Salt Lake City-based producer Lapsed (real name Jason Stevens) has previously been responsible for two preceding albums of hip-hop centred glitchy electronics on Ad Noiseam, his 2004 debut Twilight exploring an edged click-hop aesthetic, while its untitled 2005 follow-up saw Lapsed veering more towards headnodding, syncopated beat structures. Two years on, this third album The Death Of Convenience represents something of a significant shift forward in Lapsed’ approach, with Stevens teaming up in the studio with longtime live turntablist collaborator Nonnon (aka Dave Madden) to create a collection that ranges from contorted glitch-hop and electro, right through to noisy, near-breakcore explorations, with a lot more vocals making their way into the mix, thanks to a brace of MC collaborators including Shadowhuntaz’ Non Genetic, Giovanni Marks and newcomer Buck Dexter. It’s also a collection that comes complete with its own vague conceptual theme, with opening track “Better Your Best’ locking straight down amidst a rhythmic backdrop of steel-plated beats and dark buzzing synths that calls to mind Techno Animal’s industrial-edged excursions, as a sampled motivational speaker taken from vintage sources asks you whether you understand “the difference between success and failure.’ Hint – it’s a matter of attitude.
Just as rolling jazz breakdowns begin to die away amidst samples of what sounds like a unionist telling workers just how many people are about to lose their jobs, “Dead End Stare’ interjects with grinding, stuttered electro elements that sit far closer to Edit’s recent crunked-up outings, with Buck Dexter’s MC flow being reduced at points to a jittering rhythmic mass, thanks to Lapsed’s meticulous digital editing, as Nonnon’s delayed-out cuts lurch and roil atop menacing bass synths. Interlude skit track “Ad Noiseam’ clearly shows that the boys definitely aren’ taking things too seriously, with a telephone call to label boss Nicolas Chevreux that results in the exclamation that their music is shit, they should pick a genre and he can’t shift their stuff, with this ongoing humorous theme being explored further when labelmate Mothboy pops up, offers them a beat he’s been working on, and then beatboxes it in hilariously deliberately crap style straight down the phone line. While the above moments are guaranteed to raise a smile, there’ certainly plenty of meat to this album, as explemified by “God Is A Glitch’ MC cypher between Subtitle/Giovanni Marks, Nongenetic and Bleubird amidst funky, distorted electro synths in a similar vein to Modeselektor, the occasional furiously drilling breakcore burst creeping into the cavernous spaces between the torturously contorted hip-hop rhythms. Delightfully twisted and meticulously programmed stuff indeed – fans of the likes of the aforementioned Modeselektor and Edit should be well thrilled.
Chris Downton
