Search - El-P :: I'll Sleep When You're Dead

El-P does the equivalent of inventing the wheel, again.

Shane Carpenter | Los Angeles, CA USA | 03/22/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fantastic Damage is a timeless album. Whether you bought it when it first came out, picked it up a week ago, or intend on buying it in 5 years, it will ALWAYS be ahead of its time. So how does El-Producto do it? By "it" I mean composing challenging yet enjoyable music, maintaining his essence, and staying connected to the hip-hop community at large... I don't know, but this guy has done the hip-hop equivalent of inventing the wheel - twice.



Yeah it took some time, but "I'll Sleep When You're Dead" is another timeless album, and I dare say my favorite thing to come out of the Def. Jux camp (Yes, including Labor Days). What's unbelievable is how different this album is from Fantastic Damage - and yet, it still has El-P's signature sound all over it. This album is the quintessential example of how an artist can go in a different direction, but still create amazing and memorable music.



I dislike 95% of commercial rap and I'm extremely thankful for El-P, Mr. Lif, Aesop, Can. Ox, Rob Sonic, etc. keeping hip-hop cerebral and real. El-P set the bar with "Fantastic Damage", and now he has raised it with "I'll Sleep When You're Dead.""

A Great But Difficult Album

billy | 03/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I keep reading that El-P has eased up on the carpet bombing production techniques and started using melody. That he has slowed down his flow and let his tracks breathe a little more on his new album. Now that I finally got my grubby little hands on El's new album I'll Sleep When Your Dead, I've found that there is more melody, he has slowed down his flow, and his tracks do breathe a little more (I stress a little more).



So all these things should make for a more accessible listening experience right? Well it's not. ISWYD is arguably less accessible than his 2002 debut Fantastic Damage. When you listen to Fantastic Damage for the first time, it's possible to be completely overwhelmed by the virtuoso complexity of the whole thing. The beats are abrasive and noisy, and the lyrics are almost indecipherable without a written copy in front of you. But on Fantastic Damage, the beats, though abrasive and noisy, are very immediate. You can nod your head along with most of the songs. On ISWYD, the beats are generally more noisy and chaotic. It's hard to really pick something out that's at all catchy, at least on the first listen.



This is one of those albums that you have to let marinate. After a few listens you start to hear the hook on Run the Numbers, and you start to realize that the drum line on EMG is pretty great. On first listen, the opener Tasmanian Pain Coaster is a frustrating experience. There is really nothing approaching conventional hip hop on the close to 7 minute track. But then you bust out the lyric sheet and read along with the song. You realize what the songs about, and then you begin to hear all the layers of production. ISWYD is one of those onion albums, the more you listen to it the more layers you peel off.



Production wise, El-P continues to evolve. Though he has a recognizable style, he changes his approach slightly for the performer he is working with. He uses heavy, slow urban beats for Cannibal Ox, or fuzzy and hard beats for Mr. Lif. On this album, his production suits the dark tone of the album. The songs are mainly about social commentary and are a critique of the government and society, so the beats are heavy, sludgy and noisy, fitting the tone of the lyrics.



As an MC, El-P has always been technically great, but a little obtuse. On this album his delivery is a bit more measured, actually rapping with the beat instead of overpowering the beat. He has also improved as a storyteller. Just listen to him describe meeting a friend who he hasn't seen in a while on the opening track and noticing that he has blood on his laces.



So nothing has really changed for El-P. The sound is slightly different, but he's still concerned with paranoia and social critiques. His work is still complex and difficult, but with repeated listening it can be very rewarding. This is easily the best rap album of the year so far, and it's really not even close.

"

More like 3.5, but Amazon still doesn't offer that, even aft

Patrick G. Varine | Georgetown, Delaware | 04/04/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"At first, "Sleep When..." sounds like El-P's furthest departure yet from the independent hip-hop he championed and pioneered with Company Flow.



Tracks with the Mars Volta? Cat Power? Trent REZNOR?!



But then the beat drops on 'Tasmanian Pain Coaster,' and you realize it's just El peeling the next corroded layer off the post-apocalyptic production style of which he is the true master.



To be sure, there are a few moments of what you might call Def-Jux-By-Numbers here and there, but most of the time, 'Sleep When...' hits like a 50-megaton bomb... and sounds like one, too.



Where his steez on Cannibal Ox's 'Cold Vein' was a futuristic grime rooted firmly in the street, this new disc is almost the opposite: street grime beamed aboard an alien battlecruiser, firing blasts at a burnt-out New York City. But instead of sounding all sci-fi-paranoid, as he did on 'Fantastic Damage,' 'Sleep When...' finds El hitting several different modes, from the Bush-bashing 'Dear Sirs,' performed in a free-poem, 7-beat measure to an out-and-out love story (on a spaceship, natch) in 'Habeas Corpses.'



The opener ('Tasmanian...') embodies everything that's great about this album: dense layers of rusty noise flying off in all directions, grounded by a beat that wouldn't sound out of place on an early Run DMC record, punctuated by El's conscious streaming. To be sure, his flow is an acquired taste, but heads who say it's garbage or that it doesn't rhyme...? Stick with Lil' Jon, then...



'Up All Night' is the best beat of 2007 so far, in my book, 'Drive' is a dark ride in a dirty jalopy, and 'EMG' is some evil-nasty-funk with some of the best wordplay on the album.



I'm not sold on 'Flyentology,' and I have to agree with another reviewer that Reznor's vocals are kinda corny; you'd think the NIN collabo would be some of the darkest s*** on the album, but no.



To be honest, I'd liked to have seen more hip-hop guests (I'd LOVE to hear Vast Aire rip the beats on 'Tasmanian' and 'Drive'), but this is definitely one of the densest, heaviest hip-hop albums to come out of late. Does it take a listen or two to digest it all? Yup. Is it worth the time? No doubt."