Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein

Another El-P production, this time with rappers Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah. Strangely, it's not as abrasive as El-P's productions for Company Flow or his own work, featuring a sparse futuristic kind of shine that's as subtle as any of his heavier stuff. Synths drive the sounds here, adding a melodic touch to the album's sound. As for the rapping, Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah are both smooth rappers with a more stream of consciousness bent than others (read: some of it doesn't make much sense), and some of it is brilliant, such as on "F-Word" and "Battle for Asgard." Plus, there's some honest-to-God DJ scratching on some of these tracks. How often do we get that on hip hop albums these days? It's a dense album that asks for multiple listens, and I'm still processing it. There's a lot to love here, though.

Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus

"Funcrusher," indeed. El-P, Bigg Jus and Mr. Len are not your friends. Driven like few hip-hop groups since Public Enemy, they present confrontation verbally and sonically. Railing against the system, the man, and as always, wack emcees, their lyrics are packed tight with imagery and multisyllabic words. Sample lyric: "Bigg Jus mind invention the king battle of epic proportions/Lyrical intrigue, the master of contortion/Optimized computerization virus/Paradoxical acoustic sound bombing" (from "The Tragedy of War (In III Parts)"). Musically? It's not funky. They're always vaguely off-kilter, but intentionally. This isn't dance music: the beats don't make you think of a club or a party. but instead, Fight Club in a junk yard. It's a tough kind of complexity that stays rhythmic but sets itself into a niche, knives in hand. Company Flow intends to present you with a challenge, to your worldview, to your listening habits, and it's worth the effort.