A friend of mine often says “Never can be too happy, never can be too sad.” I think he says it mostly to irritate me, because he knows full-well that many people (and me famously) can jump between sets of euphoric highs and heartbreaking lows in the span of a minute. These are particularly tough times for us extreme types. Whenever we are in an elated state for too long, some devastating horror story on the news flashes in front of our eyes or some devastating asshole cuts in front of us in line at Wendy’s and sends us plummeting down the sad ladder for a spell. Sigh. Sometimes the only thing you can do to keep inner peace is to completely block out the outside world and hermit for a bit while you take your daily dose of Dälek.
Emotional yo-yos throughout the world will rejoice when they hear that Newark, NJ hip-hop pioneers Dälek -- the hyper-dynamic duo of Dälek (MC) and Octopus (DJ) -- will be releasing their second album of 2007 tomorrow (July 24) entitled Deadverse Massive Vol. 1: Dälek Rarities 1999-2006 through Hydra Head. Following the release of the wonderful Abandoned Language (Ipecac) in February, the time is ripe for a Dälek compilation that contains a heap of remixes, rarities, and unreleased genre-defiling mindwarps. These types of collections are tough sells normally; too many of them are full of half-baked ideas resulting in half-assed albums. Thankfully, Dälek bake their ideas until they are done and give us whole-ass albums all of the time, forever reinventing themselves while always remaining unmistakably “Dälek.” It’s enough to make a grown man cry, or laugh hysterically, or scream, or sulk, or....
Here are the tracks on Deadverse Massive, complete with a crude ‘n’ confusing original release info legend you can cut out and keep in your wallet next to that four-year-old, unused condom. And the three-month-old soiled one. Congratulations on getting laid... now throw that shit out already!
1. Megaton (Deadverse Remix) *
2. Angst **
3. Ruin It, Ruin Them, Ruin Yourself, Then Ruin Me (Deadverse Remix) ***
4. Vague Recollection ****
5. Desolate Peasants *****
6. Rouge (Deadverse Remix) ******
7. 3:46 *******
8. In This City (Deadverse Remix) ********
9. Music for ASM *********
10. Streets All Amped **********
11. Ascention ***********
12. Maintain ************
13. Back to Burn *************
* from “Technoanimal vs. Dälek split 12” (Matador, 2000)
** previously unreleased (1999)
*** from Kid606 vs. Dälek split 12”/CD (Tigerbeat6, 2002)
**** from Kid606 vs. Dälek split 12”/CD (Tigerbeat6, 2002)
***** from Dälek vs. Velma split 12” (Namskeio, 2002)
****** from Dälek vs. Velma split 12” (Namskeio, 2002)
******* from Dälek vs. Dalek 7” (Man Vs. Ape, 2002)
******** from Enon’s In This City Remix EP (Touch & Go, 2003)
********* previously unreleased (2003)
********** from Streets All Amped 12” (Ad Noiseum, 2006)
*********** from Streets All Amped 12” (Ad Noiseum, 2006)
************ from Streets All Amped 12” (Ad Noiseum, 2006)
************* from Streets All Amped 12” (Ad Noiseum, 2006)