Album Review: Supreme Cuts - Whispers In The Dark

Supreme Cuts
Whispers In The Dark
Album Review: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Chicago duo Mike Perry and Austin Kjeultes, who make up Supreme Cuts, could be accused of being scattershot and schizophrenic as producers; their debut album Whispers In The Dark flies all over the place, touching on cloud-rap, witch-house, two step, R&B, juke, and footwork, never really slowing down to explore one genre thoroughly. It is a testament to their talent that the album is not an unholy mess as there appears to be a method to their madness that works more often than not.

Whispers In The Dark gets off to a shaky start with the brief opening instrumental "Whispers Part 1" which doesn't make any sort of grand statement as to where the record is going, leading into the equally confused "Lessons of Darkness (Apology)" which meanders in a haze of droning analog synthesizers.



The album finally kicks into gear with the two step excursion "(Youngster Gone Off That) Sherm," gliding over drum programming, soaring synths, and displaced vocal samples.



The moodier tracks work the best on Whispers In The Dark. The rolling drama of "E2" which marries a hurried juke beat with witch-house like synth fanfares, the Clams Casino-esque cloud rap of "18th," and the Dirty South beats punctuating the disembodied vocal samples of "Belly.



Other standouts are the delicate soundscape of "Ciroc Waterfalls" that recall the more ambient side of witch-house purveyors like Balam Acab,



and the rumbling, thumping tribal beats of "Val Venus" that sparks some needed urgency to the album.



But too many tracks come across as sketches or ambient noodling that don't provide any direction or focus to the record. "Intermission" is a pointless :30 interstitial that I suppose is meant to provide a bridge to the second half of the record, which would be fine, if the two sides felt like two separate and distinct halves. Oddly, this instrumental leads directly into another short instrumental "Whispers Part 2," which is equally perplexing. Likewise, the placement of other plodding tracks kills the momentum as well. "Epitome" is not a bad track, it has a nice rambling quality, but in the context of the flow of the record, it stops things dead in their tracks. While the closing title track ends things on a down note, its 8+ minute run time and promising piano intro that is squandered by an aimless trajectory, the track never building itself into anything until the very end when the drums and synths kick up, only to fade again into nothingness.

Pacing and diversity of genres aside, Whispers In The Dark is still too well produced to dismiss lightly. It is an interesting debut that shows what this duo is capable of and, with the right focus, shows that they can take their sound to the next level should they so decide.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.