High Priest

Former Antipop Consortium member High Priest goes solo for the first time in his unending mission to create a sound that remains completely outside the accepted norms of both hip-hop and electronic music composition with his latest release, Born Identity. Though hip-hop remains its root, Priest’s schizophrenic, stream of consciousness arrangements blend elements of heavily synthesised dub rhythms, crunk Atlanta hi-hats, fractured time signatures, philosophical lecture snippets and dank, expansive soundscapes into a toxic brew that never ceases to challenge the digestive system. Dark and heavy productions are pervasive, matching the MC’s complex and often poignant lyricism, which on "Monk Street” finds him personifying a prison building before representing the blacks who most frequently visit it over a sluggish and booming, synth-studded backbeat. The echoing "Book Of Keys” further drags listeners to the depths of Priest’s creative pool, as he delivers a Ghostface-type flow through a wailing-guitar-led, moody wall of broken sounds. Like-minded experimenters TV on the Radio join in to wrap up this disc with the horror movie keyboard closer "Keep Time,” the final notes of an exploratory mind-trip on which nothing’s made easy.