Spectre — Ruff Kutz
If the item in question is a little unfamiliar that might be because it was released only as a limited cassette before sliding away into underground legend. What it offers is a slice of prime future looking beats that briefly came to be known as "Illbient", signalling developments in underground music that are now at the heart of today's crop of abstract rhythm connoisseurs. The original unmastered cassette is presented in lavish fashion by PAN as a newly mastered 2LP with their usual high standard of packaging.
As it's a mixtape there's plenty of intervention from Skiz Fernando Jr. deploying his deep pitch shifted Spectre drawl. At the outset he promises it "raw" and "strictly for the heads" and thankfully he doesn't disappoint as the skewed drums and bass (played live by the man himself) of "Crooked" start up. It's slow, somewhat lo-fi and a mile away from the over produced tripe that passes for hip-hop these days. The off kilter sequencing and general out-of-jointness continues with the dreamy "Only in the Darkness". Beginning with Italian dialogue on the subject of love Spectre's sparse signature arrangements allow the bass to lead as a simple piano melody accompanies punctuated by occasional choral synth backing. Several of the cuts presented here bare the signature of Jamaican roots such as "Operation Duppy Conquerer 2000" which also features a typically addled bass line from Laswell.
The latter turns up again at the start of the second side offering some characteristically postmodern advice on funding for musicians. "Thuds like Scuds" aptly describes this cuts sub-shaking bass. The alien invasion theme and vintage sounding samples of b-movie soundtracks prevents the head from disengaging, which could equally be said for "Nice With Mine" featuring vocalist Sensational and a fabulously skewed beat. More vocal tracks follow from Mr Dead of the East New York group Metabolics and even a rare slice of Ol Dirty Bastard whose voice soars hysterically on "Get into This". "Submission" and "Stolen Moments" which finish the record again dip into that melting pot of influences to bring in Arabic and North African influences including sampling the Muslim call to prayer. It's a pretty open minded producer who would blend ODB, alien abduction testimony and devotional singing into the same mind bending mix!
Every cut that Spectre splices together here contains little gems and stand-out moments and it's remarkable to think that ground breaking material like this was circulating under the radar in the mid-nineties. The degree of cross genre pollination and shear lust for abstraction clearly made Ruff Kutz ahead of its time, and it's hard to think of what came into the Hip-hop mainstream as having taken much from it. In the context of today's abstract beat makers though it makes perfect sense and will undoubtedly find a wide audience.