THAVIUS BECK - Dialogue

Hip hop musician Thavius Beck delivers his fourth album; the LA-based MC has also produced/remixed for the likes of Saul Williams, Daedelus and Nine Inch Nails.

Beck berates hip hop artists who do not use the platform provided to them with a sense of responsibility, he’s on record as saying, “it doesn’t have to be about bitches, cars, and drugs, you either live a very empty life of you’re a huge liar”.

I suppose it’s difficult to disagree with that statement, but at the same time I find little on Dialogue to spark my imagination on the lyrical front. This may be for two reasons, first, for the most part you need a lyric sheet to understand Beck’s vocal – so quickly ushered and layered is it in effects, and second, Beck’s delivery is generic and lacks personality; there’s no ups and downs, just a linear delivery spiked with all the usual hip hop punctuation.

On the musical side, Beck at least manages to invigorate. Production wise, he appears to approach the recording process in a similar way to Prefuse 73 – or at least it sounds that way. The tracks are built on multiple layers of vocal samples and loops; nothing sounds organic – just sounds stacked together to create a collection of short hip hop mosaics.

The result can occasionally be effective, particularly on the dreamy clatter of Away, the dark mystery of the synth-laden Money and the poppy Sometimes, with its fat pads and complex, involving melodies. Pressure is equally purposeful; even if it sounds vaguely similar to something I’ve heard from Fun Lovin’ Criminals.

So, Dialogue is a listenable, energetic hip hop record, with a burgeoning leftfield electronic slant, but, as mentioned, it still suffers from the usual generic traits. Particularly the vocal delivery; one really has to wonder whether hip hop has anything left to offer on that front or is merely going through the motions. With more vocal creativity/variety, this might have been a good record, or maybe Beck simply doesn’t have it in him. In the meantime, Dialogue is admittedly better than much of today’s strangulated hip hop fodder, but it never really reaches the heights.



	THAVIUS BECK - Dialogue
	6.7
	Big Dada ~ BD151 ~ 5th October
	Hip hop musician Thavius Beck delivers his fourth album; the LA-based MC has also produced/remixed for the likes of Saul Williams, Daedelus and Nine Inch Nails. Beck berates hip hop artists who do not use the platform provided to them with a sense of responsibility, he’s on record as saying, “it doesn’t have to be about bitches, cars, and drugs, you either live a very empty life of you’re a huge liar”. I suppose it’s difficult to disagree with that statement, but at the same time I find little on Dialogue to spark my imagination on the lyrical front. This may be for two reasons, first, for the most part you need a lyric sheet to understand Beck’s vocal – so quickly ushered and layered is it in effects, and second, Beck’s delivery is generic and lacks personality; there’s no ups and downs, just a linear delivery spiked with all the usual hip hop punctuation. On the musical side, Beck at least manages to invigorate. Production wise, he appears to approach the recording process in a similar way to Prefuse 73 – or at least it sounds that way. The tracks are built on multiple layers of vocal samples and loops; nothing sounds organic – just sounds stacked together to create a collection of short hip hop mosaics. The result can occasionally be effective, particularly on the dreamy clatter of Away, the dark mystery of the synth-laden Money and the poppy Sometimes, with its fat pads and complex, involving melodies. Pressure is equally purposeful; even if it sounds vaguely similar to something I’ve heard from Fun Lovin’ Criminals. So, Dialogue is a listenable, energetic hip hop record, with a burgeoning leftfield electronic slant, but, as mentioned, it still suffers from the usual generic traits. Particularly the vocal delivery; one really has to wonder whether hip hop has anything left to offer on that front or is merely going through the motions. With more vocal creativity/variety, this might have been a good record, or maybe Beck simply doesn’t have it in him. In the meantime, Dialogue is admittedly better than much of today’s strangulated hip hop fodder, but it never really reaches the heights.