Review Summary: Just open your ears and listen to this!
Welcome to the Garden of Edan! Come inside and make yourself at home. This is a polite meeting, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Excuse me while I dust off the record player. Let's stay a while and enjoy ourselves. Nevermind the scratching fits, now open your ears and listen to this! With "Beauty and the Beat", Edan blends hip-hop and psychedelia into a masterpiece of acidic musical texture.
Right from the jump, Edan proves he is the master M.C., and we are his privileged students. It's a warped, contorting funhouse of stanzas, scratches, and trippy samples. His prowess in musical production elevates the style, with every measure brimming with detail and no creative stone left unturned. From the stabs of brass and bubbly effects, to the throbbing basslines, to the infectious snare hits, it's a wonderfully cohesive bouquet. For instance, "Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme", a track which quickly and effectively exemplifies Edan's many strengths. It kicks off with the catchy, yet unprecedented mix of 60s rock band Passing Clouds "At the Head of the List" paired with a raw, driving snare beat. It's a reeling uptempo foundation, on which he informs us "class is in session, master this lesson, teacher was a student studied like a Buddhist, reviewin' on the best to do it, so let's do this." The sample takes a backseat on the verses, still peppered in for modulated accents, but returns in full for the chorus. It's an unusual stylistic pairing, but the ambition is fruitful nonetheless. The record blooms like a lush ecosystem, taking us on a journey through decades of influence and possibility.
In addition to a perfectly balanced mix and a masterful production, "Beauty and the Beat" also boasts some major songwriting diversity. The spitting onslaught and freaky pulsating samples in Torture Chamber are starkly different from the swooning strings and mind-bending echoes of Promised Land. The jazzy retro-hypnotica of "Murder Mystery" keeps us on our toes, while the flute-laden drive of "Beauty" injects the groove that makes us move. The big bass of "Making Planets" provides a minimalistic angle to a verse, where the bombastic guitars of "Rock and Roll" give us the opposite. The tracks are not only crafted with the utmost care, but with a commitment to distinction. To the record's great benefit, there is plenty of style to the substance, and resonance wasn't sacrificed for technicality.
The lyrics, although silly and semi-incoherent at times, are undeniably catchy. They're the unapologetic ravings of an artist having fun. Memorable lines are peppered throughout, with "I See Colours" being the cardinal example. One among many insane passages is as follows:
"I work with the aesthetic of a brain medic
Cutting up the reels with crystal shards to make the tape edit
I take lettuce, onions, tomato
Add a dab of mayo plus the fish fillet-o
Appetizing gray matter with a strange platter
The symmetry of energy with chemistry and plasma"
It's daring to compare brain surgery to sandwich-making, yet it's executed with such vigor and cleverness we can't help but be captivated. We find many similar moments, and while you can argue they don't always "make sense", the spellbinding execution never falters, and they mold impeccably to whimsical mood of the album.
In all, "Beauty and the Beat" is essentially a flawless album, with a seamless blend of styles and substances realized in their full form. Edan comes across as more than a beatmaking connoisseur, but rather a musical voyager thumbing through seas of 60s rock and 90s hip-hop records. Do yourself a favor and check out this masterpiece!
