Antipop Consortium Vs Matthew Shipp

My favourite MC from Antipop consortium was always High Priest. I seem to remember him on an APC track a while ago saying something interesting, "this is what you bullshit ass radio DJ's need to be playing. If you gave your listeners something interesting to listen to, maybe they might like it, but no, you keep playing the same shit!" Now let's be honest, that's not really a very unique or bold comment coming from anyone thesedays. More or less every intelligent observer of hip-hop seems to be protesting it's current commercialisation. A lot of people merely voice these hollow protests because it gives them more credability. Some people say it because they can actually remember a time when hip-hop was an innovative art-form. Even fewer people however, would call for some different music, and then go out and make it. Some people really do mean it when they say they want to hear something different. Priest, and APC, must have really meant it.

This record is consists of APC with (or versus?) Matthew Shipp, a jazz pianist, who is accompanied by his group which includes players on trumpet, double bass, vibes and drums. That description is enough in itself to put those tired protests about the state of hip-hop straight to bed, and start embracing what is actually being created now. I would call it music, but from whichever side you look at it, this is innovative. This new creative movement is happening all over music, and it's time to join in and feel our way through it. Having said all of that, I am assuming this is not their latest material, because more or less everyone who follows them is aware that APC broke up a while ago.

The album opens with Places I've never been, a powerful piano piece that mainly features Mathew Shipp and members of his band. Whilst APC do contribute to some of the production here, it is somewhat disheartening not to hear them rip it lyrically right from the start. One of the problems with the first three or four songs however, are that there are few signs of any significant collaboration between the two groups. That's not to say you can't hear the two styles being played together, but they rarely seem to merge very well or add anything musically to the tracks. Slow Horn is quite simply the shit. As Priest says on the intro, "I think there'd be some very angry listeners if there wasn't no vocals on this", he proceeds to flow like a stoned E-40 with lyrics that are bold, powerful, commanding and yet beautifully simple as always (he's my favourite remember?) SVP consists of a dreamy piano loop that undergoes many electronic effects and filters through it's 5 minute journey, like a lot of the Antipop production, it's not always in harmony with Shipps more organic sounds, and sometimes sounds a little crude in comparison. As far as APC go lyrically, the presence of Beans and Priest is always all-dominating, and whenever they do really shine as MCs, it's their own production that seems to be accompanying them. Check Coda and the previously mentioned Slow Horn for examples of these dope but strictly speaking APC-solo ventures with little in the way of Matthew Shipp.

Examples of the more positive signs of significant collaboration are to be found in the Monstro City, which is remeniscent of some of the early Gil-Scott Heron poetry recordings (M.Sayyid of APC is on the mic here), infused with intense piano and some very satisfying playing by drummer Guillermo E. Brown. Real is Surreal contains an eerie synth track which Beans must have been feeling, as he spits some of his understated, powerful poetry, "As popular as the plague...pulling the tongue from it's windpipes, placing my hands in his head like hair, checking the eyelids for holes...A bullet in the full fury of it's flight, shot into the aimless space can strip the sky of the stars, but you have not touched God..."

Antipop are no longer just anti-pop, they're pro-music, and this record will do a lot for the MCs of that now legendary crew. While this may not have been one of the most memorable collaborations, it was always more of a concept album, full of musical possibilities than a blueprint for guaranteed musical success. In some parts there is harmony and the vibe is right, in others, it really sounds as if the two groups could be doing the same things on their own. A lot of Matthew Shipp's playing does not really speak to me, it lacks an edge in some places and sounds just a little too safe. In other places it is barely present at all, making a few pointless cameos in between APC's programmed synth and drum breaks. For the very best that Mathew Shipp's band have to offer, check the last track Free Hop, in which every member has a chance to shine, especially trumpet player Daniel Carter. For the best of M.Sayyid, Beans and the High Priest, just keep your eyes open and your ears horizontally placed to the (under)ground, you never know where they're going to pop up next.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi