- Artist
- Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
- ReleaseProduct
- King Cobra
- Label
- Phantom Limb
- Catalogue Number
- PHNTM025
- Release Date
- July 11, 2022
-
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$9.99320 kbps, LAME-encoded
Genres
Press Release
Baltimore hip-hop experimentalists Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals return with vital new album King Cobra, a mighty, omnivorous record that pushes the duo to unstoppable creative heights.
Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals’ inexhaustible creativity has already gifted us 2020’s Dear, Sudan - a kaleidoscopic, unpredictable joyride of late night channel-hopping - and 2021’s brutal post-George Floyd manifesto Rhino XXL, but King Cobra is a new experience still. It is a masterfully executed expression of both ferocity and joy. ”Not a checklist of all the ills in the world,” says the band, “but it feels like darkness”. An expansively ambitious record, full of fire, and a thrilling new step from artists on a crucial mission.
An opening of moody, operatic lamentation for guitar and voice steeped in VHS warble intensifies the record that follows. “Coke Jaw” barrels out like a swinging fighter, matching nimble Tron synthesis with lines that “fuck the Clintons and the Kennedys” and proclaim “we the post-apocalytpic Run-DMC”. Lead single “Death Of A Constable” maintains the visceral energy, Ennals honouring Black life and culture in one line and biting hard on injustice and inequality in the next. He’s “saving up for a new guillotine” to deal with PTSD giving him “killer dreams”. Centrepiece “A Melancholy Boogie” ups the funk without softening any collision impact. A Prince-esque bassline and Funkadelic backing vocals are punctuated with orchestral stabs and Ennals’ penetrating, fleet-footed dissections of innercity hardship. Throw in themes of learned Afrofuturism and Tanzania-born Infinity Knives’ instinctive East African licks, and the track is capable of towering over its peers.
The duo offering Ice Cube and KRS-One’s Boogie Down Productions as influences reveals an admiration for time-revered classic hip-hop, but digging deeper uncovers references (both overt and subtle) to Pink Floyd, Stars Of The Lid, William Basinski, Sade, Outkast and Aretha Franklin among a vibrantly coloured palette. “Sonically it’s jagged, it’s incongruent, it’s supposed to make you feel a little uncomfortable,” the duo explained.
More than a pure hip-hop producer, Infinity Knives (aka NPR composer-in-residence Tariq Ravelomanana) demonstrates his oft-discussed love of contemporary classicists such as Max Richter and Jóhann Jóhannsson throughout. Hidden deftly amongst the hard-hitting beats and Ennals’ lyrical dexterity are moments of blissful orchestration that betray an abundance of musical talent and a precise control over the cleverly formed layers of melody and harmony. Key track “Don’t Let The Smooth Taste Fool You” is in the rare and notoriously complex 10/4 time signature, but in Ravelomanana’s hands it prowls sleek and powerful as a lion. More than a pure hip-hop record, King Cobra provides a relentlessly inventive backdrop for Brian Ennals’ righteous poetry of vitriol, rage, philosophy, humour and myth-making. “This isn’t an album meant for you to smile to,” Ennals writes, “except when I say something funny.”
Digital Tracklist
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1
Neath The Willow's Leaves
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
2:38
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Neath The Willow's Leaves
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2
Coke Jaw
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
3:26
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Coke Jaw
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3
A Melancholy Boogie
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
2:58
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A Melancholy Boogie
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4
The Culling
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals featuring Tyler Moonlight
1:24
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The Culling
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5
Don't Let The Smooth Taste Fool You
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
3:31
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Don't Let The Smooth Taste Fool You
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6
Theme from King Cobra
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
2:10
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Theme from King Cobra
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7
The Badger
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
3:39
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The Badger
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8
The Not So Tired Sounds of Brian Ennals
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
3:58
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The Not So Tired Sounds of Brian Ennals
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9
Sunday Feb 19th 2017
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
0:42
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Sunday Feb 19th 2017
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10
Death of a Constable
Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals
2:19
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Death of a Constable
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Track List
- A1 Neath The Willow's Leaves
- A2 Coke Jaw
- A3 A Melancholy Boogie
- A4 The Culling ft. Tyler Moonlight
- A5 Don't Let The Smooth Taste Fool You
- A6 Theme from King Cobra
- A7 The Badger
- A8 The Not So Tired Sounds of Brian Ennals
- B1 Sunday Feb 19th 2017
- B2 Death of a Constable
- B3 The Bushman
- B4 Headclean
- B5 Premium Malt Freestyle ft. Eze Jackson
- B6 Milk & Codeine
- B7 Bluffin'
- B8 Sambo's Last Words
- B9 On Bread Alone ft. Allison Clendaniel
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- Label
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- Catalogue Number
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- Release Date
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- Catalogue Number
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