Various - How To Kill Vol. 1

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  • F.A.M.E. is a Detroit crew whom I admittedly don't know a lot about. The first release on their How To Kill label easily speaks for itself, though, with four drugged-up house tracks. It's the kind of record that sounds like it's playing at the wrong speed—at 45 it's a bit like ghettotech, and on 33 (the correct speed), it's so mucky you'd swear it wasn't meant to sound like that. But it is, and that's part of the attraction. Broodlings & Al Hype team up for the A1 cut, which is the smoothest. Intricate percussion and an insistent spoken word hook—"I like that record"—have a verve that the rest of the record lacks. Marshall Applewhite, an alias of Detroit dubstepper OktoRed, offers gut-busting kick drums and some creepy grunting, spiced up with frantic arpeggios and a bassline that could cause fissures in the ground. Both F.A.M.E. tracks on the flip have a demonic tint, and they land so hard it feels like they're trying purposefully to damage your speakers. "Wet," with its slurred bellows and slow-motion skip, is pure scuzz, while "Tips" dips even darker, entering full on crunch territory with its soot-blackened snares and hats. Neither are accessible, but there's something captivating about just how grimy they are, and that goes for the whole 12-inch, really—it positions F.A.M.E. and How To Kill as outfits to look out for in a local scene already overflowing with talent.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Broodlings - Like That feat. Al Hype A2 Marshall Applewhite – Leave With Us B1 F.A.M.E. – Wet B2 F.A.M.E. – Tips
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