Review Summary: Doomtree provides listeners with their strongest and most consistent performance yet; can it be a glimpse of what's to come?
For the uninitiated, Doomtree is a hip-hop collective born out of the burgeoning, early-2000s indie scene in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They consist of emcees/producers P.O.S., Cecil Otter, Sims, Dessa, Mike Mictlan, Lazerbeak, Paper Tiger, MK Larada and Turbo Nemesis (the group’s lone DJ). The group combines a DIY ethic with beats influenced by the west coast, punk rock and the new Minneapolis sound (Atmosphere, Brother Ali, etc.). The lyrics are heavy on poetry and introspection; but the group is not afraid to attempt some of hip-hop’s more tried and true methods of battle-rhymes and pop-culture references.
The False Hopes series of releases are basically stop-gaps between official albums from the crew or its respective members. The first Doomtree album ever was a False Hopes record by P.O.S. and Cecil Otter, although almost every member of the group has their own False Hopes disc at this point (the most recent being False Hopes XIV by Sims). The songs often consist of collaborations between group members and are usually fairly short on run-time.
The fifteenth installment of the False Hopes series finds Doomtree coming off a two-year stretch of success previously unseen by the collective; with the release of solo albums from P.O.S. and Cecil Otter, a False Hopes from Sims, the Hand Over Fist project from Mictlan and Lazerbeak, a book of poetry by Dessa (Spiral Bound), two crew-based False Hopes albums, a DVD and of course their first official crew album (self-titled and released in July of 2008). With all of the recent output from the group, is it actually realistic to expect a creative leap with the newest EP? The answer is a resounding yes. If it wasn’t for the short run-time, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this is the group’s finest hour as a collective unit.
The disc kicks off with an intro track that runs right into “Coup for the Kings” – a collaboration between P.O.S. and Sims that’s produced by Lazerbeak. A fairly typical opener for DT with enthusiastic verses sandwiched around a chorus that reps their name to the fullest. The beat has an energetic feel to it that’s fairly reminiscent of “Accident” off last year’s self-titled album. The next track, “Profit and Loss,” is also a fairly standard Doomtree crew-track; with verses from each member propelled by an extremely catchy chorus sung by the always-intriguing Dessa. Paper Tiger does his best Lazerbeak impression on the beat, sampling a bouncy piano that builds tension up to the soulful, horn-laden chorus. “A Rickety Bridge” finds Cecil Otter at his Bob Dylan-influenced, story-telling best; although the track is really nothing different than one could find on his 2008 album Rebel Yellow (lines like “when you came to show your face to the animals who swore it was intangible to orchestrate a radical, I saw your eyes go from lowercase to capital” are very indicative of Cecil’s signature style). These first few tracks show the various members of Doomtree honing their sound rather than attempting to break the mold; that's not to say it's a bad thing - as typical Doomtree is still an enjoyable listen - it's simply more of the same.
It’s at this point that the disc takes a jarring, epic turn. “Scuffle” has Dessa sounding more frantic and straight-up pissed than ever before over a jagged and sharp beat by P.O.S. (his production is just consistently interesting, isn’t it?). When she spits, “and maybe that makes me my bitter half but I know I got a better one to tame my tongue,” not only does she sound extremely believable but she also provides the perfect segue into her shockingly accessible chorus (based on the inaccessibility of the verses, at least). It’s a striking moment for Dessa and the group; for as polished as they are at songwriting, they’ve rarely sounded this focused and intense. The Lazerbeak-produced “Do Not Stay” begins with P.O.S. half-talking, half-singing over a repeated, punchy piano sample with a crack and realness in his voice that he hasn’t shown very often since Ipecac Neat. It certainly seems as if the rising emcee is about to reach his creative peak because if this song had been on Never Better it could have easily competed to be the best track on the record. P.O.S. says in the song’s chorus, “this city’s too small for us, I can’t stay, my bags are packed and ready,” and it might be true. As much attention as he’s gotten over the last year, it appears that P.O.S.’s best days are ahead of him.
The final hip-hop track on the record is Mictlan’s awfully-titled “OMG!” – a track that actually shows Mictlan at his most vulnerable and reflective, almost reminiscent of Prizefight off the Hand Over Fist record (easily the best song on that album). This is the only song produced by someone outside the Doomtree family, although it hardly sounds out of place. Piano is once again used to great effect, creating a somber ambience that lends weight to the introspection Mictlan displays. He’s much more effective on a song like this rather than doing the typical rapper posturing he resorts to far too often.
The album closes in epic fashion with an instrumental, post-rock track by Cecil Otter. “Carpe Diem” features a saxophone that wouldn’t sound out of place on a 1970s Pink Floyd record and just adds to the atmosphere contained on False Hopes XV. This EP would be a perfect introduction to Doomtree for the new listener, but also provides a possible window into the future of the group for long-time fans. This is not a record that will break them into the mainstream (even of underground hip-hop) but it’s absolutely a worthy addition to their already impressive discography and provides a solid foundation of what’s to come for the members of Doomtree in 2010.
