Mad e.p.

"Eating Movies " (Album, 2004) !DSO Recommended!

Quality German label Ad Noiseam describes Mad e.p.'s debut album as "Abstract hip hop". It's a classification I've never stumbled across so far, but I cannot think of a better way to sum up this unbelievably eclectic 45 minutes of music. Mad e.p. is the tag for NYC's Matthew Peters and it was his first release, the 12" When I'm 6 (also on Ad Noiseam) that first caused heads to turn and shake in equal measure.

Most hip hop does zero for me, but down the decades this resilient (if all too often excessively over-commercial) genre has turned out some significant crossover artists like Public Enemy whose strength of identity and creativity combine to deliver a sound that installs honesty in place of superficial commercialism and transcends genre labelling to simply standout as quality music - period.

Mad e.p.'s incredibly imaginative constructions (just listen to the supremely atmospheric evocation of NYC at night in the bowed strings, elevated train samples, bells and jazz percussion and wind instrumentation of Mad's own improvisation band, the Manhattan Gimp Project, on Ride_072902) bring in facets of electronica, downtempo, beats and breaks and noise into the fray and the results are, in my experience at least, unique.

Mad e.p. doesn't just raise the bar on Eating Movies he takes the competition into a whole new arena. A very different (and resolutely edgy) view of the world than the mighty name mentioned above put forth, Map e.p. nonetheless genuinely deserves to be seriously considered alongside such weighty ancestors. A remarkable talent and yet another indication there's no justice in the world - otherwise, on the strength of this release alone, Matthew Peters would be lauded the world over. 8/10

Rob Dyer (August 2009)