DJ SERIOUS Dim Sum Sound King

DJ Serious is a member of the Canadian hip-hop _ collective known as the Cryptik Souls Crew (who consequently were the focus of a Len single of the same name). In this album, DJ Serious has enlisted help from some of his friends, who happen to be some of Canada’s hottest MCs, including D-Sisive, Asicks, Nish Rawks, and Clas. The highlight of this album, without a doubt, are the three D- Sisive tracks. Just nineteen years old, D-Sisive is one of Canada’s up-and-coming rap stars, with a sense of humor equaled only by his considerable rhyming skills. This is a swell album for hip-hop fans looking for a break from all that

top-forty. -ROC

Marp! GRAS.BB Supersmell Universal

Every once in a while, an album

sneaks into the Cadre offices that is

a pleasant surprise. Supersmell is one of those albums. Mardis Gras.BB, which is either a German band or a band that is big in Germany, combine hip hop sam- ples and scratches with music from the American south. It is a treat to

a Ne ee RR a ce

hear their version of “Baby Elephant Walk,” a song | prominently featured in the “Dancin’ Homer” episode

have a lively and eclectic sound that may put you in the mood to jump around like a drunk monkey.

-JC

THE WALLFLOWERS Breach Interscope

The Wallflowers have returned from their four year studio hiatus with the follow up to their critically acclaimed Bringing Down _ the Horse. Jakob Dylan (Bob’s son) has written all of the songs for the groups latest compilation. Much like their 1996 release, all of the songs are radio friendly such as the first single Sleepwalker. What this

album lacks though, is songs.

There are only 10 tracks (plus a hidden track) and the CD is only 42 minutes long. But it is still a good pick up for the true Wallflower fan and for those who didn’t give them a chance before.

-AG

BLACK EYED PEAS Bridging The Gap Interscope

Bridging the Gap adds another vic- tory for the Hip Hop side in the rap battle between the fake bling bling rappers and the true hip hop cats. Black Eyed Peas who first shone on the Bulworth soundtrack a cou- ple of years ago come through on their debut effort. The Peas are helped out by fellow hip hopers Wyclef, Mos Def and De La Soul as well as R&B’s Esthero, Marcy Gray and Les Nubians on this

album which only haves a few

weak joints. -JMAMA

of The Simpsons. They

RADIOHEAD Kid A EMI

Although lead singer Thom Yorke says the title of Radiohead's fine new album, Kid A, is derived from the notion of a prototype for the cloned man, it is still obviously influenced by the work of Carl Steadman specifically, and the Internet in general.

Rolling Stone called Kid A a space-opera, others have called it a rock-opera; it is neither. Kid A is hypertext. All jumpy and tangen- tial. Any chord can lead to some strange sound, run, no doubt, through a computer to weird it up even more.

Radiohead understand bet- ter than most that in the post-ironic haze of music in the year 2000, the only way to make something truly memorable is to make it implode. Nothing can contain the seeker on the Internet except the limit of his own imagination and his faith in the reliability of the next hyperlink. Faith is key in cyberspace, just as a dose of faith is necessary for a

thorough digestion (dissection) of Kid A.

The album begins, at least in the first two tracks, absent any guitar. When asked whether he worried about alienating his old fans, Yorke replied smartly that he "had no choice" he was "sick of white boy complaining,” his own mostly. And Kid A is not a com- plaint at all. In fact, except for Yorke and the mostly brilliant use of a sampler, Kid A could pass for something other than the band that was Radiohead.

The best Flash designer in the world, Joshua Davis, who makes a __— website called "PRAYSTATION", calls the art of manipulating shockwave movies in cyberspace the art of "creating complexity from simplicity" and Kid A lives by that dictum. It is like a car that starts and then possesses the driver, in the end leaving him quite unsure of what road he is on, or where is he is going.

"The National Anthem" and its semi-indecipherable lyrics; "How To Disappear Completely" and its alluring haunt; "Idioteque" and its weird wonderful ramblings: the fact that there is a surprise behind the CD itself in the packag- ing, not the lyrics but a reasonable hand-drawn facsimile there of.

Kid A is hypertext, and great hypertext at that. It is worthy of faith and effort, like Steadman's work, from whence the album draws its name, its motivation and its soul.

-KJB