Louis Mackey & Dr. Quandary "The Dioscuri"

As I have stated many times on my little blog (the site you are viewing right now, in case you forgot) I am a fan of fully realized albums instead of just random songs thrown together that fit the time constraints to call it an LP. I am pleased to inform you that "The Dioscuri" is certainly a true album, in fact I might even go so far as to call it a "concept album." I figure if you are using Greek Mythology as a common theme and idea throughout a hip hop album (or any genre for that matter) you deserve the title "concept album" so congratulations to Louis Mackey and Dr. Quandary, you have created a concept album. The bigger question is whether or not they were actually able to pull of a successful album that makes sense. The short answer is yes, yes they did the long answer is revealed below, so here it goes.

Take a synth, a drum, a guitar and an old voice telling the story of who the Dioscuri were in a mythological context and you have the introduction to "Low Earth Orbit." At this point you realize Louis Mackey and Dr. Quandary not making your standard album, closest thing that comes to mind is Wu's use of Kung Fu movie clips. Quandary's beat continues after the lecture ends and remains throughout the remainder of the track, there is one addition though: Louis Mackey. He comes out strong with the lines "A thousand year old gift of fume’s wit aroused the mind. Picture us circling the moonlit mountainside Hallucinogenic gas rise from the earth,seducing the many masses who ask for guidance and search." and keeps it going for the remainder of the track. A few things worth noting: Mackey has no shortage of vocabulary or syllables (always a plus,) he's also great at setting the scene, but he does have a tendency to let his words run together or trail off then punch extra hard on final lines. This could have been very frustrating but luckily it is only a problem on 2 tracks.

Unfortunately the title track "The Dioscuri" is the other track where Mackey's flow does not seem on 100 percent. But here it works a bit better because each word where he adds that extra oomph is met by a drum hit by Quandary. And with each listen it makes more and more sense, it works. Mackey is using his voice to add to Quandary's beat, why I did not recognize it at first I do not know but it is plain to see. What does that beat sound like? Well, you have a bass guitar that comes in and fades out along with the drum that Mackey punctuates. What really stands out to me are the actual words which you may have to really listen to in order to fully hear each one. If you have no idea of mythology you will be lost as Mackey references Jupiter, Poseidon, and Catullus. Yes I know he mixes Greek and Roman Gods but it still works wonders.

The album really begins to shine when the beats begin to slow down and become more mellow and less rapid fire, it really fits Mackey's rhyme patterns and flow much better as is evident on "Latium." Quandary creates a minimalistic beat for Mackey to strut his stuff. This song shows what the pair are attempting to create: songs similar to the classic epic poems of the Greeks and Romans over the beats of Quandary this is clearly seen when Mackey rhymes "Manage this entropy—each stanza's potentially
—an amelioration if I channel the centuries." The picture is becoming more and more clear especially as you focus on the words (which is done easily thanks to the tremendous mellowed out beat.) This is story telling at its finest (ok that is always debatable about who were the best story tellers but it is hard to argue that Homer's "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" are not two of the greatest stories in recorded history.

The sound of bells ringing on water buoys dominate the first half of "Unsympathetic Intellects," only allowing a crackled voice to ask "Is there anyone on the air?" Louis Mackey answers and while discussing the topic of suicide includes one of the most impressive lines I have heard in a while, "See with true clarity, then I doubt that I've ever been; They told me to read up on Ralph Waldo Emerson." Really, Emerson, who the hell says Ralph Waldo Emerson in a song, every time I hear the line I smile.

Quandary begins "Infinite Space" with a simple guitar chord before adding drums shortly after Mackey enters with "I get hit in the face with a minute of grace; and thus inspires me to leap into infinite space." As the story continues, more sounds are layered on top of the drums and piano, including a great wah wah sound and angelic voices. Once again in a slower tempo song, Mackey shines both with his flow and lyrics. I debate whether or not to post tall my favorite lyrics but since Mackey and Quandary were kind enough to offer them to everyone on their bandcamp page I figure you can check it out for yourself while you are listening to the album and decide your favorite.

"Phantasm" has such a ridiculously stripped down beat by Quandary, it is basically a guitar and a drum, simple yet effective. The simpleness of the music is in direct opposition to the vocabulary of Louis Mackey. Rarely am I so entranced by listening to an MC's word choice as I am with Mackey's on this album but especially "Phantasm." Hear is just a few of the words or phrases he uses: éclat, casks of amontillado, the maliciousness cancer and Maximilien Robespierre. It almost feels like he is just showing off at times but does so magnificently.

The somber tones from guitars and soft drums start "Nothing Universal," before Mackey tells the story of a bar fight gone horribly wrong. The vivid images created by the words is rather horrifying and at the same time causes you to look deep inside yourself and ask some tough questions about your own life and humanity. What would an album attempting to recreate the feel of some of histories great epic poems be without the story of Ulysses? Luckily we do not have to find out, as the duo covers the topic to near perfection in "Ulysses," whether it is the wave like beat of Quandary or the words of Mackey.

On "The Triumphant Return," Quandary tweaks the general sound of the album by using the drums to drive this track while pushing the guitars and piano to the background. Instead of delivering vocals that you would expect based on the title, Mackey provides us with the image of those vanquished in battle and through struggle to arrive home...where ever or whenever that is. The album ends with "Holy Thursday" a beat featuring guitars, drums and an organ that creates the illusion of rising from the Underworld or from the earth to the heavens. With his most straight forward lyrics, Mackey lets us know "Of course rap is dead, but I carry the corpse" as well as other evidence that informs us it is time to rebuild rap and make sure we have quality control in all aspects of the music.

Louis Mackey and Dr. Quandary prove once again the quality that can come out of a true partnership between an MC and a producer. Yes there were some questionable steps but what album does not have that. More important they came up with a concept for an album, and an original concept to boot: attempt to recreate the feel of epic poems over guitar and drum driven beats and they succeeded. The reasons are quiet simple: consistent quality beats by Quandary and unbelievable word play and choice by Mackey, these two things made "The Dioscuri" a great piece of hip hop art.

You can check the lyrics, stream and download the album here