Infinity Knives x Brian Ennals - King Cobra LP
Baltimore hip-hop experimentalists Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals return with vital new album King Cobra, a mighty, omnivorous record that pushes the duo to unstoppable creative heights.
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals’ inexhaustible creativity has already gifted us 2020’s "Dear, Sudan" - a kaleidoscopic, unpredictable joyride of late night channel-hopping - and 2021’s brutal post-George Floyd manifesto "Rhino XXL", but "King Cobra" is a new experience still. It is a masterfully executed expression of both ferocity and joy.
”Not a checklist of all the ills in the world,” says the band, “but it feels like darkness”. An expansively ambitious record, full of fire, and a thrilling new step from artists on a crucial mission.
An opening of moody, operatic lamentation for guitar and voice steeped in VHS warble intensifies the record that follows. Coke Jaw barrels out like a swinging fighter, matching nimble Tron synthesis with lines that “fuck the Clintons and the Kennedys” and proclaim “we the post-apocalytpic Run-DMC”.
Lead single Death Of A Constable maintains the visceral energy, Ennals honouring Black life and culture in one line and biting hard on injustice and inequality in the next. He’s “saving up for a new guillotine” to deal with PTSD giving him “killer dreams”. Centrepiece A Melancholy Boogie ups the funk without softening any collision impact. A Prince-esque bassline and Funkadelic backing vocals are punctuated with orchestral stabs and Ennals’ penetrating, fleet-footed dissections of innercity hardship. Throw in themes of learned Afrofuturism and Tanzania-born Infinity Knives’ instinctive East African licks, and the track is capable of towering over its peers.
The duo offering Ice Cube and KRS-One’s Boogie Down Productions as influences reveals an admiration for time-revered classic hip-hop, but digging deeper uncovers references (both overt and subtle) to Pink Floyd, Stars Of The Lid, William Basinski, Sade, Outkast and Aretha Franklin among a vibrantly coloured palette. “Sonically it’s jagged, it’s incongruent, it’s supposed to make you feel a little uncomfortable,” the duo explained.
More than a pure hip-hop producer, Infinity Knives (aka NPR composer-in-residence Tariq Ravelomanana) demonstrates his oft-discussed love of contemporary classicists such as Max Richter and Jóhann Jóhannsson throughout. Hidden deftly amongst the hard-hitting beats and Ennals’ lyrical dexterity are moments of blissful orchestration that betray an abundance of musical talent and a precise control over the cleverly formed layers of melody and harmony.
Key track Don’t Let The Smooth Taste Fool You is in the rare and notoriously complex 10/4 time signature, but in Ravelomanana’s hands it prowls sleek and power.
Tracklist:
1. Neath the Willow's Leaves
2. Coke Jaw
3. A Melancholy Boogie
4. The Culling [feat. Tyler Moonlight]
5. Don't Let the Smooth Taste Fool You
6. Theme from King Cobra
7. The Badger
8. The Not So Tired Sounds of Brian Ennals
9. Sunday Feb 19th 2017
10. Death of a Constable
11. The Bushman
12. Headclean
13. Premium Malt Freestyle [feat. Eze Jackson]
14. Milk & Codeine
15. Bluffin
16. Sambo's Last Words
17. On Bread Alone [feat. Allison Clendaniel]
About this product: this release is pressed on black vinyl.