In April of this year, St. Paul emcee Kristoff Krane found himself on tour with Seattle’s Sadistik. The two quickly realized that they had great chemistry together. When Krane turned on Sadistik to the work of experimental noise rock drummer/producer Graham O’Brien, the pieces began to fall into place, and they knew they needed to record together, and they needed to work with O’Brien. One listen to Prey for Paralysis, and you’d think these guys have been working together for years.

Sadistik and Krane both share similar backgrounds in poetry and prose, along with a desire to make hip hop that pushes musical boundaries. Krane is best known for his work in Face Candy, the experimental jazz/rock/hip hop act that also included Eyedea. Sadistik’s solo material moves anywhere from ambient electronic music to harsh and jarring guitars and drums. Knowing this, it makes sense the Graham O’Brien would appeal to them as producer of their collaboration project. First things first, O’Brien’s drum work is absolutely incredible. That’s not all there is to him, though, as his production and arrangements are also top notch. On the opening track, “Pyramid Song,” you’ll hear simple drums in the background as acoustic guitar strums and soft vocals sing before the rug gets pulled out from underneath the listener. The switch is flipped as overdriven fuzzy bass and guitar and heavy drums all kick in at once and Sadistik jumps in with a rapid fire staccato delivery. O’Brien is very adept at knowing when to create tension with quiet moments, when to bring the noise, and when to let a mood ride out, as with the general tension built with the ominous bass line in “Bad Timing.” As emcees, Sadistik and Krane pair up well, both given to abstract imagery and long form narrative within their rhymes. While both are very wordy, the also can deliver some short sung choruses to compliment these verses, and at other time they can just let the music play out.

It’s a short album, with ten songs just about at the twenty two minute mark, but they manage to squeeze a lot into a small package. Sadistik and Krane have great chemistry, but working with O’Brien is what really pushes this album over the edge. The combination of imagery dropped by the two emcees and the noise rock/hip hop that O’Brien laid down lead to a very exciting and challenging record.