Ipecac Recordings
2007
Abandoned Language
About This Album
On their fourth record, Abandoned Language, electronica- and progressive-minded rap group Dälek continues their exploration of the netherworlds of hip-hop, where dark, plodding, sewer-gas production churns with MC/producer dälek's nearly spoken rhymes. Beats are moody and delicately urgent, live strings and horns mix in with hollow drums and delayed keyboard chords, and everything is very purposeful, even in the occasional cacophony that folds itself out from amid the slow melody. The same attention to detail and effect is given to the lyrics, which again and again return to the idea of language, both oral and written. It's not a concept album, but it has definite themes that it examines. "The tongues I speak intrinsic/Linguistics lodged in larynx made the words you spit transparent," dälek rhymes in "Isolated Stare," where he hails the power of communication and its ability to guide and direct, while on "Bricks Crumble," he recognizes its longevity, how it can remain while the physical inevitably cannot. "Words strengthen emotions they foster/Bricks crumble under feet of this author," he says, acknowledging that even he is reduced to transience while what he writes goes on.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,6,9 and 10)

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