- Artists:
- Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip »
- Label:
- Sunday Best »
Ironically, considering how they drop precisely zero quotables over Angles,* Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip* are more than capable of coming up with stuff worthy of slapping some quotation marks around in interviews. Indeed, in a Metro article last month one of them said, with straight face, “Sage Francis opened my mind to what hip-hop can be”. Think about that for a second. It’s an amazing statement, so roll it around your tongue for a while. Sage Francis is arguably the first recording artist ever to totally desert the idea of a black audience when recording hip-hop, plugging his stuff to the alt-rock circuit via Epitaph. To DLSvsSP, this represents a brave new dawn for the genre. Some would call that racially awkward. All I’m gonna say is that these two guys make rap music like they’ve been forced into recording it at gunpoint.
They obviously don’t care for, or care to engage with, rap music. Most people are gonna be aware of them solely from their novelty hit of last year, ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’, a list song that was presumably meant to serve as John Cooper Clarke for the MySpace generation, but sounded more like Barenaked Ladies for the Old Blue Last crowd.
It was a bad song. Not solely through its sound, which was forgettable early 2000s hipster-hop, but the lyrical content. There was something sinister about a dude that looks like forgotten ‘90s comedian Phil Kay and his roly-poly chum holding forth on what urban music must do in order to meet with their approval. Two guys from the Essex commuter belt deciding that they have the right to ordain what does and does fall under the jurisdiction of the ‘four elements of hip-hop’. The fact that rappers are obviously socially irresponsible for shouting out guns, but Johnny Cash, who cocked more nines in his back catalogue than anyone with the possible exception of Bushwick Bill, is apparently beyond reproach. The fact that there are, apparently, people over the age of 15 who actively enjoy listening to The Doors. It’s a song with a lot to take in, and all of it was reactionary garbage.
And they even carry on their weird-ass Jurassic 5-fan-from-1998 views on rap onto the rest of their recordings. ‘Rapper’s Battle’, between a beat that sounds like an Atari 2600 with gastric flu and an outro that reminds you why Kid 606 shot himself dead in 2004, runs exactly the same gamut of_ “I am intelligent suburban rapper, why can’t the proletariat rest of hip-hop elevate themselves to my level?”_. It’s awkward, it’s ugly, and you get the feeling there are greater political forces at play here.
They’re not bigots though. They just suck ass. Trying to find a good idea on this album is a challenge. Trying to find a good idea executed well is akin to finding a Suicide Girl that wasn’t touched by her uncle as a child. Maybe to you, an extended metaphor comparing doomed love to the career trajectory of an old-school comedian is something that should exist outside of the confines of a freshman creative writing seminar. If so, congratulations, you can bump ‘Tommy C’ (sadly about Cooper, not Cannon) all day long. The rest of us are just going to need Solpadeine to get beyond one-third of this record.
It’d be nice to think the whole endeavour is just a big old satire. It’d be nice to think that the opening track, ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’ (great movie, Blockbuster that shit ASAP), with its embarrassing bitching about “soulless music, artless lyrics” is some clever parody of student union poetry slams. It’d be nice to think that Scroobius Pip’s inability to say any more than three syllables in a row without sounding like he’s just run up thirteen flights of stairs is a pastiche of clueless white-boy rappers who have no idea of what hip-hop is, and think it’s just a medium to crowbar their creepy worldview into song, regardless of melody or rhythm. It’d be nice to think that the lines_ “When I get back from hell again / I’m gonna be so elegant”_ is said by someone with a glint in his eye. It’s not. These guys mean absolutely everything they say and do on this record.
Being as there are types of carcinogen that people enjoy more than Akira the Don albums, and that nobody can remember Jon The Whiteboy Rapper without recourse to months of suppressed memory therapy, it’s hard to know what Lex – who put out ‘Thou…’ – were thinking of signing two guys who have gotten lost on the way from the student union poetry slam. Ideologically, this is the worst album of the year. Musically, it’s even poorer. Call it the first album in history that’s catered specifically for the dudes who spend their days posting to the BBC’s ‘Have Your Say’ forums. Then forget it ever existed.
- In Photos: Bestival 2010 @ Robin Hill Country Park, Isle of Wight
- In Photos: Camp Bestival 2010
- Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - The Logic of Chance
- This Week's Singles: 01/03/10
- Singles Round-up (28/07/08)
- Stage shakes off alcoholism: Reading and Leeds re-branded
- Pure Groove update: instores aplenty at London record emporium
- Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Angles
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
oh dear.
dom passantino, your shipment of EPIC FAIL has been delivered. ditto for the "old musical journalists lol" article or whatever the hell that article was supposed to be about...
I really like this review
Really, really like it. Even more so because it recommends one of my favourite films. Good work, DiS
I think the review is fair
The Beat That My Heart Skipped really is worth watching, too.
Putting aside my thoughts on this album, such as they are
I would just like to commend the use of the phrase "Trying to find a good idea executed well is akin to finding a Suicide Girl that wasn’t touched by her uncle as a child."
I like it.
Huh
well I like it quite a bit...
I do not regret my purchase!
I liked the album
but it is up its own arse quite alot.
This reads like an akward review.
I don't like Dom liked writing it, never mind listening to it.
I have not heard the album so I can't pass judgement but a 1/10 might be harsh. We shall see I suppose.
anyone else think
the point about Sage Francis is ridiculous?
I mean, what makes you think he has disregarded a black audience? He hasn't really - maybe he just hasn't followed some predetermined path that DiS think every rapper should take that doesn't mean he hates/disregards an audience.
And why should hip-hop (or ANY MUSIC) be about any one audience.
And he doesn't 'plug his stuff on the alt rock circuit' really if you pay attention, he's pretty heavily in with Anticon and tours with hip-hop artists all the time.
All time weakest point in a review.
i'm so glad
that DiS got Passantino to review this
It annoys me to think that
this review will crop up on Metacritic or Wikipedia, and more than likely deter people from buying what is actually quite a solid record.
That is a shame.
I quite like this record
Oh well must not be dis cool...
& what is the Ideologic point???? I do not understand what your trying to say there..
DP gave Los Campesinos 9/10........
I think we can safely disregard his opinion.
Farrrr too subjective review
It would be have been tolerable, however, if the peadophile and Kid 606 (I really don't understand that one) jokes were not included
whats
the point to this review? - "they suck ass"? - nice
got a lot of time for these two performers - did well to get their profile raised last year, mainly off their own backs, after "thou shalt" sparked interest.
i hope the album does well - their songs are strong enough.
take off your uber-indie thick black rimmed spectacles before you write next time mr reviewer
Having seen the writer and the title
I knew it'd be 1/10. Haven't read it but look forward to reading it later.
I don't mind the album btw, Dom's reviews are always good to read.
And if anyone has been upset by this review
then they have learnt a valuable lesson in life.
Don't pay attention to reviews. Any attention. Reviews are pointless. Reviewers are pointless.
Still - DvsVcSPD are pretty annoying.
I think DlS and SP are every bit as apalling as the rating suggests they are
However the review makes my skin crawl. It reeks of self important, mildly racist, inverse snobbery. Quite the worst thing I've actually bothered reading from beginning to end for some time.
brilliant
point :D
i find it hard to take a review seriously
that includes the words 'they suck ass'. even in a sarcastic sense.
^
i thought this too. Uhm...what?
THIS ALBUM IS GOOD!!!!
i agree with morningtheft
they do have a genuine love of hip-hop e.g. Rakim
and the album is littered with witty lyrics and observations on modern society and the Channel U crowd that isn't racist, just observant.
This album should be at least a 7/10
i blame the left-wing press...
^this
toss album made almost likeable by missing-the-point-completely-and-flying-out-of-asrse-mouth-at-tangent terrible review.
mm
I agree the music isn't great.
What was the point of this review exactly?
I mean that seriously. I don't especially care for Dan Le Sac or Scroobius Pip but what was the point?
By which I mean a review is obviously primarily a guide to someone who might buy an album as to whether it's an album they should buy.
I mean Thou Shalt Not Kill was a real marmite song and obviously someone who disliked it wouldn't want to buy the album. As such this review serves no function - it speaks only to people who wouldn't want to buy it and obviously gives no information whatsoever to someone considering buying it as obviously they wouldn't hate the act as much as you do.
Don't get me wrong - your entitled to your opinion and that's fair enough. But I'm sure this act have had a good press from some DiSers. So what precisely made you want to take the time to spend three quarters of an hour listening to (and however much time writing a review for) an album you were always going to hate. And wouldn't it be far more informative to people who would consider buying the album to get an impression of how good it is from someone with a "neutral but would like it if it were good" perspective.
As it stands there's no objectivity, no information and this review, whilst admittedly mildly amusing, is just a waste of everyone's time.
I sympathise and have given my view below.
But there's a lot of nonsense in what you say. Many bands make an effort and have the bollocks to go out there and do what they want to do but that doesn't give them any entitlement to a good review unless the music's actually good.
I mean I've not heard this album and suspect many would give it more than 1/10 but it's utter nonsense to suggest bands deserve points for just making an effort.
oh come on tgwnu
i expect better from you
it seems like i have to defend Passantino in every one of his articles (not gay4him, honest), but you've kind of missed the point of the article. He doesn't provide "shud i buy or no?" reviews, and nor should he (or anyone else) be expected to. This is a broad discourse on a quite ambiguous topic (indie rap) attached to a key case study, and one handled in quite a reasonable fashion ("mildy racist, inverse snobbery" my left tit)
btw, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is perhaps the wackest thing i've ever heard. One can only imagine the rest of the record..
Missed the point.
The problem is, Mr Reviewer, that you just don't GET it. Its not your fault. Now just pipe down a little and let others enjoy what is essentially an undemanding, fun record.
I expect better from you.
This isn't an article. It's a review. If this was an opinion column I'd completely agree with you but, as it is a review of a CD then writing a broad discourse on indie rap is basically failing to do what he's paid/volunteered to do.
Sorry - originally was gonna put inverted commas on title
and short refutal of why anyone should expect anythigng better from me. Then didn't but kept subject title that makes no sense...
I like the way these comments have gone
First the regulars pick the bones out of the review wording without mentioning the quality of the record, and THEN the scenesters arrive like the Light Brigade.
It's interesting
that the review makes a point of the contradiction in Thou Shalt Not Kill. I'm not particularly keen on the song, yet I thought the contradictions were intentional and the song was supposed to be about not believing whatever you hear without question.
fule
seems like Dom has some damn fixed ideas about hip hop. What is and what isn't. And it seems that that kind of super inverted snobbery goes utterly against what hip hop was supposed to be.
Playful, adventurous, different. And a means of expression.
And as for the HILARIOUS wrongendofthestickisms when it comes to Sage. DO NOT get me started. Oh I have already.
Sage is a universe closer to true hip hop than the knocked off huh-yeah gruntings of Jay-Z, or the depressing thickaspigshit mumblings of most of the allegedly "real" black hip hop that comes from the states.
And if you buy into the videos of all hip hop since Dre, then you might think that shit is real/dope/authentic and strictly for black folks but sincerely, you are a twat. It is whitebread dumbshits from the midwest that buy most hip hop and it is agressively marketed to them by the major labels.
To think otherwise is hilarious.
If you think Sage has deserted the idea of a black audience, you are also wronger than I have patience to explain.
Maybe it just seems to you that by adding an intellectual level and returning to the idea of there being a point to hip hop, he is a world away from the stoned-to-oblivion suckmydick head nodding depressingly lowbrow hip hop mass culture.
Well he is. And all power to him.
which
are you?
i stopped reading in the first paragraph
scroobius pip probably listened to Sage before he was on epitaph.
paid?
lol.
oh dear
This review read a bit like a 6th former trying to sound 'right on', but ends up sounding a bit silly.
From what i've heard there are some decent tunes and lyrics, and a few duff ones.
I like how
Dom deems himself worthy to pass opinion on this record, but isn't happy that two blokes from the 'Essex commuter belt' have an opinion on what is and isn't in the four elements.
Umm.....presumably if you're not a white middle class boy from the Essex commuter belt, Dom, then you've no right to comment on this record!?
I think it's OK. There are tracks I skip and tracks I love, but this review is pretty ridiculous.
Exactly
The way he goes through the whole song telling someone what to do, before the penultimate line: Thou shalt think for yourself.....
Oooopsie somebody missed the point there, ay Dom!?
That is just rude
and not even a review
Surely if no one wanted to review this
it didn't have to be covered - why write a review for the sole purpose of slagging off an artist and being a total wanker with an overflexed vocabulary?
all I know is...
Thou Shall Not Kill is fucking atrocious so a 1/10 is not a surprise.
^5
for knowing your shit.
Nail on head
I've not heard anything other than THAT single and I will try to avoid their music forever as a result, but that's beside the point.
The reference to the Essex commuter belt is the most ignorant thing I've ever read in a review on this site. I doubt these blokes do have "the right to ordain what does and does (sic) fall under the jurisdiction of the ‘four elements of hip-hop’", but surely this is down to who they are/what they know, rather than where they're from? Or do you have to be from London/New York to have a valid opinion on music?
Ridiculous.
Superb review
IMO. I've not heard this album but I do like some of the tunes on the last one, inc. "Thou Shalt Kill". That aside I think this is a really good & thoughtful review. Kudos.
I'm
a little bit gay for him...
Only a little though
Mostly i just have the utmost respect for his written output.
Interesting review
Thanks.
I haven't read the review or heard the album
But I have certainly enjoyed the comments for a variety of reasons. Kudos to you all.
9/10
fool
.
Ok...
I would like to make a point about this review in relation to my own experiences of this pairs music. For what its worth.
Got free tickets to see them in Glasgow recently and, as with it seems so many of my friends of my age these days, am finding myself swiftly becoming one of the harshest critics of new music, finding almost all of it either too achingly fashionable, outright redundant/done before or simply so willfully obscure as to defy interest.
First spotted Mr. Pip himself standing appreciatively at the back of the crowd watching both support bands with a genuine appreciation and giving them rapturous applause. In fact it was this applause that made me notice him as he was standing right behind me.
He handled the drunken cloyings of numerous loud Glaswegian fans without a hint of annoyance and seemed genuinely appreciative that anyone would take the time to speak to him in even the faintest of positive manners. This in itself is fairly rare, but what I experienced when they took to the stage is even rarer.
I saw a genuinely passionate, skillful, and in places even moving performance. Their stage rapport showed consistently two guys having the times of their lives doing something they believed in, for better or worse, and who the hell is anyone to second guess their credentials and how they got to the point of making the music they do anyway? If you unravel that particular ball of twine for most "classic" bands and review them negatively on that basis you will be missing the point of some of the best music produced in the world for reasons that amount to little more than arrogance and elitist spite.
My problem is not that this reviewer does not like the album, everyone entitled to their own opinion and all that. I love it, but personally if I wanted to tear them to shreds I could criticise the odd clunky lyric, a pervasive element of arrogance (but what band who doesnt genuinely believe what they are doing is worthwhile wont come off as arrogant when caught by the wrong person on the wrong day? Especially by someone with their own misguided preconceptions and pigheaded prejudices before they have touched a keyboard) and Dan Le Sacs particular fondness of certain already over-used and slightly lazy beat effects (Suspect Ableton Live is to blame there), but to do this would be to miss the point and miss the ability of a whole to transcend the sum of its parts.
My problem with this review, (ignoring so many of the things already picked up on by other comments here) is that to build up such a ludicrously overblown steam of negativity (one so big as to dwarf my own truly horrific level of cynical hatred for most new music these days) as to call it not one of, but THE worst album of the year so far (don't even get me started on nominees for that particular list!) in any sense defies belief. Having seen the "glint in the eye" this reviewer missed on stage in front of my own eyes, I can only put this review down to extreme arrogance, a desire to be controversial for the sake of it or simple good old fashioned idiocy.
1/10? I may as well start reading fucking youtube comments for insightful and educated commentary.
no surprise
Im not even gonna give this album a listen to, because that "thou shall not" is that bad in my eyes.
Saw this bloke in Rough Trade the day it came out... so many people were buying it.
AmishHipster...
I like your username
Pitchfork's worse
with it's decimal rating and each review sounding like it's been bathed in a thesaurus.
You're only 16
you'll learn.
Dom
You've used the phrase, "student union poetry slam" twice.
Don't give a fuck about the band or the review, but DiS seems to be balancing the really well-written, interesting reviews with ones like this and Khara's Kooks one. Amusing as they can be, I don't see much point to them. Save the slagging for the news articles, maybe?
Shit
Kharas' *
Apologies. Apologies all round.
Erm...
...there shouldn't be any slagging in news. Well, maybe once or twice. Facts, yeah.
This: opinion. Read it, weep, joy or misery, whatever. One man's onion is another's arsehole. Or something.
My tuppence: this album is rank. 1/10 is harsh and played for FX. But still, it ain't good. Especially. Reviews like this stir the feedback above, which is key to the interactivity of this site - if you all agreed what'd be the point of having a comments function?
Peas.
I am going to leave it to someone else to extend the metaphor
about onion rings here.
but....
...I STILL DON'T FUCKING GET THE KID 6O6 "JOKE"!?!
You sir,
are a genius.
You sir,
are a genius.
What is the point in this review?
Why on earth get somebody who self confessedly hates DLSvsSP and everything they're about to review their album? The guy practically accuses them of being racists in the first paragraph.
A review that tells us a lot more about the reviewer than the record? Yeah, that'll work.
He what?
Gave Los Campesinos 9/10? Crikey. That's just indefensible. How could anyone who thinks DLSvsSP resemble a "student union poetry slam" also like a band who have a song called "Knee Deep at ATP"?
Well, ok, on slagging in news
but there is. How many Kooks articles have we endured?
i agree 100%
this review is fucking laughable !
...
don't like the album much, but if you're going to write a review like this at least make it funny...
Can I change my mind?
This is a great review. If you want to know, look up there ^^^
Well done Dom. :D
I know it has been literally days since this has been touched on...
...but I haven't been on DiS for a few days.
And what do I come back to?
This awful review.
See bother and pizz101 for shades of my argument for why this is crap.
From almost calling them racist to making a joke that nobody seems to understand about Kid 606 (?), this is, without doubt, the worst review I've read on this site.
I was fairly disappointed at first with this album, after seeing a really promising set in Benicassim last year. I like 'Thou Shalt...', unlike the majority of people reading this, it seems. Thought it was pretty funny actually, a list song but had some charm, etc etc.
That, tagged with the great little set in Benicassim last year made me possibly too excited about the album.
Now that I've given it a couple of listens, there are definite stand-out tracks, some great ideas, good and unique lyrics, alongside the odd dip in quality.
1/10?
You should have got your fix elsewhere. Satisfying your high-horse self-status is not what reviews are for.
I'm not an idiot and understand that reviews are for opinions but this particular review was just utter pish.
touched upon*
sorry... it's late.
Good man.
Great show in Benicassim last year.
You should come back this year.
It's a shame you got such a bad review here, as I know many people that like your record a lot.
This is
a pretty epic DiS ruckus, huh?
Personally, I like the album a lot. Yes, it is a bit awkward, and that's one thing that makes it so special.
Also: "zero quoutables"? I love you Dom, but fuck off a bit. The chorus of Fixed, "if you can't forgive and forget then how's this, forget forgiving just accept and that's it", the entire of Development after the change up [Yes, ok, IF they were just saying Hip Hop needs to be smarter and sitting there and judging, I'd agree with you, but then they they go and fucking show how it's done] and lots of other moments are VERY quoutable.
Pitchfork gave this record
0.2 out of 10...
Rubbish.
It's a fucking great album.
I hate that I'm replying...
It means that I'm just enabling Dom Passintino to thrive on negative criticism...
He's here to wind us up, and we're happily taking the bait.
Without inciting a reaction, he'd just be writing a 'review' on a type writer and stapling it to his bedroom wall.
To quote the authors profile:
"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read."
I love the album.
Am I saying that just to wind up the author?
No. Afraid not.
Hate to drag this back up but
You should stop letting deaf tards write for DiS. Its not nice. This album is flawless I think.
Bad Review
Should 9/10, really this review can fornicate itself.
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