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Beans
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Shock City Maverick
Warp Records
Release: 10/19/2004
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Rated:
Review by:
Morley Seaver
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Beans, of the late Anti-Pop Consortium, is back with his second
full-length record. Not being familiar with his previous work, I
was surprised by the change-ups ever present in his rhymes,
as well as the odd patterns. The New York rapper also
intersperses some electro ditties in between some of the songs,
making it a strange affair.
Beans can definitely drop bombs… I think. Deciphering some
of his lyrics is a challenge… at least to me. Witness: "Tin
defiance broken household appliance underwater fish gurgling
popgun against the lunatic rhino on vinyl killjoy taboo tattoo
tongue left you unemployed like a celibate hooker." Right!
Following the intro instrumental, "Papercut" launches the record
in a big way. The flow is in double-time, and it's augmented by
some otherworldly synth bits. "Blind Driver" gets its groove on,
also with some weird synth. "Shards of Glass" is one of the
stronger cuts with a Wyclef-like intro. As with a lot of the
songs, Beans switches up his delivery throughout.
While "You're Dead, Let's Disco" is an engaging instrumental, it
stands out oddly with the rest of the songs. "City Hawk" is one
of the weaker cuts. "Shock City Maverick," while musically flat
lining, delivers some nice flows, as does the follow up, "Death
By Sophistication."
"Down By Law" is excellent with good but static beats and
verses. But hold the phone, here comes another
momentum-cutting astral-instrumental. Pointless. "I'll Melt
You" is just one long verse delivered in a monotone voice. The
last cut, "Diamond Halo Grenade," is one of the standouts. It
also contains one of the best lines from the record:
"Sentimental as a suicide note sent as a valentine."
For somebody who comes with such reverence for past work, I
was expecting a lot more out of this record. It's not bad, but
it's not great either. |
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