheless. The decade and more since the heyday of illbient has also provided alternative perspectives from which to view the beat digging WordSound excels in – the stinking audio-reclamation on display here suggests parallels with contemporary tape fiends such as The Skaters or the No Fun Productions label as much as the Wu-Tang.

Derek Walmsley