Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2009
© Big Dada/Beatink
When the members of avant-garde NYC hip-hop outfit Anti-Pop Consortium went their separate ways after 2002’s Arrhythmia, it felt like a wasted opportunity. Expectations are lower now, which might explain why their reunion record is such a pleasant surprise. The quartet hasn’t lost its talent for taut synthesizer anti-funk (best heard on “Get Lite” and “New Jack Exterminator”) and head-spinning lyrical nonsense (“You know my occupation is professionally ill/Like ‘don’t touch’ written in Braille”), but they’ve added some new sonic tricks to their arsenal too. If some of these are unwelcome—the rock guitar flourishes, the cheesy vocal refrains—things all come together on “NY to Tokyo,” a cosmic/constipated disco jam with British MC Roots Manuva that finds the group briefly threatening to ditch the “anti” from its moniker.
