For those not familiar, El-P released his classic
solo debut, Fantastic Damage, almost five years ago.
Fan Dam was initially impenetrable, El-P’s off-kilter
MCing kicking furiously against the immense wall of noise behind
him, but repeated listens unearthed one of the decade’s
finest hip-hop albums.
‘Post 9/11’ has become a cliché,
but Fan Dam gave voice to fears not fashionable in
a climate of zealous patriotism. Set against the imposing backdrop
of New York City itself, the album took on even more meaning.
With I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, El-P
picks up the baton once more.
Following up an album of such power was always
going to take a while. El-P’s ire has not diminished during
his absence, but the end product is less abrasive than it was
before. The towering drums, buzzing synths and Orwellian samples
are still present, but the MC’s storytelling is more refined
and his delivery less frantic.
‘This is the sound of what you don’t
know killing you / This is the sound of what you don’t
believe, still true,’ declares El-P on the album’s
ominous seven-minute opener ‘Tasmanian Pain Coaster’,
establishing from the get-go that feeling of impending collapse,
both societal and personal, remains central to El-P’s
music.
The cautionary tale of ‘The Overly Dramatic
Truth’ is a downbeat flipside to Fan Dam’s raging
classic ‘Stepfather Factory’, demonstrating El-P’s
ability to delve into his own psyche without being self-indulgent.
‘No Kings’, meanwhile, condenses the frustration
of ‘desperate kids [doing] desperate shit’ into
a focused three minutes.
It’s not a barrel of laughs, but I’ll
Sleep When You’re Dead handles urban paranoia and
personal demons with subtlety – rather than overwhelming
the listener with an uncompromising Bomb Squad racket, this
time around, there is greater breathing space and a sense of
seething, barely-suppressed rage set to blow at any point.
Anyone familiar with Fantastic Damage
will know this album has been a long time coming, but I’ll
Sleep When You’re Dead is well worth its lengthy
genesis and is an outstanding addition to 2007’s strong
canon of new hip-hop releases.
by
Tom Blackburn
