My Church Is a Streetcorner

The Streets and dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip

I like to think my close identification with my Hebrew heritage is obvious to anybody paying close attention. But I learned a long time ago not to make a big deal out of religious matters in public, so people I meet are sometimes surprised to discover I’m a profoundly religious individual. Granted I eschew organized religion, I don’t attend services, I study and interpret scripture myself rather than follow the teachings of old men, I’m ultra-liberal both socially & politically, I’m scientifically minded and I frequently wax philosophical about whether a supreme deity could really exist, what it’s true nature might be if it did, and whether it could be “alive” at this late date. So I guess those aspects of my personality make me look like some sort of hedonistic Godless heathen to some of the people I come into contact with.

The Streets ‘Everything Is Borrowed’Don’t get me wrong, I’m regarded as a “good” person, someone who’s trustworthy and morally upstanding, and people who really know me sometimes seek my counsel as though my dedication to study of the spiritual grants me sage wisdom. But people who only know me on a surface level just aren’t exposed to my more studious, meditational side. Listening to Everything Is Borrowed (out today in the UK, October 7th here in the states), the new album from British Gargage/Grime/Bedroom/Laptop/Rap act The Streets, I think the project’s mastermind Mike Skinner might be able to relate to just such a dichotomy. It’s a departure from previous Streets albums, particularly his last full-length The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, both sonically and thematically and exhibits Skinner as more masterful a songwriter, musician & producer than ever, as well as a more enlightened individual.

The Streets “The Escapist”

The Streets “Everything Is Borrowed”

The first two singles, “The Escapist” and “Everything Is Borrowed,” married downtempo Boom-Bap beats to lusciously baroque string & choral arrangements, ensconcing Skinner’s thoughtfully folksy populist lyricism in luxurious Chamber-Hop soundscapes. The flashy affectations of “hot-in-the-streets” American radio-Rap that permeated The Hardest Way… are gone. In their place Skinner reveals a layered, beat-conscious live-band sound which draws from moody orchestral bangers like “Sharp Darts,” “Stay Positive” & “Turn the Page” from Original Pirate Material and the dramatic cinemascope Grime and poppy Folk-Hop of “It Was Supposed to Be So Easy,” “Empty Cans” & “Could Well Be In” from A Grand Don’t Come for Free while pulling Soul, Jazz, Gospel, Folk, Orchestral Pop, Indie/Backpack Rap, Chamber-Pop, Punk, lite Funk and Soft-Rock influences into a far-reaching embrace reminiscent of Gonzales‘ production work with the likes of Feist and Jamie Lidell or Mark Ronson’s recent genre-bending.

It’s the album’s lyricism and songcraft that really sets Everything Is Borrowed apart though. I’ve long thought Skinner one of modern music’s most commanding songwriters. Say what you will about his voice, his accent, his “flow,” his rapping or his singing, he’s an incredibly skillful storyteller who injects his lyrics with authentic human emotion and personality and is more than capable of a witty turn of phrase or humorous couplet. On The Hardest Way… much of that songwriting expertise was lost as he shrugged off his everyman persona and indulged in the sort of subject-matter familiar to the commercial side of the Rap such as drugs, debauchery, excess, extravagance and sex with celebrities. I’m pleased that Everything Is Borrowed is a return to form that finds Skinner struggling with existential crises, ruminating on the beauty, perfervidity, futility, unpredictability, fragility & impermanence of life, fantasizing about the afterlife, finding the equilibrium between good and evil, trying to pull chicks even if they reject him, breaking down unquestioning religiosity and flirting with Crowlyism.

It’s one of the most beautiful and contemplative records I’ve heard this year.

dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip ‘Angles’Another Brit-Hop act, dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip, tinker with many of the same philosophical building blocks on their debut album Angles, which has been out overseas since early this Summer. The duo, comprised of spoken-word poet cum emcee Scroobius Pip and producer dan le sac, first caught my attention with their incendiary debut single “Thou Shalt Always Kill.” Its video-game-ish backdrop and post-modern sublimation of legalistic Biblical moralizing for the “hip” youth culture of today made it one of my favorite songs of ‘07 and it found its way into regular rotation on my radio show. My enthusiasm for the group waned between the release of the single and the LP though, so even though I snatched up a copy of Angles when it dropped it didn’t get much more than a cursory listen until recently.

dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip “Thou Shalt Always Kill”

dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip “A Letter From God to Man”

The catalyst for my renewed interest was a video for the single “A Letter From God to Man.” Musically speaking it was a different sort of song compared to “Thou Shalt Always Kill,” with glitchy Alt-Rock samples cut up atop stuttery drum programming, accented by burbling synth-bass and ethereal keys, culminating in a huge D-n-B breakdown take the place of their first single’s bounding roboticism. I liked it, but I was even more enamoured of the song’s concept, the titular open-letter from the creator to mankind, and it’s execution, a first-person conversational monologue. It reminded me of Ras Kass‘ “Interview With the Vampire,” but this time the deity is more regretful and apologetic in its disappointed wrath at humans for running amok and using its name and very existence to justify our penchant for hatred, greed, power, war and destruction. And when I took the time to listen to the rest of Angles — where Scroobius Pip examines matters both profound and frivolous including the artistic state of Hip-Hop, the vapidity of pop-culture, the mundanity of romance, the deconstruction of aesthetic beauty, the question of whether there even is a “good” or “evil,” suicide and more — I was happy to hear an artist reflecting so many variegated and seemingly contradictory facets of life on Earth.

It’s not quite the masterpiece that Everything Is Borrowed is, but I’m thankfully Sage Francis has made Angles available on our shores via his Strange Famous Records label.

Okay, so maybe “religious” isn’t the right word?  Or maybe the line between fanatical fundamentalist and free-thinking atheist is just a lot thinner than anybody could imagine?

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