|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
SBH 004LP
|
LP version. Skiz Fernando aka Spectre tha Ill Saint ranks as an OG in the world of abstract beats. Forged in the fires of frustration over the corporate music industry, alter ego Spectre was an antidote to the commercial bullshit -- a ghost rising from a rotting corpse, holding up a mirror to our diseased and disaffected society. Through his WordSound imprint, Fernando has worked tirelessly to document some of the greats of the underground scene. Simultaneously he has become a master in his own right, constantly upping the ante on experimentation and innovation. For the 2016 20th anniversary of his 1996 entry to the game, he presents The Last Shall Be First, another cutting-edge amalgam of styles, flavors, and influences with a spiritual heft to match.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
QS 146CD
|
"RetroSpectre is not a greatest hits collection, rather, as the title suggests, a journey back through an ILLustrious career spanning 10 years, 5 full-length albums, and numerous singles and remixes. In fact, most of the selections here are some of Spectre's more obscure productions culled from various compilations and B-sides as well as a few previously unreleased treasures from the vaults of The Other Side. Hand picked by The Ill Saint himself and digitally remastered, these tracks sound even better now than they originally did.
Not many artists working in the hip-hop idiom have attempted to build a career on instrumentals, but, then again, Spectre's aim has always been to blow away all preconceived notions of what music is, and wreak havoc on your mindstate. Since his opening salvo, 'Crooked', which first appeared on 1994's critically-acclaimed Crooklyn Dub Consortium: Certified Dope, Volume 1 (WordSound) and subsequently became the title-track for the WordSound film of the same name, The Ill Saint has consistently elevated his art with something original, innovative, daring, demented and downright dope.
Often misunderstood for the esoteric and occult knowledge forwarded in his moody, exotic beatscapes, Spectre stands alone in the musical field as a sonic shaman conjuring up images of the Unknowable and providing a gateway to The Other Side. While his sound is often described as apocalyptic, the end only marks a new beginning in his constantly evolving cycle in progress. His work can also be described as paranoid, claustrophobic, and foreboding, a fitting reflection of the world today where terrorism and plagues, Big brother and big business have reduced humanity to a sorry state. Spectre's solution is anarchy, if only in the mental.
For, in the end, music is only music, and sound, the abstract. world where rhythm is business, Spectre's art is warfare." -- W. Nobel Savage.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
QS 136CD
|
"After completing the Hip Hop trilogy of terror -- The Illness, The Second Coming and The End -- The Overlord of the Underground a.k.a. The Ill Saint a.k.a. Spectre convened at his hinterland retreat, The Temple of Smoke in order to partake of the manna of the Gods and await further illumination from the Mighty Unseen Force. But during his dark days in the wilderness, new revelations fell from the sky like comets, and he inscribed his visions into the sonic tablet you now hold. 'And Lo, Out of the darkness.....came Light.' Parts Unknown presents a schizophrenic amalgam of styles, flavors, colors, textures, and moods. These are sounds from the beyond to take you even further out, surpassing the realm of the senses to where space and time have no meaning. Parts Unknown is a new strain of The Illness, complex yet simple, wayward and unpredictable, and lethal in its impact."
|