Bleep

If this ten-year retrospective is intended to whet the listener?s appetite for the full Spectre catalogue, it could have the opposite effect as its eighty minutes and sixteen tracks may sate even the most dedicated fan.

There?s no question that a clear portrait of Spectre?s hip-hop juju rises from the ashes of these ominous and hallucinatory soundscapes, an impression further bolstered by the mummified remains and gothic lettering that adorn the cover design. Three of the collection?s predominantly instrumental tracks are unreleased, while others originally appeared on The Illness, The Second Coming, The End, Parts Unknown, and Psychic Wars, plus two songs were included on Electric Ladyland comps from Mille Plateaux.

Remarkably, the Spectre sound arrived fully formed on the debut The Illness, judging by the songs excerpted here. ?Spectre Meets Psycho Priest In The Temple Of Smoke? oozes a predictably narcoticized ambiance as disembodied voices float overtop snaking woodwinds and vocal chants, Spectre here simulating the house band of a subterranean opium den. Even more experimental is the collage-like ?The Sound? where the title is insanely repeated over and over to the accompaniment of martial drumming.

While there?s a basic template of sorts?bass-driven hip-hop beats coupled with scratching, voice snippets, strings, and simple percussion patterns?Spectre takes the road less traveled with these foreboding, apocalyptic soundscapes. The experimental edge hasn?t diminished over time, either, as the newest tracks are equally exotic. The 2003 track ?Soaring To The Depths,? for instance, builds its arrangement from sitar-like guitar sounds, Eastern flute, and tribal percussion patterns.

Spectre often adds an expansive, cinematic dimension by adding film dialogue and other wide-ranging samples, including some from a classic Bollywood film in ?Love.? ?Beats Within? nicely incorporates the classical intro from Rachmaninoff?s Isle of the Dead into its otherwise spooky fusion of beats, strings, and clanging noises but perhaps the most distinctive piece is the one that most seems in danger of expiring altogether. With its crawling beat, tympani, tribal clatter, and drowsy voices, the bleak, entropic ?Age Of The Storm? evokes the death march of humans caught in the throes of flesh-eating doom.

All of the preceding should make clear that, from beginning to end, RetroSpectre inhabits a hip-hop realm where few dare reside. Props, then, to Spectre for carving out his own disturbing path through the hip-hop jungle with this dark stylistic brew. [from absorb.org]