(08.08.06) No-one is absolutely positive where blip hop escaped from. The first piece
of blip hop this reviewer came across was the awe inspiring Tried by 12 by
East Flatbush Project. The double wax release came out on both Ninja Tune
and Chocolate Industries and set the new genre alight as mixers such as
Autechre, Funkstörung, Squarepusher, Phoenicia and Richard Devine tried
their hand at the fantastic hip hop original. Labels like Skam, Schematic
and Chocolate industries had always been flirting with hip hop orientated
crunch in their releases, but Tried by 12 went one step further with the
full immersion of hip hop and electronica to make something new.
Nevertheless, it was not the East Flatbush Project’s pioneering release that
made an audience for blip hop, that reward must go to the multitalented
Scott Herren AKA Prefuse 73. Prefuse 73 meekly entered the scene on Warp
Records but soon exploded with a vast array of appearances on credited label
compilations, not to mention his screaming first album: Vocal Studies +
Uprock Narratives.
Nowadays, blip hop is an established genre with many artists trying to add their own unique spin to the urban computer sound. One label releasing blip hop in the States is Audio8 Recordings. One of the premier artists of the Chicago based imprint is Will Freyman AKA Polyphonic the Verbose. This summer saw Freyman release his latest LP, Abstract Data
Ark. Freyman studied classical piano as a child, but as the years passed
his interest switched to jazz and then onto urban scene. But how does
Freyman fair up in the difficult genre that is blip hop? Is he able to
compete with the likes of East Flatbush Project or even Prefuse 73? Has Freyman
found his spin on blip hop, a unique viewpoint from which to make the genre
his own?
Polyphonic’s style is quite interesting. Freyman flicks from a hip hop centered
sound into fields with a much more abstract and ambient tone; blending the
sounds as he sees fit. The album starts of well with the mixed up, cut
around and sampled in “Container Life #473.” Track two, “Moving On” is a
well made and well produced hip-hop track with some great analog plays. “Sun
and Moon” is almost like an experiment in how far Freyman can push the sound
without losing all aspects of the genre completely. An intriguing hip hop
based outing, but cut up by estranging noise and horn blows; a lyrical work
drenched and drowned in a fog of computerized sound to make for an
engagingly abstract piece. “Commuters Dream of Luke Skywalker” follows, an
echoing hip hop track that rises and falls through a maze of blips and
bleeps and drops into the lyrical “Land Rovers in the Video.” Many of Freyman’s tracks have a looping uneasiness to them. “Orange Alert
Mental Pattern” is an unnerving, atmospheric track that adopts elements from
ambient and hip hop to make for dark, mysterious yet beautiful sound.
“Machines with Sealed Inputs” is a shaking, shimmering hip hop encounter.
The lyrical foundation of the track is distorted and twisted up by
technology to create a mirage of sound and song. Glitch and vocals are
merged into an aural battle in which neither can be victorious. A great
piece. The album ends with “Happy Ending,” a track that embraces many
aspects of the blip hop sound, the vocal, the instrumental and the
computerized. The piece takes the lyrical, a tribal sound, but submerges it
in glitch and digital gravel; a track almost summing up what blip hop is all
about.
Polyphonic the Verbose has found his own style in a difficult genre. Freyman
takes all the elements of blip hop and pushes and pulls their boundaries to
almost breaking point. His sound is much more digital overall, but he never
leaves his urban influences behind. Relaxed beats, surreal soundscapes,
chopped up lyrics, full on raps and computer noise are Freyman’s tools; all
of which he uses to their full extent. Abstract Data Ark is a fine example
of what blip hop can be, a very experimental medium that is as playful as it
is artistic. This is blip hop made with thought and talent, a blend ultimately resulting in a very good effort.
Abstract Data Ark is out now on Audio8. Buy it at Amazon.com.
