Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Crucifix Cornerstone EP Review


Reviewing this excellent EP was a bit of an experience; Krate Krusaders exquisite production accompanied by some of the most complex, uplifting and enjoyable lyrics from the uncomparrable Crucifix has been on constant rotation. Its hard to do it justice in full so here are some random observations about various tracks. You seriously need to get hold of this and get to grip with it on your own terms, I loved it, but be warned you will almost certainly need a dictionary to help you along the journey!

The cornerstone..."Excuse me we haven't been formally introduced"...the rejoining statements then create a safe haven for Crucifix to introduce himself, batting aside opponents with ease just as a brief nod to the hardcore battle heads; his main agena in this track is to establish his modus operandi-a highly cerebral encompasment of a vast source of ideas, language strategy and iconology...to what precise end these resources are to be put to use is not quite cleare at this point: it's damn intriguing though.

In Dreams of an orphan the I was completely sucked in and lines such as "I should have been an abortion, I'm the dreams of an orphan watching his family dying in the midst of a war that finish with "Remember tiannomen square?" is a certified rewindable, deep stuff.

Open wound boasts some great pianos draw you inextricably into this track before a guitar lick switches it around; great to hear such a switched up beat...next level boombap!

Restoration is on a bit of a sick futurism on the drums with some hypnotic slow Adam f style ish banging into a nicely dark rolling track with an "if u see me walking down the street" sample with Crucifix smashing down on some celestial devastation type ish..."so what if its ostentatious?" Just what I was thinking. Dope.

The final track on the EP is Torment; I love this track and probably found it the most repeated.An ace piano loop that sounds oddly familiar provides the soundtrack for an indepth exploration of Crucifix's psche, exploring self down and regret with his trademark complex world play that despite the often morose content, a life affirming message is still snugly contained within the words. I reckon Crucifix and Krate Krusaders do a fantastic job of "Stretching an image of heaven pretending I live there" Soul music.



Note: Reviewing this post the original sales link has disappeared, but the album has appeared on BandCamp, albeit it with some changes to the track listing. 02.01.15

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