Material – Intonarumori (1999)
Laswell’s role: Project Leader, Producer
Well, this is what Laswell turned Material into. In 1979 it was an obscure avant-garde art-rock/funk band, and come 1999 it’s releasing hip hop albums. I don’t know, your guess is as good as mine as to how this came about. Either way, that change is hardly an indictment on the albums quality. I was never the biggest fan of Material’s early days, and this album is a welcome turn of pace. It has taken me a while to actually get into rap music, and for a long time I simply never bothered with the genre as a whole. However, Rubberoom’s Architechnology and P.O.S.’ Never Better has certainly turned that trend around, and here is another album that has become a rap favourite.
In typical Laswell fashion, he has once again surrounded himself with a plethora of talent. This includes Flavor Flav, Kool Kieth, Killah Priest and Rem Ell Zee, as well as DXT on turntable, previously known as GrandMixer D.ST, and most of these are at their best. Most of the main rappers produce some good work, Flav his normally insane self, Keith at his best on Conspiracies and DXT reminding of why he is so highly regarded in the history of hip hop. The key to holding it altogether is Laswell’s dark and bassy beats, which are truly sublime at times.
The album does hit a few snags here and there though. Some songs linger around the edges and simply become an annoyance in the scope of the album, which contains 17 songs. I know Laswell wants to fit as much onto a single record as possible and he needs to meet the demands of the artists he is working with, but sometimes enough is enough. That said however, the album is still definitely worth a listen. There is some great work on here even if the album as a whole doesn’t work as perfectly as I imagine Laswell would hope. Despite the variance in artists he does do a great job of making it concurrent to an acceptable degree.
It has its moments – 7/10