MENTAL COMBAT

MODILL - Midnight Green
EV PRODUCTIONS. 18 tracks.
Released Jan 20th 2006

What a shit hot album. Three 12" singles deep & now a full length that is on some other uniquely original tangent, yet firmly placed on the ground without any head up its arse.

Emcee Racecar used to be a member of the crew Organic Mind Unit in the '90s, but he left & joined the live live hip-hop band FreeBasic where he ultimately met up with producer DJ K-Kruz, who himself is also the drummer for the indie-funk group National Trust. Got that?

K-Kruz brings a distinctively original vision that feels like a cross pollination of a few styles. It straddles a landscape that is in-between classic NY 90s, quirky glitchy Detroit & Philly soul, except its all from Chicago. There are far too many tracks that hit instantly between the ears & that is probably because of the diversity of the beats. No time for even a thought of, 'it'll grow on you'. Nah, this shit infects you straight away. In fact I was so impressed that this 60 min album was stretched to 180 mins in one sitting. I had to press repeat another 2 times to savour & take in the entire thing before I could stand up & walk away. It was gluttony of the sonic order. I needed to hear it again straight away. It's that impressive, but not all just in the music department. Racecar> is one of the most impressive emcees I've heard for a while. He's been blessed with a voice that is pure butter that glides over all the songs with deep lyrics that will penetrate & not bounce off your skull. The debut 12" track Change Form, with the also incredible Diverse, is thankfully included & probably the icing on a most delicious scrumdiddlyumptious ckae..

Rounding out the review I must mention the 3 deejays on the album, Once-A-Month, Sapien & Spontaneous, who keep the spine straight with broad shoulders, while the few guests, like Longshot, Truth Enola & Thaione Davis (gathered from the Chicago underground scene) add just that extra dose of special flavour. Even Dave from De La Soul pulls out some spot on couplets for his verse on the exemplary Vacant Stares. I'm sure the connection with labelmate Copperpot contributed to the guest appearance of the UK's Verb T on Got it (Good).

As a consumer & fan who buys 12" singles more than albums, it is a rare treat where I get satisfied with an albums' worth of material. This collection, like the recent CunninLynguists release, A Piece of Strange & Aceyalone/RJD2's Magnificent City satisfies completely on every level. If I could have at least another 10 albums up to this standard this year, I'd be a very happy camper indeed.

K-Kruz has a remix CD available on the EV Productions website. He's also produced some tracks for Longshot & Verbal Kent, but I upped his Urban Renewal remix. Dissapointingly there doesn't seem to be a vinyl edition of the album so you'll have to seek out the 12" singles. Which add up to about 8 of the 18 tracks. At least one more 12" from the album would be nice. At least we get the instrumentals so I shouldn't really be complaining.

• MySpace
• Modill website

• MP3: MODILL - Moves ft Truth E.N.O.L.A. & Thaione Davis
• MP3: MOS DEF, DIVERSE & PREFUSE 73 - Wylin Out (K-Kruz remix)