Demune

For his latest, Demune has opted to go the remix route, reworking the weaker tracks from previous album Crossbreeding and Grafting, as well as adding two new songs and remixes of two songs from his earlier albums. While the remixes are almost always better than the originals, it’s also worth noting that the only highlight from Crossbreeding and Grafting that gets remixed is "Damaged Goods,” the best song on that album and the only song on Fossils to receive the remix treatment twice. Both keep Demune’s spoken-word delivery and odd emphasis, but they also do away with the dark, spacey beat of the original. Nejel’s version is up-tempo, jazzy hip-hop with a fun live jam feel, and Cars & Trains turns "Damaged Goods” into minimal glitch-hop. Rayplay, J. Lauxen, Mole and (repeatedly) Mattr also make the originals into harder, faster, more experimental remixes. Unfortunately, Jai Lewis only comes through on his two remixes, "Firefly” from EXN and "Brains” from Attack of the Zombie King, but is somewhat boring with his trip-hop beats for new songs "Vent” and "Jack of all Trades,” and Yosef Una is a little repetitive with his production for epic posse cut "Good Morning Sun.” They’re not bad songs, just lulls that slow the flow. Still, Fossils does make for a great introduction to Demune's art-rap, although it’s best as a companion piece to Crossbreeding and Grafting.