tFS Music Review: Sleep – Christopher
June 24th, 2009 by Russ
Sleep of Oldominion is, by reputation, a quiet, unassuming, family man by day and a hellacious lyric carpet-bomber by night. After releasing the critically acclaimed Riot by Candlelight in 2002, Sleep showcased his versatility in his eclectic autobiographical 2005 album, Christopher.
In Christopher, Sleep dials up the RPMs right out of the gate with some intense micro-machines-man-like verse loosing. What follows is a full-spectrum of sound ranging from traditional “Chicarone” style tracks, to techno-fueled raps, to more subdued instrumental ballads.
In Sleep’s own words:
There are some big differences between Riot and Christopher. Riot was an experimental project for me… Christopher is a more structured record and is mostly about the last two years of my life and also my past.
While the album’s final track, “Love it to Death” is nominally a cover of George Michael’s “Never Gonna Dance Again,” it unfolds as Sleep’s testimony to life as a hard-working, under the radar, working artist who can’t shake the bittersweet nature of his quest to be heard and appreciated. It actually seems to be more of an homage to Paul Simon’s “Have a Good Time” including a nearly identical closing saxophone solo.
One favored track is the penultimate “Dirt Interlude,” an old radio-serial style suspense bit in which some Sleep fans dupe Sleep and crew to the parking lot behind a performance to smoke some chronic. Amidst the puffing, the fans break out into an acapella cypher freestyle rap. Sleep knows he’s been duped again into listening to amateurs. That is something that listeners of Christopher should have no worries of. The old underground master has the tools and he has the talent.
Note: Sleep’s new album entitled Hesitation Wounds is scheduled to drop on June 30th under Sage Francis’ record label, Strange Famous.
After the jump, scope the official Hesitation Wounds intro trailer. It’s just enough to wet that salacious hip hop appetite of yours.
