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| A couple of years ago, let's say around 2000 there was an armada of science fiction type rappers. Using big words, Blade Runner type scenarios and aliens and conspiracy theories and all that stuff was really popular. It was around that time Dynamics Plus released the double EP "Dynamic Universe Volume 4" and the record was simply amazing. Fast forward a couple
of years - and apparently skip volume 5 - and the man from the Fallout Shelter returns with another double EP, hopefully repeating the quality of that other record. |
| Plus is still a fast rapper and gathers your attention with determined verses. But he is one of these super scientifical madness rappers and thus only incompletely reaches the one without the dictionary. But even more so, Plus sledge hammers his music into concepts, one being "Doctor Atomics", which is some nutty professor, with a sub-terranean lab, as explained
in "Album Intro: Tour Guide". Here some folks ask questions and this woman answers them (the other concept is "Fortress Of Solitude"). |
| You gotta wonder if the time is not quite ripe for this kind of conceptuality or has already gone by. With rap music more and more content with its role as dance music that must not have a bigger literary value than an IKEA catalogue, when you're thrown into a Flash Gordon, Perry Rodan book, it just might be a little bit much. And even those that grew up or went through that
space age phase (circa 2000), will have to remember the times where imagination was mandatory for certain rap releases. |
| So that's one big hurdle. Another is to live up to our expectations, considering the praise and admiration we hold for the last album. There are certainly still songs with a lot of quality here, but you're tempted to find songs that you like as much as "Blessed Fallout" or "Retroactive" off that last record. But a - while minimalistic - "The
Big Dynamic Robot Show: Episode One" is still kinda good, but of course has nowhere near as much kudos as those other songs. Plus has certainly calmed his beats, opted for more come-up-with-instrumentation-himself and the result struggles accordingly. "Ghost Of Machines" finally gets a little hype and is good. And strangely
enough, one of the best songs on here - "Interactive Construction Module" - is a build your own beat kit, where Plus talks to a machine, putting together the beat which then is pretty nice. "Machine Slave" featuring Shae also finds approval, because she sings well and adds a haunted aspect to the song. And the last
song "End Is True: Exit Verse" would be very good, were it not spoiled by unnecessary and bad S. Wilder singing. |
| Maybe the time is right for the return of Science Fiction influenced rap beats. The release of this album certainly parallels the one of the final "Star Wars" movie. You want to hope for a fair amount of hype, because you don't want this record - or maybe more so this artist - to disappear in oblivion. As there's actual stories and plots, subplots and Plus is
definitely skilled. Listen to "S.T.A.C.I. III: Garden Of Eden" for an example, the usual lack of to-relate-to topics, is exchanged with a plot that can be exciting. But none the less, the rather calm and indistinct beats lack the panache the first record had. So if you're going to a lonely planet, take that one with you, not this one - despite the proper "S.A.F.T.A."
and "Robot Citadel: Final Siege Story." |
| review: tadah |
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