Daedelus

It appears that this cat from Santa Monica has finally found a nice little corner in hip-hop to tuck into. With the occasional appearance in lime green trousers, Daedelus doesn’t quite look like someone who has had his accordion sampled by Madvillain and has worked with the who’s who of underground hip-hop in America. The music on Exquisite Corpse tosses and turns between electronic improvisation to abstract hip-hop that samples from dusty 78s that most peeps can’t even play on their turntables. The results are often quite beautiful and organic sounding, sometimes stringing a defining beat for the likes of MF Doom or Mike Ladd to flip a script on, or just piling various chimes and strings together like an unconventional orchestra. Some of the best moments come when an MC steps up to plate and tries to string words amongst Deadelus’s unique compositions, except for the ever-annoying TTC flowing en français on "Cadavre Exquis.” Some champions of the heap are absent of vocals, such as the Prefuse 73-assisted "Welcome Home,” which basically sounds identical to a Prefuse number, thanks to the fact that these two producers are subject to constant comparisons. Another amazing effort has to be the epic "Crippled Hand,” which begins as a soft drifting melody and slowly builds into a frenzy of intensity as Daedelus mashes together all sorts of horns and drums with chilling results. This is easily one of the best packages to come from this emerging talent and, though a somewhat complex listen, will soon make complete sense after a few laps around the track.