There's now an identifiable Brooklyn Sound-dark, heavy, slow, breakbeat-based-and although it would be all too easy to attribute its development to the work of the ubiquitous
Bill Laswell, it would probably be more accurate to give credit to the small but influential WordSound label, one which has singlehandedly stripped illbience to its black, naked essence while simultaneously producing challenging hip-hop and some of the very few truly essential American drum & bass recordings. This two-disc set compiles one track from each of WordSound's first 22 releases, most in remixed form. For a bass fix, the adventurous beathead need look no further than
Dr. Israel's stupendous dub & bass assault on The Seshambeh Project's "Freedom Street" or
Dubadelic's very heavy "Rise of the Fall."
Laswell himself contributes a nice remix of Scarab's "Fall of the Towers of Convention." There are a couple of low points, such as
Prince Paul's needlessly nasty "J.O.B.," but the vast majority of this program is beatmongering of the highest order. Very highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson