REVIEWSGangrene, ‘Gutter Water’

7

• SPIN Rating:7 of 10

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Release Date: November 22, 2010
Label: Decon

As Gangrene, the Alchemist and Oh No are the 2010 equivalent of J Dilla and Madlib's partnership as Jaylib: the grimiest major-label beatmaker around waging cross-country MPC war with a prolific underground sample sculptor. But Gutter Water has none of Jaylib's muted minimalism, opting for a barrage of manic rhymes and delirious, clattering noise -- haunted-house pianos, car crashes, backmasked ickiness, end-times news broadcasts, Godzilla whines, convulsive turntablism, and even the YouTube clip of a cop eating pot brownies. It knocks despite sounding like nine scratchy records playing at once. Or because of it.