Completing the doubleentendre, the album uses a motif or montage of death and relatedimagery as its unifying principle. In doing so, Daedalus informs theworld that hip hop—the category in which Daedalus's uniquely arranged,densely-packed beat-driven sound best fits—can offer elegies far moreinvolved that merely pouring some out for one's homies. Adhering tohabit, Daedalus uses primarily analog samples of 1950s cocktail-loungesingers, ancient-sounding 1920s and 30s piano and organ notes andcheesily ambiguous post-war string arrangements as source material. Putin front of a simple snare-and-cymbal beat or a bossa-nova percussionsample, the sound of Exquisite Corpse is more akin to classicalelegy rather than a Gothic dirge: a welcome surprise as nothing isworse than a melodramatic hip hop record. And the material is no Antigone,either. After a few minutes of instrumentals to set the mood, MF Doom'srapid fire and witty opener "Impending DOOM" mates a frantic, freneticbackbeat to his signature flow, with a string sample to keep the moodslightly mellow. Two versions of "Welcome Home" hint at some sort of anauthentic cadavre exquis; a glitch-heavy beatdown that is unmistakablyPrefuse 73, and a typically thoughtful and esoteric Mike Ladd poem,read over the original Daedalus beat: "Waiting on Pompeii/ my brain's awar machine/ waiting on the next/ another shoe is another day/ long asit doesn't fall I'm ok/ welcome home." "I Sent Off" is the closest Exquisite Corpsecomes to more "typical" electronic music, the strings-and-singeropening duet fading into a dance-club worthy crescendo of gyratingbeats. Among the more notable guest appearances is the pleasing sleeper"Drops," featuring obscure MC Cyne, laying a heartfelt rap over arelaxing jazz-inspired loop. The album's zenith is "Crippled Hand," asix-minute tour de force that showcases Daedalus's ability to dowhatever he wants with any conceivable sound, from Andean pan flutes toclipper-ship era pennywhistles. In Greek mythology, Daedalus's skill asan inventer was legendary, able to manipulate anything with dexterityand aplomb. It's hard to think of a more appropriate moniker for thehip-hop Daedalus.samples:
Read More
