Enki-Du's Mono

The sky might be all around you, but you've socially constructed your surroundings so that you only really "see" it when you look up. Throughout Beneath Autumn Sky's mostly wordless Enki-Du's Mono EP, you are asked to look within, around, down, backward, forward, and up, to see. And "see" you do in this impressive debut of continuously surfacing artistic depth. Graffiti writer Smaze makes up one half of the duo, which provides a visual beat backdrop taking its turn twisting and up-rocking into the foreground, all the while keeping true to an old-school philosophy of hip-hop as group effort: a combination of DJing, breaking, MCing, and graffiti writing. Smaze and DJ Zane 3 bring the sound to the new, however, with refined yet organic production that makes its mutual crossover between conscious hip-hop and contemplative laptop electronic experimentation smooth as a silky bassline pulling along a shy flute strain. At times, this texture makes way for a cut-and-paste jumpiness, but it gives the work an overall effect of analog honesty that is lacking in the output of some of BAS' peers. Even the introspective spiritual repetitions of the third track echo a certain sincerity. Then it's back to the breaks. The depth will have you scratching your head while naturally nodding it to the groove.