Two Fingers

While it's fair to say, at least with regards to hip-hop, that experimentation for the sake of experimentation is not necessarily the only path to rejuvenation, at this point it certainly couldn't hurt. The more electronically inclined have often stepped up to this challenge in the past, and this time it's producer Amon Tobin, along with Brit beat-smith Doubleclick, who throws his hat into the ring with the fervent, subterranean moods of his latest Two Fingers project. On their eponymous debut disc, the two bring some serious heat with their biting selection of techy, constantly evolving rhythms and pungent synthesized sounds while UK motor mouth MC Sway matches the heat with some (largely) well-suited verses. Various sonic elements conspire to take this set well outside of hip-hop's accepted conventions, like screaming sirens and dirty, three A.M. drum & bass breakdowns, or the South Asian influences of "Keman Rhythm" and "Jewels and Gems." And while some of the experiments expectedly miss the mark, fans of Tobin's noted unconventional wizardry will not be disappointed.