By I, Lion (Saskatoon's Neighborhood Express)
MAGNOLIUS - Mary Musth (2009)
This record is so full of varying influences; a
prog-jazz jam that wouldn't sound too out of place on a Mars Volta record. It's
a fitting opening moment, as it illustrates the operating method to follow
throughout the album. Each sound or style is a tease to hold you over until the
next baffling change-up. You'll think you're listening to an oriental-flavored
suspense scene just before realizing it has morphed into what sounds more like
the soundtrack to a Looney Tunes character tiptoeing behind the clueless
antagonist.
The changes are unexpected, which makes for some
confusion, but are skillfully stitched into a whole, cohesive fabric,
(reminiscent of the production on Blackalicious's The Craft album.) This
is not an average rap record. Don't expect to hear the verses bookended by the
hook. The hook is too busy swooping in on shifting sounds as it suits the song,
or pleases the craftsmen's whim.
Each track's composition is crafted with a level
of competency far above the standard kick/snare, bassline, and samples, a
construction mainstream hip hop hasn't been able to let go of, or improve upon
since Run-DMC essentially mastered it before most of us were born.
One of the most impressive qualities of the
music contained in this album is this: if you were to remove the MC’s raps, it would be
near unrecognizable as a hip hop album, and could be filed just as readily
under world music, smooth jazz, or avant D&B. Just when you think a track
will run it's length as an instrumental, though, MCs Shan Vincent de Paul and
Derek DaCosta tumble on top, exchanging shouts, each equally verbalizing quips
and words of wisdom one over the other, simultaneously bounding over and
ducking underneath, so that neither lies in the shadow of the other, a deft
duet of brothers in arms. Life long friends, the duo is so together, they
stand apart. Erect, clumsy, only inasmuch as you might catch a stray punch-line
to the jaw. It’s comfortable, cluttered, but I've always
believed you have got to make a mess in order to truly clean up. "Mary," a conceptual characterization
of "an aggressive counter-persona battling the demons within society and
culture," also colours the lyrical content.