Jan 20, 2010
Dessa
A Badly Broken Code
Doomtree Records
The Doomtree machine keeps churning them out. Not content with 'False Hopes XV' slaying the speakers over the Christmas period, the Minnesotan collective have given Dessa the spotlight for her debut album 'A Badly Broken Code' and boy, oh boy, she doesn't disappoint. Showcasing both her innate ability to rock the mic on a straight up rapping steez and then switching up the styles to deliver some beautifully constructed harmonies, the former spoken-word vocalist delivers an array of quality hip-hop over the 15 tracks on the album, never letting up on the quality for a second.
Lesser mortals may have trouble placing a purely accapella track within their album, but Dessa seamlessly drops it in on the second track, demanding the listener sit up and pay attention on 'Poor Atlas' before slamming them back with the boom-bap drums of 'The Crow'. The array of beats is astounding: liquid guitars on the exceptional 'Mineshaft II' and 'Dutch'; the chipmunked vocals of 'Matches to Paper Dolls'; the piano-led 'Crew'. It gives such colour to the album as a whole.
Lyrically Dessa comes into her own too. Always having being poetic on her 'False Hopes' EP and on various songs across the Doomtree release spectrum, it comes as no surprise, but still, she manages to exceed the high levels she's already set. From describing her parents ("My father was a paper plane / My mother was a wind-swept tree") to the heartache of love past and future ("And then you did what he asked you to do, you opened your heart up / Right there on a napkin on the carpet / Part of it was frostbitten but you've always a smart kid, could still distinguish the blood black as pitch") to straight up crew braggadoccia ("What's got nine lives, lands on its feet? / The Doomtree franchise, rep wings and teeth"). Namechecking icons from all sides of culture from Dorothy Parker to April O'Neill shows the depth from which Dessa digs with her pen, demanding each song be repeated time and again to grab more meaning with each listen.
Perhaps this may seem rather evangelical a review, but in all honesty, it deserves all the praise being heaped on it. There are bound to be many albums released in 2010 that get definitive thumbs-up reviews but it's going to take one hell of a record to top 'A Badly Broken Code' and we're only 3 weeks into the new year. To paraphrase the MC herself, album of the year? "My money's on you"!
A Badly Broken Code is out now on Doomtree Records.
