Oneirology

by Cunninlynguists

I'll never really understand how a hip-hop group which built its reputation by being irreverent jokesters (how can you take a group with that name seriously) is also capable of putting together such a mature, serious, and beautiful album as Oneirology.  It's not the first - A Piece of Strange is more thoughtful and generally better, but they maintained the same feel through Dirty Acres.  That shouldn't be surprising - except that between albums, they've also been putting out their Strange Journeys mixtapes, which include a song about a woman taking a dump so powerful it breaks the toilet.

Anyway, Oneirology.  It has more of Kno's lush production, with perhaps a bit of an 80s synth theme in places.  He creates some lovely soundscapes, which match perfectly with rappers Deacon the Villain and Natty's voices.  His own rapping on a couple of tracks leads something to be desired, but it's all good.

One thing I've noticed is that no matter how many times I listen to this album, and that has been a lot of times, I find that the subject matter washes past me, as I give more attention to the beats.  I couldn't even tell you if there is a concept to this album or not.