Spaceghostpurrp - Mysterious Phonk: The Chronicles of Spaceghostpurrp (CD, Double vinyl LP)

Having failed somewhat to cross over to the dubstep arena with the shocking Joker album, former neo-goths 4AD now enter the nether worlds of underground darkwave hip hop with this compilation of material from this Atlanta based prodigy.

Musically it fits in strangely perfectly with the 4AD back catalogue full of eerie slo-mo beats and dark churning loops. Opener ‘Mystical Maze’ is a slow jam with a strange whistling sample that sounds like it comes from a Disco Inferno record. It therefore comes as a disappointment that it takes just 30 seconds for the first ‘suck my dick’.

I’m not sure what offends me most, the words themselves or the resorting to cliche so early in the album. The second track ‘Suck a Dick 2012’ (he’s obsessed!) feeds on a creepy dysfunctional sample whilst ‘Grind on Me’ is a standout  - repetitive slow grooves, Tricky-style whispered paranoid vocal delivery and what almost amounts to a pop chorus. Some of the instrumental interludes feature strange clanking sounds that wouldn’t be out of place on a Demdike Stare record but generally this is an East coast rival to the Odd Future collective.

Musically extremely interesting but your enjoyment will depend on your ability to cope with passages of lyrics which leave you pining for a day when hip hop can finally move on from such machismo posturing as on ‘Get Yah Head Bust’ he sounds genuinely terrifying - whispering threats over an edgy Massive Attack like dirge, but by ‘Osiris of the East’ we get countless ‘bitches’ and an unhealthy smattering of ‘ho’s’.