After five years in the wilderness, Brooklyn hip hopper El-P, aka Jaime Melinis, is back and dabbling in that most popular of current musical trends – electro. Fret not: one of the most sonically arresting records you’ll hear all year, Cancer4Cure is more calculated upgrade than cynical reinvention.
Coming across like a more aggressive version of DJ Shadow, El-P immediately goads the listener with ‘Request Denied’, a rhythmic assault that shares DNA with Chemical Brothers’ classic ‘Setting Sun’. The mood remains ominous, yet playful, as trippy single ‘The Full Retard’ gives way to the Paul Banks-assisted ‘Works Every Time’, both tracks pondering society’s ills. In general, El-P seems content to observe and report rather than preach – ‘Drones Over Bklyn’ is paranoid as hell but you don’t doubt his vision for a second.
At every turn, the lyrics act as dark dispatches from a frontline where the Cristal ran dry a long time ago. Occupy Rhyme Street, perhaps? Well, not quite. El-P may be repulsed by opulence, but Cancer4Cure can’t entirely escape the trappings of the genre, the narrative occasionally becoming bogged down by too much exposition (most notably on ‘The Jig Is Up’ and ‘Sign Here’). Still, El-P has charisma to burn as both MC and producer and Cancer4Cure captures that impressively. This record needs no health warning.