Seth P. Brundel – Devil’s Pawn (Aesthetics, 2004)
“Gotta Mac-10 to whack ten politicians…”
A few years ago I borrowed a 12” called “Movements” by Cyne. And on the second side? Obligatory remixes. But, two were by Seth P. Brundel. And finally he releases a solo album. Subtle innovations are copped by Monsieur Brundel, so the music doesn’t sound solely hip-hop related. It’s not a third stream, but it’s a tributary. The one complaint I have is that on every damned track there’s awful drum production. Any slight that I could possibly conceive of would not fully convey the horror that these drums visit upon me. Even with robo-drums, though, this album is warm, but not hot. The raps are above boards and the production comes close to being unique. Alotta politics fly from the mouth of Brundel, but really the most touching track comes in the form of the “Self P.” Disregarding the fact that this one’s an introspective downer, it stands out amongst the rest of this slab. I guess that there has to be a battle rap, and we get it on “Ego Fuel” – it’s typical faire. Some psychedelics, interestingly enough, show up with the references to The Doors and Floyd on “Absolute Power”. Included are enough backwards guitar to be interesting and not annoying. Good release overall, but ya’ll need to work on the packaging.
