Eyedea & Abilities: By The Throat
Eyedea & Abilities: By The Throat
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By Tom Powell. |  |
Sunday, 11, Oct 2009 04:52
Rhymesayers, out now.
In a nutshell...
Raw. Evocative. Self-loathing. Slapdash. Eclectic.
What's it all about?
A fresh approach to a familiar sound in this rather brief display of musical experimentation. Its style draws upon their roots within the underground rap/hip-hop scene, mix it up with with raw guitar riffs and drums and a sprinkling of fast-paced yet melancholy lyrics. With a runtime of only 29 minutes however, you can't help but feeling a little hard done by.
Who's it by?
Rap-core extraordinaires, MC Eyedea and DMC champion Abilities. Their long-awaited second release as a twosome follows the critically-acclaimed yet unimaginatively titled E&A (2004).
Eyedea comes from good stock as a battle rapper, best known for his victories in the Blaze Battle and Rocksteady. He also worked and toured extensively with the exceptional but vastly underrated Slug of Atmosphere fame as part of the Rhymesayers crew. Abilities by the same token has multiple accolades to his name, winning three DMC awards as well as the Scribble Jam throughout his career as a scratch-DJ.
Eyedea's recent past has largely been taken up by his attempts at a fully fledged rock career as the front of Carbon Carousel, with - ahem - mixed success. By The Throat signals a return to rap, but obviously the five-year hiatus has left E&A slightly confused.
As an example...
"Empathy is the poor mans cocaine/And love is just a chemical by any other name/I like the way your pheromones make me sleepy/This far away I still smell you inside me."
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
I wouldn't hold my breath if I were them. This is very much another experimental exhibition, and would struggle to find a category to place itself in, let alone win it.
What the others say
"Featuring buzzsaw guitars and live drumming to match growling basslines on more than one track, for one bone-shuddering moment it seems like they're trying to bring rap-metal back from the dead." - Alistair Lawrence, BBC Music
"Risk takers and experimental artists will always have hits and misses and this album carries both. Is it better to show fans the range of what you can do, or do what you do best? By The Throat is an album that answers that question." - Andres Tardio, hiphopdx.com
So is it any good?
Anyone expecting a huge slap across the face charged with real unadulterated rap should look away now. Eclectic doesn't really come close to describing how mixed up this album is. It is as far removed from East Coast-West Coast Gangsta Rap as is possible, and reading the sometimes insightful lyrics in writing seems more like a best of Edgar Allan Poe than 'Fiddy'-Cent.
By The Throat begins quite promisingly, and aside from the pop-heavy potential Travis hit Spin Cycle, the album warms up nicely. Time Flies When You Have a Gun takes on a ferocious and chaotic bassline that wouldn't seem out of place backing B-Rabbit in 8 mile, and is perhaps Abilities best addition to the album. The brilliant Burn Fetish is without doubt the highlight of the album, with more than a sprinkling of Slug about it and an esoteric feel to its composition and lyrics. With another solid offering in the other-worldly Sky Diver the album has real promise to it.. One just wishes such thought had gone into the rest.
Low-lights unfortunately come thick and fast after such a promising start, beginning with the irritating and distinctly metal-sounding Factory. Forced lyrics and a seemingly hectic chorus combine to grate on the ear drum. It just doesn't have a place on what is supposed to be a rap album and perhaps shows best why the album is so troubled. Experimental is good, confusion is not. Fortunately this mess is followed by the melodic Smile, and we are suddenly truly thankful for the diverse nature of the album.
Unfortunately Eyedea falls into the trap that threatened their previous offering of making a poor attempt at singing (Slim Shady's My 1st Song style). Junk comes across as a three minute whinge, laboured and uninteresting it has a certain self-importance that just isn't justified. Fortunately for the album Forgive Me for My Synapses, a true display of lyrical flow, displays Eyedea's true abilities as a fast-paced and talented wordsmith. It is however nothing more than an all-too-brief display of what he is capable of.
A key thing to note is the apparent lack of any real contribution from Abilities. Aside from a cameo towards the end of Spin Cycle, scratching and any sort of quirky use of samples seen in so many hip-hop offerings are completely non-existent. Whilst there are some good, solid melodies on show, there's also a distinct lack of them with much of the album taken up with simplistic guitar strumming, and drums with the sonic presence of a dictaphone recording in a back-alley. Yes this creates a certain rawness, but it also gives the feeling you're listening to a demo by a rock band with a non-existant budget.
The problem with the album is not that it is terrible musically, more that after five years of twidling their thumbs it seems so rushed and undefined. It lacks any real direction or pace, and is completely devoid of any of the real cleverness shown in the musical interludes of E&A.
Perhaps an EP might have been a better move, though being as short as it is, its credibility as an LP is questionable. With half the album's tunes lasting no longer than two minutes a piece, it can be equated as the feeling of not watching a television programme, but a half-hour advertising break. To a music lover with wide-ranging taste it might just tick all the boxes, but I doubt it.
5.5/10
Sam Pattison