Sensational

During a Japanese tour last spring, Wordsound’s resident homeless rapper Sensational put some downtime to good use, turning a one-day recording session with Osaka’s upstart noise architect Kouhei Matsunaga into his seventh solo album since his time with the Jungle Brothers. The resulting album fits snugly within the Wordsound catalogue. Kouhei’s production is lo-fi, stripped-back glitch-hop that’s not afraid to be funky, and it proves to be the perfect beatscape for Sensational’s abstract, weeded-out (and about weed) vocals that sit somewhere between one-take writtens and inspired freestyles. Sure, he fumbles through his rhymes trying to maintain his flow on the (relatively) groovy "Lion of sweaty hand” and seems unprepared for the beat to end on "Skrippin’,” but this disregard for vocal professionalism has always been part of his appeal. And it’s bound to be more evident with only one day to record the album’s ten collaborative tracks. The rest of the album is rounded out with a Kouhei instrumental, "131415;” Sensational’s self-produced dance floor warmer, "Genuine”; an Autechre remix entitled "Sensachre 10 mix,” which ends up being the most involved and complex production on the album; and a remix for "Purple Peeps,” which has long-time collaborator Spectre smoothing out the glitch-hop with Wordsound’s signature illbient sound. Sensational meets Kouhei is dirty, lo-fi grunge, perfect for those adverse to that commercial gloss.