Customer Reviews

Abandoned Language

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4 star:		(1)
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If you want to give me a chill, bump Dälek while you cruise down my block (The Game and all the other so-called gangstas and watered down Master P's pose less of a fear than the inevitable, unwarranted chunk of hard stuff in my cereal box). As hard as Tyson and methodical as Hannibal Lecter, MC Dälek and producer Oktopus (minus turntablist Still, these days) is the duo Tipper Gore should have worried about, as if they had their way, they would bring down the whole GD system. On this fourth full-length, they work their perpetual motion machine to perfection, Dälek snarling his bitter list of reparations and intellectual hopelessness while marching alongside gravelly textures and weathered beats. You've heard these sorts of statements about every Dälek joint, so what's good? This time, the production is stepped up, the vocals are clear and often manipulated, live strings (check out the Black Angels-esque intro on "Lynch") and brass abound and the orchestration is carefully restrained, all contributing to the group's most dynamic album to date. At once, gorgeous and terrifying.

Before you rabid Dalek fans out there jump right to dropping me negative feedback, know that I can appreciate and respect the sound that the band is shooting for. I just don't think that they've quite perfected the formula... yet, at least. For those that are unaware, Dalek is a two-man act from New Jersey consisting of a MC(of who the band is named) and producer(Oktopus) and have been making some of the most challenging and experimental "hip-hop" on the market since they debued. Blending often heavy and abrasive industrial backdrops with straight ahead rhyming and scratching, a simplified comparison might be Chuck D of Public Enemy spitting over a bassier Nine Inch Nails track. Sounds interesting right? It is, but it does have it's share of problems too. One major knock is MC Dalek himself... he's a good MC, with the ability to bring thought-provoking and political lyrics with an always smooth delivery. Here's the thing though, that delivery seems to harness a single flow and speed when he drops his rhymes, whether it's over heavy or more mild and ambient tracks, making an entire album(and career really) worth of fairly repetitive sounding verses. Now on to the beats which are what really sets this apart from anything you've heard before. This is some pretty heavy stuff(although this album is their "lightest" sound yet), and it's done mostly without instruments(think more a freight train locking up it's brakes), resulting in some engaging yet ear shattering concoctions. Again though, by the end of the album it has a tendency to sound formulaic due to the MC's even keel delivery throughout, over tracks that often erupt for the chorus and drop back down for the verses(there's also a tendency for the music to overpower the rhymes making them hard to decipher). With a more diverse combination of beats and delivery I have no doubt that Dalek could be the future of Hip Hop, until then though, they are what they are... a niche experiment who's sound may alienate more than invite new listeners(too heavy for rap fans, too hip hop for metal fans). This ISN'T a negative review(believe it or not), Dalek is an original and progressive force in music(which is rare these days) and I can completely understand why some are so enthralled by them... the question is, will you be? Listen to the samples provided by Amazon and find out for yourself, you may be surprised by what you hear(whether it's pleasantly, only you can say?).

"Abandoned Language" is the title of Dalek's recent cd of new material. They also have a collection of unreleased material that just came out.
Abandoned Language. Quite open-ended in possible meanings. One example could be the abandonment of language as a means to convey something meaningful and truthful in many mainstream areas. Politics, media, religion, pop culture- that list could be quite long. Certainly in hip-hop culture, only one of the areas that Dalek takes head on much like the hard hitting cartoon and now cable tv show Boondocks does, many of the qualities of languange have been dumb-downed to a resultant abyss of numbingly coarse words and phrases that are at once both sad and fairly appalling. I'll let Dalek's lyrics speak to this, rather than bludgeon you with a sermon.
Speaking of lyrics, the lyric sheet is (to these 51 year old eyes) almost unreadable without serious effort. The graphics are really dense, thorny and difficult, much like the music itself. Of course perhaps that was the intent of this serious and thoughtful band. Ah yes, the music- a wonderful and invigorating blend of old school hip hop and rap beats, dark and minimal, guitars/keyboards/sampled sounds that obviously show that My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth records were once spun on their turntables, sax and flutes that could have been on an Ornette Coleman or Don Cherry session, and vocals that rap heavy and hard. Don't look for bling bling or booty refereces. A little Chuck D without the ego and bravado, a little Tavis Smiley without the nice clothes, and a whole LOT to say.

"Who trades his culture for dollars?
The fool or the scholar?
Griot? Poet? or White Collared?"

or

"Broken paragraphs hold wrath of a hundred million deep
Bleak circumstance led masses to only want to dance
A bastard child of Reaganomics poised in a B=boy stance"

The chainsaw sonics of Absense, their previous release, has been tamed down a bit,
no, make that toned down, but the tense, bottled up energy is still there just waiting to explode. It just SOUNDS less agressive and nasty.
If this sounds like it might interest you, PLEASE go to their website http://www.deadverse.com/ and check out their free (!) full length (!!) songs. You might start with "Ever Somber" from the Absense album.

Dalek follows up Absence with another masterpiece that is Abandoned Language. They have definitely grown since thier last offering, and while the controlled choas of rhythm and drum and other ambient sound has transformed a bit, it still maintains ominous tones and gritty notes that are trademark. There is better clarity and more crisp production on this album imo. My favorite tracks are Starved for Truth, and Tarnished!

If you listen to each Dälek release in a row, you can tell they are evolving with each release. Filthy Tounges was grittier and louder and more complex than Nekros, Absence was more focused, stripped-down, and consistent than Filthy Tounges, and this album, Abandoned Language... is much more complex, subtle, and epic than all of them. It uses alot of out-of tune farifsa (i think thats the instrument) with deceptive lines that seem simple but are actually complex (like a Meshuggah song). The beats are repetative, but everything else is constantly changing. The melodies and chords have alot of thought and work put into them (Oktopus is showing is classical music influences here) and it makes for a great listening experience. Dälek's lyrics are better here than in past releases, and there are more lyrics as the songs are longer and more complex. I imagine that they are gonna be remembered as one of the great hip hop groups of all time... i can imagine still liking this stuff in 30 years. The only complaints I have about the album are that there are maybe 2 songs that aren't that memorable, and they sound kind of the same anyhow. The beats are a little distractingly simple and repetative and makes the album sound not as interesting as it really is. Other than that, this album may need to sit with you for a while for you to appreciate everything thats going on. It's produced GREAT. The guest turntable work is some of the most beatiful and artistic turntable playing I've heard. The lyrics are in the liner notes for once, and thanks Will for doing that, some are so great you want to read them to let them really sink in. The art work is great too. I personally like this album the most out of all there stuff. But really, if I could take out the least-interesting aspects (about 1/3) out of all 4 albums (5 if you count the Faust one), you'd have 4 near perfect albums. Actually I'd include their rarities album too, its wonderful. Great group and one I'll excitedly watch in the future.

first off, i'm a little biased because over the past 5 years dalek has become one of, if not my favorite group. Their new album definately carries on their legacy of releasing masterpiece after masterpiece. Although much different from absence, which was a constant sonic blitzkreig that can beat down even the most hardcore of hip hop fans, abandoned language is more of a perfect blend of all of dalek's previous work, including their debut ep, and other two full length releases. the result is once again, another album that i know will be forever in rotation. Not only is the music quality top notch, the cd insert is easily the best i have ever seen. these guys put effort into their releases and it's an honor to purchase such a finely crafted piece of work.

This music at its finest...In my opinion. The last two Dalek records invited my hungry mind to something new in sound, direction, lyrical meaning, and aesphetic. This record finally pushes all of those qualities to the most demanding limit. The song writing may be latent at first, but it definitely has a style and unique effect. The lyrics and word flow are from a mind of exceptional obsevation and astuteness. The end result is akin to a dream that awakens yet frightens. Layers and layers of diverse sounds and instruments give the assumption that these producers are seriously involved when making their music. "Abondoned Language" is a revolution of culture in the form of music, although I fear with my cynicism that it will widely be ignored. But as Dalek expresses it "Never write my songs for consumers,Ironic cause I write for heads with fat laces on their pumas".