Echo Chamber

構成数 : 2枚
合計収録時間 : 00:00:00
Brown University graduate MC Paul Barman made a major splash throughout the underground hip-hop scene around the turn of the millennium, but by the time he released his cringe-inducing debut album in 2002, most people had long since grown tired of his schtick, and he seemed to vanish soon afterwards. In actuality, he kept busy teaching, writing, and raising a family, occasionally releasing digital full-lengths or mixtapes and making guest appearances on albums by Open Mike Eagle, Kool Keith, DJ Yoda, and others. (((echo chamber))) is Barman's first album to receive a physical release since 2002's disastrous Paullelujah!, and it's a clear improvement on his past work. He already proved himself to be a highly skilled rapper when his first widely distributed EPs appeared in 2000, able to spew out complex yet casual-sounding rhymes that seamlessly mixed highbrow literary references and sophomoric jokes, but his work on (((echo chamber))) is unmistakably more mature than his older material. The postgraduate hijinks portrayed on early releases like It's Very Stimulating are replaced by more profound musings on race, religion, poverty, and family life, and even though Barman still has a ribald sense of humor, it's deployed more skilfully here. The production, helmed by past collaborators such as MF DOOM, Questlove, Prince Paul, and Memory Man, is thoroughly top-notch, with Barman's off-the-wall cadences matched by rapid-fire samples and choppy grooves. On the opening title track, Barman calmly trades rhymes with Open Mike Eagle over an easygoing rhythm lifted from Stereolab's "Come and Play in the Milky Night" (previously sampled by Busta Rhymes, who is namechecked here). On tracks like "(((believe that)))" and "(((meat n bone)))," Barman vomits out words at an absurdly fast rate while thoroughly dissecting topics such as sex and his own innovative word usage. He also indulges in long-winded fantasy narratives on tracks like "(((hairy moth owl 2)))," where the jaunty backing track runs out before his tale does. Barman's style (and especially his voice) couldn't possibly appeal to everyone -- in fact, it's safe to say that he's even more of an acquired taste in 2018 than he was two decades prior. Regardless, (((echo chamber))) is impressive, and unquestionably his best work. ~ Paul Simpson