Kommunicator
Label: Rapster
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Kommunicator
There isn’t much that can be called traditional on Five Deez’s third full-length disc. File the Ohio four-piece’s Kommunicator under interplanetary hip-hop, and listen to it push immediately into atmospheric supercomputer blips and robot grooves in the intro before MCs Pase Rock, Kyle David and Sonic rapidly fire over thrusts of dance beats, dramatic synth-and-string combos and acid-washed soul. Each moment of Kommunicator is rich in production value, with dense, often psychedelic beats from producer/member Fat Jon, who also delivers two smokin’ instrumentals. The loungey bass under the Nicolay/Foreign Exchange-style “Black Rushmore” thickens up the track’s sleepy string loops and buttery funk, rivaling the jumpy snare shuffle and creepy ambience of “When the Silence Is Gone” for best backdrop here. Quick, abstract verses clamor for attention over the quizzical workouts on Kommunicator, but deez crazy beats win out.
This article appears in Feb 15-21, 2006.