Dibia$e – Machines Hate Me
Alpha Pup Records: 2010
Let’s start here: I don’t think I’ve been less impressed with an opening track all year. “Eternia” wasn’t even annoying, because it never got started or went anywhere. It felt completely incomplete, and unfortunately it set the tone for most of this album.
I was expecting to love this. Most of what I’ve heard from Dibia$e has been awesomely creative and perfectly produced, so my biggest challenge writing this review was self-doubt: AM I JUST NOT GETTING IT? Did he go all “Bitches Brew” on me here? Is this actually a classic ahead of it’s time?
After trying to get into this through a couple different altered states, though, I think the answer is No. As in, no, it’s just not a very good album, sad to say.
Now, I understand that this is a deliberately 8-bit presentation. I never played video games, so perhaps I’m not qualified to write this review…but I do have functioning ears. I liked this album a lot, when it worked. I’m guessing the tracks that bored me were amazing flips of some old school NES game soundtrack that everyone knows except for me and a couple thousand Amish people.
As far as actual music goes, though, there’s quite a few duds in the mix here. Dibia$e is endlessly inventive with drops and fills, but most of these tracks are a single loop for 2 minutes. Unlike some of his more adventurous peers in LA, Dibia$e won’t change keys, do a song in multiple parts, or push beyond making beats into actual composing.
(I’m also wondering why “Dubwreck” and “Life Force” sound like the same track at two different BPMs. It’s one of my least favorite songs and it’s on the album twice? What is going there?)
When he makes it work, though, the music is compulsively repeatable. Especially the more down-tempo (and well-mixed) tracks like “Abstract” and “Price is Righteous”, which should probably get turned into a single featuring either Guilty Simpson or MF Doom, ASAP. There’s just not enough great moments like these to save this as an album.
My final take: about half the tracks here are really dope beats. The other half is repetitive, often barely listenable electronic noise. Hopefully this is a jumping-off experiment for bigger, weirder and better horizons. Dibia$e is definitely way more versatile than the range he’s demonstrating here, so I’m still looking forward to his next project.
But I definitely wasn’t feeling this one.
2 out of 5
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