Dabrye - Two/Three Instrumentals

Tad Mullinix is renowned for his own carefully sculpted, mechanical electronica, and operating under the Dabrye alias he produced Prefuse 73's classic Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives. His latest release is Two/Three Instrumentals, indulging his taste for intense Doctor Octagon-style orchestration. 'The Stand' and 'That's What's Up' are infused with the buzz-saw electronics of his usual moniker, but the stuttering samples and snap-clap percussion mark this as a hip-hop record, with a straightforward four-four boom-bap buried deep beneath the layers. Dabrye carefully crafts peaks and trenches within tracks, setting melodies slowly rising before crashing them down again around the listener's ears. The watery electronics that begin 'Reconsider' gradually dissolve into swooshing reverb, before the cut-n-scratch takes over and it breaks into stutters reminiscent of Prefuse 73. Challenging in its scope and demanding constant replay, Two/Three Instrumentals is thinking man's hip-hop of the highest order. [Liam Arnold]