el-p - i'll sleep when you're dead

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not heard it except for the single/promo everything must go (which is great, if exactly what i expected). anyone heard it yet? i dont think its leaked so far....
apparently hes working with some indie names that im sure will endear him to the pitchfork crowd some more...

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 13:35 (eighteen years ago)

I have some track called "Smithereens", and it's wonderful. Didn't think I could possibly get excited for a new El-P album, but damned if it didn't happen anyway.

― Bernard Snowy (sixteen sergeants), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 14:02 (eighteen years ago)

so you're saying el-p is going indie

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:07 (eighteen years ago)

yaa, isn't he already endeared to the pitchfork crowd? Didn't he have a plethora of indie guests on his first album? What ever happened to him producing the Zach De la Rocha solo debut?

― Space Is the Place (Space Is the Place), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

"going indie" for El-P = teaming up w/ Xiu Xiu?

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:11 (eighteen years ago)

dont remember any indie names on the first album. from the little bits ive heard of the new one it didnt seem to be him 'going indie' but it is him obviously considering the PFM crowd a bit more (they did get the first interview with him about the new album a few months ago) which is a bit 'zzz' but i suppose it makes more sense for him. hell probably be singing on the next album or doing an rjd2 and saying he never considered himself a hip hop artist lol

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:31 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah I don't think he was ever not majorly endeared to "the pitchfork crowd" considering his first album received an 8.9 (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/17396/ElP_Fantastic_Damage) and was #11 on their top albums of 2002 (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/38222/Staff_List_Top_50_Albums_of_2002/page_4). In fact I've always considered the pitchfork crowd to be his focus group.

I was a fan of his last album, but like Andrew I had pretty much lost interest in this one. Unfortunately, I've only heard "Smithereens" and that didn't change my mind.

― matt2 (matt2), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

Whole album is pretty solid, but it's kind of a very CAUTIOUS step into indie (or I guess I should say a very reactionary step out of motormouthy Philip K Dick rap). He raps slower and more coherantly (good!) and the guests sound real natural (Cat Power! Reznor! TVOTR!) but his attempts at "melody" are a little bit hard to sit through sometimes. It's certainly unique. Sounds kinda like a Nine Inch Nails album with El-P on it. Definitely some better tracks than the two that leaked and some worse.

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:27 (eighteen years ago)

someone just played me the track with cat power. its really good but not sure about the ending when he seems to just change the beat up for the sake of it (and maybe to look more complex). interesting but it could do with a bit of tightening i think.

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:56 (eighteen years ago)

re: Indie guests on his first album, they were all Def-Jux artists, but indie nonetheless: Vast Aire, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, Cage, C-Rayz Walz....but I guess by indie you meant indie-rock, which I'm skeptical of...I'd be more excited about a new Cannibal Ox

― Space Is the Place (Space Is the Place), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 18:22 (eighteen years ago)

wasn't there a new Cannibal Ox album that was supposed to come out last year?

― Bernard Snowy (sixteen sergeants), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 18:25 (eighteen years ago)

I thought it did and no one bought it.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 18:26 (eighteen years ago)

also, I always got the impression that El-P was one of those Pitchfork-approved artists that not that many Pitchfork readers actually listen to. Sort of an eat-yr-vegetables/"don't forget, we're still cooler than you guys" pick.

xpost: ???

― Bernard Snowy (sixteen sergeants), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 18:28 (eighteen years ago)

November 2005 brought the release of a live album, "Return of the Ox: Live at CMJ," in the liner notes of which is the statement "Look out for the new full length LP by Cannibal Ox Summer of 06." Supposedly, RZA, Pete Rock and El-P are set to contribute.

― Bernard Snowy (sixteen sergeants), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 18:29 (eighteen years ago)

I guess not as this is clearly not it.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 18:29 (eighteen years ago)

i got it. doesnt seem to really hit me as hard as fantastic damage. its all very good, except for that track about his girlfriend (which sounds like hes done it before somewhere), not sure some of the more 'musical' parts work that well, but its stil interesting/strong. theres something slightly 'deflated' about it though compared to what hes done before. maybe hes just more relaxed or maybe hes just not as motivated as before. not sure. ive heard it a few times now and its kinda hard to get a handle on it - nothing really sticks out. its just a good 'album' album.

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Thursday, 8 February 2007 13:53 (eighteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

I think that I'm probably going to listen to "Tasmanian Pain Coaster" about 300 times this year.

― Oilyrags, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:58 (eighteen years ago)

On purpose, I should add.

― Oilyrags, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:59 (eighteen years ago)

Oops, no, I meant "Up All Night."

― Oilyrags, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:59 (eighteen years ago)

I really like Company Flow, but Fantastic Damage has never done anything for me. Dude was never my favorite rapper in the group. I'll give this a listen, though.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 01:18 (eighteen years ago)

Is Jus' solo stuff good? For some reason I've never checked it out.

― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 01:26 (eighteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

But perhaps the most explicit instance of the album's dark humor comes at the end of "Habeas Corpses", which imagines El-P and guest rapper Cage as workers aboard a futuristic prison ship. Their task is to "facilitate the end" for the incarcerated. (From the gunshots sprinkled throughout, it's easy to imagine what that would entail.) "It's almost romantic," Cage comments, but El-P doesn't share the enthusiasm. He's fallen in love with prisoner #247681Z, and his job is suddenly full of contradiction and nuance.

Uh?

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 16 March 2007 23:24 (eighteen years ago)

so hey, the album's pretty good, but I just read the CMG review that calls it "the first rap record relevant to a post-“Ride Around Shinin'" world" and threw up in my mouth a little bit

― bernard snowy, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:55 (eighteen years ago)

"the first rap record relevant to a post-“Ride Around Shinin'" world"

haha omg

― deej, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:59 (eighteen years ago)

haha holy shit

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:17 (eighteen years ago)

"It's almost romantic," Cage comments, but El-P doesn't share the enthusiasm.

http://z.about.com/d/rap/1/0/V/4/-/-/BirdmanandLilWayneLikeFatherLikeSon.jpg

― and what, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:23 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

An ILX pal shared Up All Night with me yesterday and damn if this isn't the best hip-hop I have heard in a decade.

― plenty chong (libcrypt), Thursday, 19 March 2009 19:18 (sixteen years ago)

Hip Hop taken to new levels.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 19 March 2009 20:47 (sixteen years ago)

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