cLOUDDEAD - Ten

The most artistic hip-hop has usually relied on a rapper's ability to transmit to listeners an eye-level view of his surroundings (and possibly comment on them), but what are a group of rappers to do when those experiences -- on a video shoot, no less -- apparently include the following, as Clouddead claimNULL: "Two small girls and a handful of dressed men walk a cage full of goats across a basketball court." ("Rifle Eyes," their response to 9/11, is only slightly more bizarre.) The only question is whether this trio of subunderground rappers, influenced by Eno much more than Epmd, can conjure a musical backing that fully conveys the surreality of their surroundings. Read More