French audio/visual artist Ra has switched to his real name for his third album, presumably to avoid confusion with the dozen other Ra's making music these days. Brain Kitchen is somewhat of a retreat from the hyperkinetic breakcore-esque work on 2007's Wxfdswxc2. Even though the album was quite good, it was no raoul Loves You, and Ra had sped up his beats so fast on that record his samples were barely audible. With Brain Kitchen, Raoul's source material is given more of a chance to breathe and present its charm. Don't get me wrong; this is still dizzying stuff, but I get a sense that Raoul has gone back to his hip-hop roots a little more on Brain Kitchen, and in my opinion, created a better album in the process. Indeed, some of the slower moments on Brain Kitchen are some of the most memorable, such the end of "King Frog", the odd synthwork in the middle of "Whalemen" (which recalls some of the best moments of Clark's 2006 album Body Riddle), or the downright jazzy sample that intros into "Solid Flesh". It's nice to see Raoul changing speeds again and not just seeing how fast he can get to 0 - 60. Raoul Loves You was a revalatory debut, and while Brain Kitchen doesn't quite reach that lavel, it does re-establish Raoul asn an artist you have to account for when you're looking for experimental music with a hop-hop edge.

Style: IDM, Clip-Hop

RIYL: Clark, Machine Drum

Buy from Amazon  MySpace

Download: Solid Flesh

Tags See All Tags

2008  Ad Noiseam  Brain Kitchen  Clark  Clip Hop  IDM  Machine Drum  Ra  Raoul Sinier  onecaseman 

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