A little under a decade ago I impulse downloaded something off of Bandcamp, a label restrospective by a group I'd never heard of based in the Soutwest going by the name Cane Corso Records. That album was Supernormal Decorum, and I wouldn't listen to it for another 5 or so years. I remember the first time I did though. It was the opening track "Pharmakon", featuring the rappers Vice Versa, Riishii G7 and Poetic Death (now Von Poe VII, I mentioned him during our Decade Wrap Up list) over a deeply eerie but incredible beat by Krippled Khemist that really showed me what kind of music people have been making on the sidelines, quietly and without concern for convention or trends. A bit like Wu-Tang, if Wu-Tang practiced witchcraft. Lyrically conscious but often times stream of consciousness, from the spiritual Poe to the grimy battle rapper Alhazred there were a wide variety of styles (the label compilation even features a doom metal track) interspersed with extremely effective vocal samples about the desert. I told Carminemoth that Cane Corso does "atmosphere", and I feel like no one at the moment is doing it better in hip hop.
Speaking of atmosphere, what we've been going through together as a planet is touching every aspect of our lives (no this isn't a tangent, give me a second...). Some of us are finding ourselves drawn to the ones we love. Some of us are reaching out to the less fortunate. Some of us are slowly breaking down. Of course some of us are just the dicks we always were. And many artists are using this opportunity to put out some of their best work in years, and we need that distraction almost as much as we need some working ventilators. The aforementioned Vice Versa, now going by the name Carminemoth (sometimes one word sometimes two) has been particularly productive lately and has released three new albums to add to his already extensive catalogue of vocal and production material. As Blunted Sultan, who's made a name for himself working with artists like Apakalypse and Boxguts we have the instrumental albums Vox Angelicas and Young Chimaeras, and as Carminemoth we have the vocal work Noumenon.
I have a weird inability to truly get into instrumental hip hop as music in itself. If it seems to be intended to feature vocals (as in a 48 or so bar song featuring a sample, some drums and some synths without too much variation) then I usually find myself wishing someone had blessed it with poetry. It feels unfinished to me (these instrumentals do have movements and variety, so they don't come across as just "beat tapes" necessarily. Sound experiments is probably a good phrase). So when I decided that I wanted to do a Carminemoth review for this week I chose Noumenon, and just finished listening to it this morning.
There is more than enough of that atmosphere I mentioned earlier to be found here, from the opening track "Antipope", laced with weird religious references and a plodding organ driven beat to the somber, dusty "Comb of Rays" Carmine's lyrics paint disturbing and surreal pictures that always remind me of something you might see in an abandoned Victorian mansion, possibly one that hosted a murder party decades earlier and has remained unquiet since. He's exceptionally talented when it comes to drawing back the curtain on weirdness, with a voice like a possibly undead stranger on a dark road passing a cemetery. If anything as the years have passed and he evolved from Vice Versa to Carminemoth he's allowed himself to create music more and more different from what we're used to hearing, abandoning rhyme all together in favor of rhythmic stream of consciousness. In some ways I prefer this, it can occasionally be distracting when it's more unclear than normal what he's talking about, but since his alteration of ego occurring around the time he released 1917 he's made himself distinct for his style alone, and I am truly a sucker for originality in all it's infinite forms. The old Vice Versa was comparable to a cid dosed RZA, Carminemoth is in a league of his own.
His old fashioned, historical sensibility isn't solely the result of lyrics that seem to draw on obscure and outdated vocabulary such as "split by a blunderbuss" (he clearly reads a lot and has a penchant for 19th and early 20th century horror) and names like 1917 and "Oculus Theater" from the album Miniature Mansion. He chooses (and produces) beats that utilized warped and altered samples from obscure sources that all together give an almost visual impression of dusty wood, cobwebs and ghosts in outdated dress. Long forgotten rooms full of obscure relics. Noumenon benefits from some of the most interesting production I've heard from him in a while (save for the album he did with 7th Galaxy, Useless Human as ひきこもりwhich I believe means Hikikomori, that was probably my favorite of his works), including one song produced by the peerless Aloeight, who seems to be getting the recognition he deserves among our people at least. Pianos, wavery vibraphones and harpsichords are absolutely perfect backdrops for Carmine's lyrical stylings, and if the production isn't all that dissimilar from what he's used in the past, it is at least some of the most captivating.
So Noumenon is another great chapter in the Carminemoth canon, exceptional in the way he's solidified his sound, but not groundbreaking when compared with his other albums under the same name. That's totally fine with me, I have yet to hear something with his voice I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. That said, I do also want to remind you guys of the two instrumental albums he's put out as well. Check these covers out, and be warned that he hasn't lost his penchant for that atmosphere even lacking words to bring it home.
"A painter may know what he doesn't want, but let him be weary if he ever wants to know what he wants. A painter's lost if he ever finds himself. As for myself the fact that I was lucky enough never to find myself, that's my only claim to merit."
That quote is featured on the Bandcamp page for Vox Angelicas, and I interpret it to mean that the creation of art is a journey to knowledge where the end means that creation is also at an end. Art is the process of exploring oneself, and if that self is found, then there is nothing new to dredge up. I find that fitting, as Blunted Sultans work has been steadily becoming more sophisticated and artistic while reveling in each level for it's own sake, rather than seeming to rush headlong into the next venture. Enjoy these sludgy beats, he did message his supporters and mention that he's okay with these being used by aspiring rappers, although I think it would take a very specific individual to truly do their eerie colors justice.
Get Noumenon and the aforementioned instrumental works by Carmine's producer moniker Blunted Sultan here, and definitely consider checking out the extensive collection of other works by great artists like the late Arcanegel and Alhazred, as well as Riishii G7, Ben Lowder and more. Cane Corso is one of my most cherished Bandcamp finds, and I can only hope others will love their work as much as I do.
Oh yeah, and tune in Friday for something cool from Carminemoth, way way back.
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