edIT: Certified Air Raid Material
Alpha Pup

Anyone struggling for a label to describe edIT's Certified Air Raid Material should proceed directly to the album's brief coda where terms like ‘glitch-hop' and ‘IDM' are roundly dismissed in favour of “Strip Club Music for the next century.” But forget labels: the boldly experimental hip-hop edIT (aka LA-based Edward Ma, one-time Dublab DJ and producer The Con-Artist) drops on his sophomore album smells sweet no matter what name is applied. On vocal cuts, MCs like The Grouch, Busdriver, TTC, and Abstract Rude blaze as ferociously as one might expect, but, frankly, the most awesome cuts are the instrumentals where Ma gives his scalpel-sharp edits and beats their fullest workout. Cases in point: the burning “Straight Heat,” where a string quartet gets mashed through a hip-hop blender, “Battling Go-Go Yubari in Downtown LA,” a blistering marriage of funk and hip-hop packed with humongous bass lines and an elephantine bass drum kick, or perhaps the massive “If You Crump Stand Up,” where Ma mangles his material like so much silly putty while beats pop like buckshot. Material like “Back Up Off the Floor Pt. 2” clearly suggests that Dabrye and J Dilla devotees also might cotton to edIT's forward-thinking hip-hop style. Certified Air Raid Material blazes so furiously, it's hard to believe edIT's previous album, Crying Over Pros for No Reason (Planet-Mu), apparently pushed a melancholy downtempo vibe. “Straight Heat” indeed.

October 2007