Take Note of Chicago's Kaczynski Composite Sketch & MC Sorcerer - Here's Why:

"Deviled Ham on Rye" Stands on its Own But is a Likely Overture to DIY Hip-Hop Greatness

Deviled Ham on Rye by Kaczynski Composite Sketch

No Se Discos

Original Release Date: May 21st, 2023, Chicago

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The music industry as it once was is dead. Stevie Van Zandt alluded to this factual truth on a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher when discussing his estimable career inside and outside the music biz. 

So, if the music industry as it once was is dead, that doesn't mean that the scene has wilted as much as it has evolved via an amorphous socio-artistic engine. I do not believe in history that "end" is necessarily final — provided it is not accepted as conclusive. In history, one must start over and over again. This is the way great things are brought about. What we've seen in recent years isn't something that should make skeptics out of music junkies and artists but provide a sublime justification for greater optimism. 

So, what is the impetus for such optimism? We must turn to the DIY'er, the leftovers from the hardcore punk ethos, the estranged, the avant-garde, the experimentalists, and those among us who are no strangers to dissent. I recently had time to listen to one of the dopest (and most lyrically and musically sophisticated) DIY underground hip-hop EPs I've heard in recent years (made even more remarkable given that it was recorded and produced with a pirated DAW on a broken laptop). And all that is saying A LOT, given how much music and media I consume. Most EPs and demos floating around on the internet are hard to listen to or get into. Good music remains, but there needs to be some curation within the music world. The EP I reference is Deviled Ham On Rye by the Chicago rapper MC Sorcerer of Kaczynski Composite Sketch, currently signed to the No Se Discos label. Deviled Ham on Rye is a rich, raw, and poignant homage pondering origins, alienation, historical evolution and evaluation, Bukowskiesque allusions, and the counter-culture Bukowski so ably personified among about a billion other things (presented in both English and Spanish). It is also a pulsating tribute to social theory and the Slavic literary and cultural canon Sorcerer so clearly admires.

A fundamental constituent of the EP and a precipitating factor in any sensible analysis of the work is the specificity of its language, detail, and varied interests, all syncretically blended into the EP. It cries for certitude; it chest pounds with passion; it mixes, overdubs, and masters dozens of musical genres; and it wordsmiths freedom, redemption, and contemplation. Sorcerer's lyrics demand the utmost attention from his listeners. Sorcerer raps about serious matters, but there are also plenty of flourishes of politically incorrect gutter references reminiscent of Zizek's prime pathos evenly paired with scenes reminiscent of Mailer, Rimbaud, Gogol, and Kafka, living together in a multiplicity of worlds. It's a dissident-DIY-vigilante recording of the midwestern underground hip-hop scene, mixing linguistics with literature, religion with humanism, pathos with irony, reflections with metaphors into one complex, multi-layered tapestry that is as psycho-philosophically inspired as it is gritty, courageous and bold, tender, solemn, and humorous. These disparate elements converge, making Deviled Ham pensive, expressive, and primal.

Stylistically, the hooks are diverse but eminently listenable. The mixes are sometimes anarchic, but they work within the broader schematic of the psychedelic genre-bending textural soundscapes in which they live. The cohesion of the album's production style remains consistent and solidly intact, only adding to Deviled Ham's realism and authenticity. Indeed, Sorcerer presents as something of a visionary for the Gen Z musician borne backward in time, living thematically and artistically in multiple periods and places, making for a hypnotizing listening experience that brings together Latin heritage, stories, Slavic literature, art and philosophy, shades of modernism, espionage, new wave, industrial, 90s culture, NYC hip-hop, diaristic entries, and varying forms of social critique.

This inspired EP brings with it a deep understanding of political theory, power structures, dissent, identity, and their relationship not just to the objectively detectable maneuvers of the mass populace but also their often under-acknowledged and overlooked impacts on the subjective internal psychological realities of the individual. In fact, it's Sorcerer's sophistication as a lyricist and Kaczynski's expansiveness as a musical enterprise and experience that carries with it a cachet exempt from obedience to authoritarianism and champions an independently minded, complex series of experimentations of the postmodern psychedelic psyche. The album bears calls to mystery, memory, love, and loss. It is self-reliant and self-aware. Kaczynski Composite Sketch births a tough brand of intellectualism, whispering and screaming at the bureaucratic shambles of the ubiquitous contemporary capitalistic nightmare. Simultaneously, the EP navigates the shoals of yesteryear's transgressions, trying to make peace with personage and society, a rarer and more challenging feat in hip-hop and social analysis than one might think.

"Diablitos" was one of my favorite tracks on the album (the others being "The Cantos" and "The Gargoyle Cantos"). "Diablitos" is a forcefully expressive, heartfelt admixture of linguistics, psychology, sick hooks, and one of the bright spots on the EP's overall production. These tracks stand almost mythologically without equal on the EP, although the EP as a whole is pretty astounding in its reach and depth. "Diablitos" is replete with frenetic beats underscored by a haunting string section that provides visceral catharsis and a constructive path forward. These tracks serve as pillars to a debut that uniquely squares itself in a multicultural artistic canon, one to which only a few artists eventually find a permanent home. All that said, any increased visibility to Sorcerer's oeuvre would most likely be owed to Sorcerer, forcing the "mainstream" to go Sorcerer, never Sorcerer going "mainstream." And in music and art, that's a righteous fucking thing. The EP is a fucking gem of a debut. My conclusion? Go give it a listen; Sorcerer leaves no listener unchallenged or unchanged. 

~ alexej 

UPCOMING SHOWS, EVENTS, AND RELEASES: 

Kaczynski Composite Sketch - Live @ the California Clipper in Chicago on September 10th, at 7 p.m. CT 

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE:

Kaczynski Composite Sketch is available on Spotify, Bandcamp, and most all streaming services