I feel a bit fresher than usual today. This could be the therapeutic effect of a four day weekend or maybe that I got out of work slightly less late than usual.
Whatever it is, let’s get this review rolling!
Disc 1634 is…Ides
Artist: Dessa
Year of Release: 2021
What’s up with the Cover? I am not sure. Feathers?
How I Came To Know It: I love Dessa but didn’t even realize she’d released this album until a year late. CDs as a format sell out quickly in these days of vinyl supremacy, and I was worried it would be out of print. Fortunately, she was still selling CDs at good ‘ole dependable Bandcamp. And here we are!
How It Stacks Up: I have five Dessa albums and “Ides” comes in at lowly #5. There is no shame in this, however, just a recognition that Dessa has an amazing catalogue of music.
Rating: 3 stars but almost 4
Minneapolis hip hop artist is one of a kind. Rarely will you find someone who has an incredible voice, great phrasing or the ability to spit rhymes – Dessa does all three. On top of that, she has an uncanny talent for knowing which approach each of her songs call for. Often that answer is some crossover of two or three different styles, stitched together into something greater than the sum of its parts.
The biggest challenge for “Ides” is that it is a lowly EP and doesn’t give you enough time to fully fall under Dessa’s charm and genius. Even so, there are plenty of high points to latch on to.
The record starts with the accessible but totally amazing, “I Already Like You”. This one has a funky beat, and a disco-adjacent groove that will have you doing the sideways head slide when you’re waiting at a light. There are about 10 distinct things going on in this song, all different, all awesome. Maybe you’ll catch a bit of early Madonna, plus some Jamiroquai style funk and then a falsetto Bee Gee-esque dance-friendly echo of the chorus. Or maybe you’ll find three different things that will equally tickly your fancy with the artful why they’re combined into art. to I could spend this entire review talking about how all the pieces connect to each other and still miss the nuance. She does it all in under 2:30, meaning it could have also been a radio hit if only it weren’t so damned smart.
The next tune, named for American author Terry Gross, has Dessa ascending into her half-rap/half-spoken word brilliance. This record lands a host of great turns of phrase, but “Terry Gross” has one of my faves:
“A base hit is the
son of a pitch
A tanning bed is the
sun for the rich”
Clever.
Rivalling “Terry Gross” for Dessa’s best entry in “furious spitting” is “Rome”. This song has a great groove in the chorus, but that’s nothing compared to the sheer power of her intellect reflected in turns of phrase that are both memorable and socially pointy. She references Chekhov’s gun in reference to police patrols, and then takes aim a few rhyme-filled seconds later at the beauty industry with:
“And I think beauty
fucks us up?
It's like sugar in the natural world, we'd never get this much
So the appetite is bottomless
Call Maybelline Anonymous
Make narcissists of all of us”
I like Dessa best when she’s in this fast-rap phase, but she’s just as good at crooning some heart-breaking stories of uncertainty and anxiety, working the frontal lobes and the lizard brain with equal skill.
Additionally, while it is fun to quote her thoughtful lyrics, they are even better experienced out loud her singular style. She bends time around that long second line above, and then strings the next three together like a quick traipse down a never-ending staircase. Or put another way – it is a good read, but a great listen.
The one thing I’d change on this record, is to remove one of the two versions of “Life on Land” that it ends with. The first version is lovely, stark, and raw. The second, “Hope Masike Remix” version adds a lot of bells and whistles that get in the way of the great song you’d just heard moments ago.
Also, at only 25 minutes (21 if you don’t count “Life on Land” twice) it left me wanting more. Not a bad problem to have, and about what you’d expect from a record that finished fifth but is still amazing.
Best tracks: I Already Like You, Terry Gross, Rome
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