5 out of 5

Produced by: Ecid

Label: Fill in the Breaks

Ecid’s rich, technology-steeped productions are capable of straddling several hip-hop genres successfully, dipping deep into an old-school vibe or glitching it up for some backpack stuff.  When covering other MC’s, he tends to smartly let their strengths shine, savoring the beats inbetween the beats for his stylistic indulgences.  When working with his own material, it can be something of a handicap as he goes all in with the flourish, which can occasionally draw unnecessary attention to his unique but off-kilter flow, as the music will suddenly bleep and blop in the same skittery fashion.  Ensemble acts, in general, similarly comes with pluses and minuses: the major plus, of course, is that solo acts can become tiresome over a lengthy 60 minute album, but with multiple MCs and a talented producer, you’ve got a roundtable of lyricists with different flows breaking up every track.  The flip to this, of course, is that unless you’ve each got something to bring to that table, you can end up with something embarrassingly one or two-sided and some clear dead moments while the soft spots in the group do their bits, or – better or worse, it’s hard to say – everyone grabs the spotlight and it’s just too jam-packed.

Saturday Morning Soundtrack: an ensemble act, produced by Ecid.  And: the best of both of those worlds.  Ecid is still a driving force as a rapper here – along with Capaciti, Impulse, and Kristoff Krane (as well as some special guests) – but by not having to be the star, his productions find a pitch perfect balance between flashy and raw, each and every track backed by a strong beat that manages to be distinct and catchy and, when needed, enhanced by Ecid’s special brew of tricks.  This is also an amazingly balanced group, with each MC and guest offering a particular flavor on any given track via subject matter, vocal range, or flow, and yet the songs are still 100% cohesive.  Ecid has a tendency to ramble off topic, and you can feel his mark on the topics rapped about here, but boiled down to one or two verses he is on, and the rest of the group follows suit.

Most hip-hop albums I own – even the ones I love – stretch on a bit with some filler.  Saturday Morning Soundtrack somehow finds a way to avoid all of that excess and never wear out its welcome, bringing in all the right elements from its core contributors and shaking things up with notable guests at just the right moments.  As usual when something appears to be a one-off, it’s always a bummer that we can’t hunt down more tracks, but if your sole production is of as high quality as this self-titled disc, that’s certainly a worthwhile legacy to leave.