Excision – X-Rated (2011) [Mau5trap] // Grade: D+

Let me get a few things out of the way before you start whining: I have nothing against so-called “brostep.” I actually quite like it at times. I also enjoy Excision’s music, generally speaking. He has made some unfuckwitable tracks (yes mostly through collabs, and I’ll get to that). Through Rottun, his label, he has put out even more great tracks. So the grade you are seeing above is not me lashing out at the genre or even the particular brand that Excision has brought to the dubstep table. Neither is it another lament against grinding and buzzing music made from Transformers sound effects – as a kid it was actually my favorite part of the cartoon.

I am truly disappointed by this album, and that may be because I had my hopes up (I do that, on occasion). As a labelhead and a guy who has been around the scene long enough to know that there is no such thing as a dubstep album, I expected Excision to make a halfway decent compilation of banging tunes that I could possibly listen to on my off days. But most of what I’m hearing on X-Rated sounds like he actually tried to make some kind of a consistent album where he would be the feeding line, and that some people would actually come back to in 3 years, while enjoying a cup of hot cocoa.

First of all, there are only 2 tracks by Excision alone. Which should not be surprising considering his previous output, but the best we can expect in terms of consistency from this album is for it to sound like a mixtape. “Execute” is textbook Excision though, hip-hop based and distorted just right, while “Oooh Noo” has more of a drum’n'bass tang that we hadn’t heard from him in a while. These tracks would make pretty good B-sides but they’re not exactly slaps in the face. For that category, we could look at Sexism which has the über grimy, cinematic quality that SKiSM likes to bring. It even has a nice growling sample with some guitar riffs thrown in but there’s a weird trancey melody that underlies the track and kind of ruins the heaviness.

The opening track has been done several times before, and I guess it’s a good intro/eponymous track but that’s all it will ever be. I could spend some time talking about “Sleepless” and “Jaguar,” the middle track and the closing track, featuring vocals by Savvy and Mr. Hudson. But I won’t linger. One is an unnecessary remake of a classic UKG song that hasn’t been improved upon by nearly 10 years of remixing, the other is vile vocoder vomit.

The two Downlink tracks might could make a good single, I guess, I can see “Swerve” as a good transition track in a set. Same applies to the two Datsik tracks, except that I am totally puzzled by 8-bit superhero, which changes tempo much too often to be listenable, danceable, enjoyable, or really anything that would require more than a few bars of the two Megaman samples. As a tool, it’s great! As a song, ehh.

At the end of the day, this album is… soft? It fails to come up to my expectations, which is one thing, but it also doesn’t live up to its own title or to its artist’s name. It doesn’t work as an album. And considering that it’s out on Mau5trap and not any kind of real label, it’s not like he had pressure from anyone but himself to make this. It’s either too much effort to make a bunch of things stick together or not enough effort to make something good that would elevate Excision past the one-hit a year status. If it was a way for Excision to bring his people to a larger audience, it should have been billed as some kind of “Excision presents:” or “Excision and friends” compilation; and probably a free download. For detractors of dubstep, it’s another disposable dubplate from a disposable genre. For the rest of us, it’s just a bummer.

- Gnou