Chicago based MC Kid Static and producer Yea Big (real name Stefan Robinson) both already have a number of separate releases under their belts, Static with his 2005 debut album Have You Seen This Man? Through Anodyne Electric Company, while Robinson released his own solo collection The Wind That Blows The Robot’s Arms through the Chicago-based Locust label last year. After initially meeting back in 2005 online when Stefan was apparently getting trashed on a Chicago hiphop forum whilst searching for a vocalist, this 7″ through Metal Postcard offers up the first taste of the duo’s self-titled collaborative album, with four new tracks from the duo included here.
“Heavy Catamaran’ sees Yea Big fusing stuttery sampled Southern blues guitar licks with noise-heavy, scattershot MPC barrages while Static lays down his verbal flow in a style that suggests Mr. Lif’s excitable hair-trigger timber, the jagged crunch generated by the slamming beats underlining the Def Jux comparisons. “Steady Syringe’ sees lo-fi, arcade game-style electronics trailing around distortion-laced sampled kicks and spidery electro snares as Static shouts out his chorus hook of “two cool cats from the city of wind’ and Yea Big pushes the entire track to a digitally-contorted flameout, before “Powerful Jones’ injects a political note as skittery programmed rhythms slam and vaguely ragtime-flavoured horn samples add a crazy jazz edge that once again calls to mind NASA’s production on Mr. Lif’s I Phantom album. Finally, “Mind Of Your Own’ offers up what was easily my favourite track here, with Yea Big pumping up the levels of paranoiac dread with some cavernous snare breaks, booming sub-bass drops and sinister robotic electronics as Static obsesses over resisting the various seething mechanisms that threaten to co-opt his intellect. A extremely impressive collaborative debut that suggests big things in store for this inspired pairing – regardless of whatever the Chicago forum haters thought.
Chris Downton
