Ten
Forget Ja Rule; if you're seeking the most hated man in hip-hop, look no further than Dose One. With their obtuse poetics and lo-fi symphonies, Dose and Anticon cohorts Why? and Odd Nosdam are redrawing the rules of rap - whether you like it or not.For its sophomore album, cLOUDDEAD reemerge from a land where rhymes reside peacefully alongside indie-rock melodies and fey folktronic accents. Sifting through the rubble of collapsed genres, the trio unearths a handful of precious gems, furnishing "Dead Dogs Two" with snippets of funereal organ, clip-clop percussion and their own plaintive vocal harmonies. Elsewhere, "Rhymer's Only Room" gives us an idea what drunken Gregorian chanters might sound like while "The Velvet Ant" finds Dose relating a run-on fable about barnyard animals. Closer in spirit to Matmos' The Civil War than to any rap record, Ten dares you to let your inner child out to play. Last one to the seesaw's a rotten egg!Martin Turenne--From URB Magazine