Rating: NNN
After putting out a few scattered hip-hop tracks online, rising underground rapper Mykki Blanco makes a U-turn into blistering industrial drag-punk on her debut EP, with backing from producer/drummer DJ Physical Therapy and guitarist Jeffrey Joyal. The lyrics come from Blanco’s poetry book From The Silence Of Duchamp To The Noise Of Boys, which tells the story of a black transvestite punk and her friends dabbling in sex, drugs and the occult in “the Rotten Apple.”
From the first few bars of Head Is A Stone, it’s apparent that this ain’t a hip-hop joint. The song’s cascading tribal drums, burbling guitar riffs and distorted, unhinged screaming set us off on a tormented journey that splooges visceral menace all over our ears. Along the way are nods to Hendrix and hardcore, but it’s Blanco’s ability to go absolutely mental that’s most fun. Closing track Join My Militia (Nas Gave Me A Perm) comes closest to rap and has the EP’s most dynamic (though not craziest) vocal performance it’s gravelly, guttural and nasty.
Top track: Head Is A Stone
