staedtizism 3

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Opening with a creaking minor glitch loop and the heavy thump of a beat Scot La Rock would be proud of, you have an idea of where this comp is going... heavily smoke influenced, gangsta swayed, bass shakin' microsampled hip muthafuckin' hop!

Instrumentals, the third in the Staedtizism series from Stefan Betke's label ~Scape, follows on from it's predecessor compilations, which were dedicated to dub and jazz respectively, this one focussing on the influence of hip hop on electronic music.

The tracks vary from tha straight up dope sound through to Nightmares-on-Wax-ish slinky numbers, and more minimal dub-infused bass-bin shakers.

As a whole the album flows really well, across all it's styles, maintaining the common theme but also touching on many different sounds.

Cappablack brings down an outstanding fucked up turntablist, b-boys on liquid, spastic beat, sounding akin to the cut n' paste hip hop of Chocolate Industries, tweaked out raps skitter between heavily processed and filtered beats.

Kit Clayton's '!etymon, no!' sounds like Gold Chain's mini-me, tweaking max/msp behind the glowing screen of an i-book or some pfunk-obsessed infant AI system recording it's first track, twisted and contorted layers of sound and samples creating a hybrid alt-hip hop for machines.

John Tejada, more known for his tech/microhouse sound lays down an almost straight up hip hop track, with flowing neatly cut borrowed rhymes, and a stabbing organ loop that wouldn't be out of place on a Tribe album.

Process' 'Smooth Momentum' catches you unawares, the beat tripping over itself, like watching a swaying glass about to fall, yet never quite tumbling, carried along on burbling analog funkiness.

Antonelli Electr. takes it really easy with an r 'n' b style end of the evening silent crooner, and closing the comp is System with a chugging electro driven beast, swathed in swirling vocal snippets that could almost maybe be human beatbox.

It's hard to pick out any favs, as each track stands well by itself, and as an overall collection, it's an excellent listen whether on the headphones, or coming through a good sound system. The 'hip hop' tagline may be a bit misleading for the IDM-heads, but certainly don't let it put you off, as its a great showcase of some of the most innovative and out there electronic producers of the moment.