When you’re sick to death of So & So running their mouths
\nabout how “it’s just gonna be all right,” or eventually tire of
\nhearing punk as decoded by rednecks\/jocks, open up and say
\naaah<\/i> to NYC’s Cannibal Ox. You’ll gain some real
\notherworldly perspective in the process. But first pull your pants
\nup to your neck, because this river runs deep. There’s just no way
\nin hell you’ll feel like getting jiggy or shaking your money maker
\nafter even three songs off of
\nThe Cold Vein<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I listened to this album about five times in a row the other
\nnight, and have a major chest cold now to match the sub-zero
\natmosphere of songs like “Pigeon”:<\/p>\n
“Birds of the same feather flock together congested on a
\nmajestic street corner \/ That’s a short-time goal for most of ’em,
\n‘cuz most of them would rather expand their wings and hover over
\ngreater things \/ That’s what we call inspired flight by the pigeons
\nthat gotta eat pizza crust every night \/ And let there be light was
\nunderstood when a mic stand descended from up above and to the hood
\n\/ But I’ve graduated, got my wings, and you’ve gotta let go of my
\nconstructed Lego Eggo waffle halo.”<\/p>\n
Those lines came courtesy of emcee Vast Aire, so-named because
\nhe’s one of the few rappers sizeable enough to play professional
\nbasketball (that’s not including several among the nine-member
\nWu-Tang Clan). These aren’t bogus tales of big pimpin’, money
\ncountin’, or bootie-slappin’. Cannibal Ox are onto some grimy
\nCyborg thuds that resonate with realism, and are unfit for people
\nwho customarily listen to hip-hop to be a vicarious sociopath or a
\nporno star. The thuds arrive via El-P (aka Jamie Meline, formerly
\nof Company Flow), with a personal production style similar to Ennio
\nMorriconne mixed with Masami Akita (Merzbow). Timbaland he’s
\nnot.<\/p>\n
\nThe Cold Vein<\/i> has been re-issued in an instrumental format,
\nso you can hear the same songs sans vocals, and mixed slightly
\ndifferently. I don’t have it yet, but if the final Company Flow
\nalbum
\nLittle Johnny From The Hospitul<\/i>, which was devoid of
\nrapping, is any indication, it should be fantastic.<\/p>\n
Fresh from Def Jux, which is the new label Meline put together
\nin response to the nightmare that was Rawkus Recordings,
\nCold Vein<\/i> is (sort of) the precursor to
\nFantastic Damage<\/i>, El-P’s exquisitely long-awaited solo
\nalbum. Def Jux has bragging rights to new material by Aesop Rock,
\nRJD2, Camu Tao, Atoms Family, Masai Bey, Y@k Ballz, and several
\nothers you’ve unfortunately probably never heard of. You can start
\nwith
\nCold Vein<\/i>,
\nEnters The Colossus<\/i> by Mr. Lif, and then I’d recommend
\nFantastic Damage<\/i>. The Cannibal Ox track “Ridiculoid” was
\noriginally meant for that particular album.<\/p>\n
Rappers Vast and Vordul Megilah spin misshapen allegories on
\nCold Vein<\/i>, and use imagery more punk than punk has ever been
\ncapable of (especially now). Don’t believe me? Go on the web and
\ndownload an MP3 of “A B-Boys Alpha.” You’ll laugh quietly for a
\nsplit second, and then be thankful that nobody heard you. The only
\ntime I can think of a drums\/guitar\/bass\/vocal combo getting
\nanywhere near the disturbing vibe of that track was in 1978 when
\nthe Misfits released a single called “Bullet.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":26364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6843],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37595","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-cannibal-ox","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37595"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37595"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}