Track Listing

1. Hello Popatrz
2. You've Got Maelstrom
3. Carnivores Unite
4. Sunday Siance
5. A Better Place
6. Road Rage Breakdown
7. Triptych Part 1
8. Triptych Part 2
9. Triptych Part 3
10. Jet Son
11. Music By Cavelight
12. Breathe and Start
13. Bullfight In Ireland
14. Insomniac Olympics

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34810 in Music
• Released on: 2004-03-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

1st listen: a bit odd - 5 spins later: your new favorite LP
Blockhead is genius. I'm not even talking about "Cavelight" here - Blockhead is genius. Seminally paired with one of indie-rap's most dexterous rhymers, Aesop Rock, he's always laid down some of the most ingriguing, expansive, and mind blowing beats ever commited to vinyl. No joking. Any punduit merely needs to hear the opera voice come in on the chorus to "No Regrets", or the cello that opens "Television", or even the blues guitar that opens "Happy Pills" to get an idea of what this man is capable of.

Which brings us to the debut album of our producer at large. Nothing here is as propulsive as "No Regrets", dancable as "11:35", or direct as "Daylight" (though initial printings came with a bonus disc of 5 Aesop Rock instrumentals along with it). But that isn't what Blockhead is focusing on - if he wanted to make an album of beats you could freestyle over so you could get a Def Jux deal, then he would have, but wisely decided against it. This is a slow, medatative, sorrowful album that is multilayered, multifaceted, and highly emotional.

Yet, Blockhead can still amaze. Take "Hello Popartz" - the opening track. Over a playful keyboard and child-like guitar, he layers on samples of kids saying "Wah! / Wah! / We lost the game because of Blockhead!" It takes a minute, and then you realize what the sample is from - the animated Charlie Brown cartoons. Lucy always used to call Charlie "Blockhead" when he screwed up. The sample use is glorious - smart, self-concious, and just damn witty.

Yet the Block don't stop there. "Carnivores Unite" has an 808-powered drum beat with a strong rising and falling orchestral swell that nearly reaches catharsis (admittedly a groovy catharsis). Single "Insomniac Olympics" uses rusty trupets to conjure the song's title to glorious and haunting effect. "Triptych Part 1" part one uses the producer-trick-of-the-moment (Kanye West-style sped-up soul samples) to an actual tragic effect, as the uses of the repeating lines "There is no greater love" in a manner that remains hooky AND sad in the best possible sense. Highlight "Sunday Seance" starts with a mornful solo piano and transforms it into a synth-horn wash complete with scary girl vocal sample.

But don't think it all tragedy and sadness: "A Better Place" features a mind-bending, Hendrix-like guitar solo that astounds every time. Guitar effects, blues, rock, and otherwise, always tend to appear in the least expected places. Track "Cavelight" even uses a sitar to good effect!

This certainly isn't what the casual Blockhead fan is expecting, but fans of Four Tet, DJ Shadow, and a solemn RJD2 will find oodles of enjoyment. This may be a sad album, but it also just might be one of the best this year.

(Note: odd that two other instrumental albums, El-P's "High Water: Mark" and Broken Social Scene's rereleased "Feel Good Lost" also rank among the best so far in '04. Is instrumental music making a comeback? Hmmmm ...)

Highly Recommended
This came out about the same time as RJD2's Since We Last Spoke. They are both phenomenal albums.

This album is seperated into two halves, with Triptych breaking the two sections. The first section is moody and layered with jazz samples. It's very downtempo and vibish; very enjoyable. The standout track is A Better Place, just because the bass and Jazz guitar are utterly jaw-dropping. Carnivores Unite is also very good because of it's great horn samples.
The second half of the album is a bit more exotic and the samples are a bit bigger (not literally, they are just less melancholy). I prefer the first part of it, but both are great. Insomniac Olympics are very, very good. Blockhead's drumloops are great.
This also brings a bonus disc of his best work with Aesop Rock and frankly, the whole disc is worth it just because of Daylight.

Overall, this album is great and is recommended along with RJD2's release mentioned at the beginning. Long live Hip Hop!

As Moving As Instrumental Hip-Hop Gets
Completely vocal free aside from the odd sample, the debut from relative Ninja Tune newcomer is a journey to the depths of feeling possible in Hip-Hop. Often today some positively wicked tracks are lost behind second rate vocals like P. Diddy's "Badboys For Life" and Prodigy's ill-fated single "Baby's Got A Temper" where, if provided a touch more attention, the sound alone would triple the quality of the track provided the vocals were completely eradicated. That's never a problem here. While it would be nice to imagine, say, Gift Of Gab or Buck 65 throwing some rhymes over top a track here or there, each one is a pure sound complete in it's own right. While they pretty much all follow the same formula, they sound fresh and invigorating and, at the least, make me hungry for more of the like. It'll be interesting to see what collaborations come his way in upcoming months. Keep your eye out for this one.