Shipp / Beans / Parker / HPrizm

Knives From Heaven

Label: Thirsty Ear Country: USA

"Knives From Heaven is an unmitigated glimpse into the imaginations of musical madmen. On this sequel to the critically acclaimed Blue Series project Matthew Shipp vs. Antipop Consortium, the two sides again offer brilliant showers of collaboration as they spurn stale hip-hop-jazz paradigms and embark on an astounding sonic odyssey. "Knives From Heaven" achieves incredible stylistic integration through the unprecedented assimilation of spontaneous jazz embellishments into the format of head-nodding hip-hop cuts. Priest calls the record "a true symbiosis of jazz and hip-hop," imbued with live playing in a way that uniquely enables the tracks to "breathe."

Antipop Consortium's core duo both amazes and perplexes with their verbal dexterity and weighty imagery. They do not dawdle with hackneyed flows, but innovate their own cadence just when rhythm seems impossible.Beans and Priest's agile and heady verses are interspersed with Shipp's mesmerizing musings, which range from serene and ethereal to harsh and agitated. Both Shipp and bassist William Parker provide stirring performances throughout the record as they back Antipop's fiery lyricism while forging their own inspired tangents. With virtuosity on the microphones, drum machines and instruments, "Knives From Heaven" creates "dynamic forms that knock" and captures the pinnacle of both instrumental and lyrical hip-hop (Priest). "Knives From Heaven" strides into musical territory uncharted by both hip-hop and jazz heads. Priest views the group, like the album title suggests, as a "sword sharpened with age."-Thirsty Ear

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