dangerdoom - the mouse and the mask
for many people who like their hiphop underground, and little left of centre, this meeting of minds is a dream come true. firstly there is producer of the moment, danger mouse (who can surely no longer be assumed to be part of the underground with his recent involvement with gorillaz?) doing his deft sonic tricks with beats and noise, all of which is matched by the verbal freakiness of the solid steel masked avenger known as mf doom. the pairing is a match made in old school hip hop heaven and couldn't have come at a better time for this listener. there are some however, that have taken a swipe at the inclusion of the usa tv channel 'adult swim' characters for the skits. well, i haven't seen any of this adult cartoon network, i have no idea of the visual aspect to the main persona involved here, 'master shake', but his regular appearances throughout the album have yet to outstay their welcome ('bye dog - woof!'). the skits are genuinely smile inducing, as master shake becomes more and more irate at the lack of inclusion in this project, then there is the wonderful introduction to 'sofa king', well you have to listen to it yourself basically, you see for once i actually enjoyed the skits, which is a very rare event for me in the world of hip hop.
and the music ? as to be expected, i think that danger mouse is at his best when working with masters of the art of true hip hop. his previous involvement with both jemini and prince po, were wonderful examples of how old school heroes can still sound fresh and vital when placed in more current sonic surroundings. subsequently, the trademark (and very commercially viable i suspect) happy party groove continues here. for all the dark mood that the name implies, the album is actually very much a funky little number. therefore, we get the traditional scratchy drums tracks, soul loops, cinematic strings, weird sci-fi movie noises and pianos dropped and chopped in all the right places. making for an experimental listen, but in a very pleasant easy on the ear kind of way.
in front of the aural playfulness, mf doom does his free range, rambling, slurred but clear, lazy but focussed thing. his vocal flow keeps the listener in line while he drops nuggets of bleeped joy (they are meant to be bleeped - you aint got a duff version .. tis a joke as doom doesn't normally do the bad language thing and this is a cartoon spinoff .. geddit ?) and tells us all about poop that will appear on ebay, and how he's make mincemeat out of that mouse. ahem.
standout tracks happen to be the collaborations, 'the mask' features ghostface, making us all hope that the ongoing rumours of a full length collab eventually materialise, cee-lo pops in on the chart bound electro'd up 'benzi-box' (a full length featuring cee-lo and danger mouse is on its way), a track that could easily have been presented to damon for inclusion on 'demon days', tis that good. but, all this is sidestepped out of the way by the glorious excellence of 'old school rules' featuring talib kweli where the funky horns and golden era styled loops just makes you wanna bust out the nike and boombox for that one last time.
so there you have it, a cartoon infested sonic journey that will either make you smile and shake your woofers and tweeters to destruction, or make you wonder just how these two nerdy minds were ever allowed to enter the same studio together without parental supervision.
me ? i reckon this is far more fun than just about anything else i have heard in 2005, and for that alone, i implore you to look beyond the silly costumes, the usa-centric styled skits, and just kickback and enjoy this wonderfully entertaining album that just happens to include some rather fine hip hop, just like they used to make prior to the demands for excessive bling, booty and bodycounts.