Bisc1- When Electric Night Falls

By: Matt Kelly

Released: ((3.11.2008))

The contemplative, moody hip-hop album is something of a lost cause to many. The genre is so pigeon-holed as being about FUCKING UP THE STREETS YA'LL that some find it hard to even imagine the sort of rap disc you'd throw on to quietly listen to by yourself in the twilight hours. Enter Bisc1 and the debut LP, When Electric Nights Fall. You may already be familiar with his work as a graphic designer- he's produced art for Aesop Rock, The Perceptionists, Murs and many more. So you know he's deadly with a pen- but what about when it's penning lyrics? Let's check his first verse on the album.

"As electric night falls, sky grows heavy
I'd like to welcome ya'll, get ready
For landscape settings with uncharted headings
Few moments of your time, that's if ya'll let me
B to the I to the S C 1! OK, let's move ahead, we've officially begun
I'm a concrete traveler in crowds of confusion
With a craft that's used to get through the illusions
It is what it is, speak nothing but the truth
No other way for me to move except to the roof
Shoot sky high while I choose to fly by
Watch it rise and I've painted your demise
Young and wise, sitting restless this time
Spitting reckless but no necklaces shine
No glam or glitz, it's only busy Bisc
This ain't to be missed, it's more than time for the trip
Reality slips, through all we still exist
Sharp and crisp like perfect drum bass kicks
Better start clocking the kid, the movement's quick"
-Night Fall

Blockhead drops by to give it an echoing, booming beat with synths so atmospheric you can almost see the sunset as night owl Bisc wakes up and heads for the booth or the graf spot.

Lyrics are Bisc1's strong point. He doesn't lash out with monster one-liners or knock you spinning with wildly inventive concepts. The quality of his lyrics is accumulative, a gradual realisation that he has put some effort into virtually every line, avoiding dead air. His weakness as an MC is his voice- he's a bit Average Joe when it comes to delivery, never really switching things up vocally and sounding a bit thin. This quality makes the disc one only for people willing to focus on it. Use it as background music and he'll be overshadowed by the beats.
And the beats are a bit melancholy and gray. It works at creating a cohesive vibe but the closest thing to a banger is the hard rocking hidden track Heavy Metal from his 2007 mixtape The Stay Up Project. Otherwise, J Vegus (who handles all but four tracks) goes for sinister, uneasy beats. The high minor tones that permeate Parallels, the eerie chipmunk voice that sings the hook on Strange Love, the menacing buzzing in the background of Another Day, and even when he gets happy on Unconditional, a thank you to his parents for raising him well, Vegus flies in the face of the positive (and on point) lyrics with a jarring, atonal bridge and a dark sounding chorus that doesn't match Bisc's message at all, making for an ugly clash.It's the only time they seem to be on different pages though.

Bisc's rhymes are usually shadowy themselves, concerning the hidden and the not fully grasped. Parallels tells of Bisc's decision to follow a woman he saw crying on the street to see if he could help her. Paranoid dwells on all the wrongs in the world and the unhealthy mental state they induce. On Parallels Bisc imagines getting killed in a mugging. Strange Love meanwhile brings back a hip-hop element long overlooked in rap as Bisc speaks on his graffiti addiction in a track any graf head will enjoy hearing. Just when you think you've got him pegged though, Bisc brings in the old school funk vocals of guest Mariella and Vegus rolls out some hot, actual drumming. It's a welcome splash of colour amidst the album's general oppressiveness.

Bisc1 isn't for everybody- he won't get you moving, he won't make you laugh. But fans of thoughtful/reflective rap are often neglected and Bisc1, though he has work to do on his mic prescence, has done a pretty good job of catering for them.

This is a grower- only for the patient.

Favorite Tracks: Fire and Ice, Parallels
What to do (Buy/Try/Frisbee): Try.