DÄLEK
Brilliance Of A Falling Moon (Ipecac)
Twenty-eight years after debut Negro Necro Nekros, New Jersey’s Dälek are still defining new boundaries of underground hip-hop, with political soliloquies atop zombie nightmare soundscapes which are equal parts Endtroducing, Mezzanine and Blue Jam. Life under quasi-fascism in America fuels Will Brooks aka MC Dälek’s incendiary raps: as Knowledge | Understanding | Wisdom has it, “Algorithms attempt to dictate how we behave / Fear tactics and theatrics culminate in ICE raids,” and there are mentions of “snitching on your neighbours” and “rich man-babies throwing tantrums” in the scathing By The Time We Arrive In El Salvador.
The tone is set by opener Better Than, where to a Bernard Hermann-by-way-of-MBV squall, Brooks questions why more people in rap aren’t speaking out: “Keep testing me / See if I act sensibly / A few spit that real, but they lack the complexity.” Billy Woods and Elucid are kindred spirits with their abstract collages of sound and polemics, yet Dälek were here first and urge you to “have hope, because we’re still fighting, building and pushing”.
words CHRIS SEAL
