BRASSMUNK Dark Sunrise (54th Regiment/Virgin) Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
With just six tracks listed, Dark Sunrise looks like an EP but reads like a full album, with at least twice as many tunes packed into 40 minutes. Toronto hiphop quartet BrassMunk do their best to change up their style from cut to cut, mixing loose-limbed, kalimba-driven beats with three-way rhymes. There’s an addictive thump to these tracks, but they rarely fall into a clichéd pattern. Instead of going for the obvious, BrassMunk wisely chose to riddle their tracks with wheezing accordions, clinking percussion and offbeat rhymes.
