Restiform Bodies: Live at Bottom of the Hill
[...] Restiform Bodies: I was stoked to catch this after two of their tracks landed on our site (one original and a killer Tobacco remix). Their strength is throwing the standards of hip hop all out of balance, speeding shit up and slowing it down, pushing Dave Bryant into verses twice as long as the standard 16 bars, then throwing it back to beat-maker Matt Valerio for an extended break featuring two or three tweaks in a row. Blissfully, you don't ever really get what you expect. There's a lot in the delivery of this project that reminds me of Aesop Rock's dense, hyper-ordained style, maybe if that style was wearing baggy clothes and sunglasses because it didn't want to be recognized in public. One: the beats have their own erratic and shifting charm that Restiform Bodies could easily hold its eight as an instrumental outfit (this was especially apparent in the portions of the show where the beats and glitches went long-form). Two: Dave's lyrics alternate between biting condemnation of consumer culture and coy self-depreciation; he delivers everything with a smirk, and that smirk wears a smirk of its own. (Go on, picture it.) Since everything's packed tightly, some of the particular details dropped out during their set – Dave's at his best when he gets into a long midtempo swing, usually in the refrains that close down most tracks ("fuck like you mean it, Lori / fuck you mean it, Barry / fuck like you got a reputation e'erybody..."). But his voice always layers on the beat like another instrument, and even when we couldn't pick out the words, the music still moves like a twitchy sprinting beast. All in all a damn satisfying show from an electrorap outfit that's about to burst – not too crowded, not too tense, pulsing with all the right sorts of energy.
Source: betterPropaganda
