Saturday, July 4, 2009

Eyedea & Abilities - By the Throat (2009)

Rhymesayers-based hip-hop duo Eyedea & Abilities return after a 5 year hiatus with somewhat mixed results. They've mostly left behind the aggressive, battle-centric lyrics and turntablism that were present on E&A in favor of a more indie rock/electronic type sound.

Eyedea's short stint as the vocalist for rock band Carbon Carousel is pretty apparent here, and many of the songs feature him crooning along to dull and uninspired guitar lines that were probably originally intended for the aforementioned band. Eyedea isn't a particularly good singer either, and the tracks that forgo singing in favor of actual rapping are generally the more successful ones.

Another thing worth noting is the apparent lack of DJ Abilities. He still makes a few appearances here and there with some scratching, but his contributions are seemingly minimal compared to the first two albums. This can be explained by the complete change in direction sound-wise, but it is still pretty disappointing, considering Abilities used to be an integral part of the E&A sound.

>> Download