El-P is an artist I count as automatic. No matter when or where, if he puts his hand to a project I’m rolling pennies til I get enough money to buy his new heat. Right now he’s in the studio stoking just that sort of fuego and I’m busy looking in couch cushions making sure I have the coinage to cop it when it drops.
Since his days with Company Flow he’s continuously built on his everything but the kitchen sink approach to production and crafted some of the densest off-kilter soundscapes ever put on wax. The man has a command of drum pattern programming that leaves 808s tripping over themselves trying to keep up. Blend that with the disembodied synths that float in and out of the mix and you get 8 steps to haunted-hop perfection. He’s finally found the time between producing for others and heading the Def Jux imprint to drop this second proper solo album I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. Word has it that he’s calling in favors from the likes of Trent Reznor, The Mars Volta and Cat Power to name a few. The world needs a remix of “The Greatest” if you have time sir. From the sound of these new tracks his heart’s still in ’88 but he’s seen the future of the machine and knows how grimy the gears can get. Brains have been ground up trying to decipher wordplay like this. I’m happy to just let these metallic sonics steam roll the status quo without getting too involved myself.
El-P "Smithereens (Stop Crying)"
El-P "Everything Must Go"
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