Super Sucklord

When Supergenius combined his loves of hip-hop and Star Wars, he hit on something good: an album of instrumental theme songs depicting characters and themes using samples from the original trilogy and the holiday special. Star Wars Breakbeats was a success since it stuck to simplicity of theme and limited sampling of a few short, select samples per song. It was catchy. As Super Sucklord, he followed with the less successful, Lord of the Rings-inspired Sauron Speaks, which sacrificed some of the catchiness with more complicated themes, and more and longer samples. The pressure was on for Supervillains, a collage of characters and situations culled from sci-fi and fantasy films, cartoons and video games. He continues the attempt to tell stories, but Sucklord has also refined his production to turn out a nice selection of dark, sci-fi nerd-hop and groovy disco — and sometimes a little mix of both. Plus, his use of sound effects for music, as on "Villain Invader Break,” helps builds an authentic atmosphere. A few tracks even stand up to the high-standards of the disco-frenzied "Trials of a Jedi”: when all "Hail Ming! (Ruler of the Universe),” Doom’s bid for "Master of the World,” Skeletor’s boasts to being "Eternia’s Greatest,” or the Green Goblin and the Vulture’s revenge with "Gremlin Dust,” come easily to mind. Supervillains may be good for the nostalgia, but it’s great for the grooves.