{"id":4701,"date":"2018-02-22T14:20:01","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T14:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=4701"},"modified":"2018-02-22T14:20:01","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T14:20:01","slug":"review-dabrye-three-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/22\/review-dabrye-three-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Dabrye &#8211; Three\/Three"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Electronic producer Tadd Mullinix has had an interesting career path throughout the 2000s. His debut release <em>Winking Makes A Face<\/em> served as the first major release for Ghostly International, a label which would eventually grow into an institution for modern-day electronic music fans. He became most known for his releases under the alias Dabrye, especially the first\u00a0two releases of the \u201c3\u201d series, the second of which dropped back in 2006. While he\u2019s produced a handful of works under different aliases in the interim, the Dabrye project has laid dormant for over 10 years. However, after all that wait, he has finally returned to cap off the series that started back in 2001 with his much-awaited comeback, <em>Three\/Three<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The album picks up pretty much exactly where <em>Two\/Three<\/em> left off, with a similar length of nearly 20 tracks spanning almost an hour. The opening track, \u201cTunnel Vision,\u201d features previous collaborator Guilty Simpson rapping over a beat that mixes boom-bap drums with warbled synths, the standard for Dabrye beats. Simpson lays down some pretty solid bars throughout, with \u201cYou should roll your pants up, pick up faster than a Dodge Ram truck\u201d being my personal favorite. This sets a pretty good expectation for the rest of the record, as the album is heavy with rap collaborators much like <em>Two\/Three<\/em> was.<\/p>\n<p>The beat-work remains pretty consistent throughout, as \u201890s hip-hop drums contrast uniquely against synth-laden soundscapes with some distinct touches from song-to-song. \u201cTape Flip Too,\u201d one of the solo instrumental tracks on the record, uses samples of retro-styled orchestral strings almost akin to a \u201850s TV show, creating a soothing retro-futurist vibe that you can zone out to with ease. \u201cElectrocutor,\u201d meanwhile, gives off a more uncomfortable vibe with its rumbling bass tones and occasional bursts of metallic noise akin to banging a pipe. My favorite of the instrumentals is \u201cSunset,\u201d a collaboration with label-mate Shigeto that contains a surprisingly strong drum track with a tight groove and dynamic emphasis on the kick drum. The groove plays out like it was taken from someone playing an electronic kit, lending to its fantastic dynamic vibe.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/no5RxHc5nOs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>But much like with <em>Two\/Three<\/em>, the collaborations are the star here, and with good reason. The many rapper guest spots on <em>Three\/Three<\/em> help demonstrate Dabrye\u2019s greatest strength as a producer\/songwriter, namely his ability to work well off of whoever is placed in front of him. Dabrye\u2019s production compliments the abilities\/flow of each guest on the record, such as on \u201cLil Mufukuz,\u201d which sees him team back up with MF Doom once again. The beat has this unnerving muffled melody akin to a distorted crinkling baby\u2019s toy, which plays well against Doom\u2019s flow and lyrics, as he boasts about his superiority over other rappers with language similar to children being disciplined (\u201cCut off allowances and take away the toys. You think that\u2019s harsh? It\u2019s even worse for the boys\u201d \/\/ Now get to them chores or you can\u2019t hit the blunt for a month. You\u2019re grounded, no outside, no front\u201d). \u201cPretty\u201d breaks away from the more futuristic vibe of the rest of the album with a more melancholic vibe akin to J Dilla or Nujabes, which perfectly complements the verses courtesy of Jonwayne and his generally deep-voiced moody flow. The album\u2019s lead-off single \u201cThe Appetite\u201d is floaty, dark, and intense, which complements the more low-key aggressive bars from Roc Marciano and Quelle Chris, and it also provides yet another off-kilter beat for the madman Danny Brown to flex his skills: a man who can truly rap over anything.<\/p>\n<p>While the album demonstrates many strengths across its run from good collaborators and unique beats, the album does suffer from some pacing\/structural issues. As previously mentioned, the record is almost an hour long with 19 tracks total, and it does get to be a bit of an exhausting listen towards the back half. While Dabrye works well with all of his collaborators, some tracks don\u2019t really have much to offer and flow in one ear and out the other, such as \u201cFightscene\u201d with La Peace, \u201cNova\u201d with Nolan the Ninja, and \u201cFirst Law of Nature Rock Day\u201d with Denmark Vessey. This makes the ending of the record feel that much more underwhelming, as \u201cThan Ice Rhythm\u201d is a shockingly short and simple instrumental to close out a trilogy that\u2019s been 17 years in the making. It\u2019s somewhat surprising because while the second half of the record feels like it goes through the motions a bit, it also has what is arguably the strongest track on the album, \u201cCulture Shuffle.\u201d The beat is distinct and attention-grabbing with how glitched-out it is, and this is combined with Kadence Intricate Dialect providing what is easily the best and most stand-out verse on the record: (\u201cOperating from a biophillic framework means developing a higher tolerance for pain first. Peep the solar soldier\u2019s clenched black fist, afro cosmonaut, no escape velocity back trip, fulfills the need that our people heed and get on the ship fleeing from a white supremacy-flooded apocalypse. We\u2019ll leave a crooked literary cracker\u2019s back broke, dreaming science fictional futures with no black folks\u2026&#8221;). It is a masterful display of flow and lyricism that would have made an incredibly explosive closer to the record.<\/p>\n<p>Structural issues aside, Dabrye\u2019s conclusion to his long-running trilogy is strong enough to be worth a few listens. His ear for beats is as strong as ever, and quite a few of the collaborators on this record manage to bring unique-enough songwriting and flows to help bring his music to life. While the final album of this series could have used a bit more flair in the proceedings, <em>Three\/Three<\/em> provides a satisfying sense of closure after 12 years of waiting.<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><em><strong>Final Verdict:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><em>Stream it. The strong production work and some choice guest features provide enough interesting points to overcome a somewhat filler-laden track list.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Three\/Three\u00a0<\/em><em>is available from Ghostly International on CD, vinyl, digital download, and streaming services. Check out Dabrye on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Dabrye\/\">Facebook<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dabrye?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>[Note: A copy of the album was provided by Ghostly International for the purpose of this review.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Electronic producer Tadd Mullinix has had an interesting career path throughout the 2000s. His debut release Winking Makes A Face served as the \n<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/22\/review-dabrye-three-three\/\"> [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","yasr_overall_rating":3,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[816,818,302,293,819,468,503,821,820,823,822,824,817],"class_list":["post-4701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-dabrye","tag-dabrye-three-three-review","tag-danny-brown","tag-electronic","tag-ghostface-killah","tag-ghostly-international","tag-hip-hop","tag-jonwayne","tag-mf-doom","tag-quelle-chris","tag-roc-marciano","tag-shigeto","tag-three-three"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GYHU-1dP","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/three-three-review-thumbnail.png?fit=1152%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4701"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4719,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions\/4719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}