The Gaslamp Killer – Death Gate EP

While psychedelic and Eastern music have all made an impact on hip-hop's sampladelic soundscape in some limited way, few have made the combination sound so natural as William Bensussen, alias The Gaslamp Killer. Following on from last year's My Troubled Mind EP, plus his recent work with esoteric vocalist Gonjasufi, Bensussen's latest release follows a similarly dark thread.

Central to the Death Gate EP are When I'm In Awe, a spooked-out ditty featuring the aforementioned Gonjasufi, and Shattering Inner Journeys, a six minute journey of trembling synths, clattering drums and slasher flick piano stabs. Elsewhere, Carpool Dummy mixes a melange of drum breakbeats and buzzsaw sounds, sounding somewhere between the RZA's early minimalist productions and Silver Apples' 1960s synth psych-rock. [Martin Skivington]