Comprised of Matt Cagle and Madwreck, Dirty Art Club is an Electronic Hip-Hop production duo that hails from North Carolina. After the debut of their first album Heavy Starch in 2011, Dirty Art Club is back with the new album Vermilion.
The production for this album is extremely lush. Every track on this album sounds clean and pure. All of the tracks on this album are relaxing songs that you would play as calming background music while at a picnic or at the beach, or anywhere that you relax and enjoy nature.
While the music Vermilion is rich in and of itself, the album as a whole isn’t too versatile. The sonic creations on Vermilion are basically interconnected and all too similar; a smooth, simple beat with some electronic cuts and soft vocals thrown in the mix. This does not mean the album is not at all enjoyable, it’s just that one could only listen to this album once or twice before possibly getting bored with it.
Regardless, one cannot help but to truly enjoy what Dirty Art Club is doing – separating themselves from the rest of the hip hop production pack. Dirty Art Club is very different in the way they do things; from the album cover, the music itself, and even the name of the group, it is all different from the norm and that is something everybody can respect.
The vocal samples in this album are just as soothing as the beats are, but like as stated previously, it’s just not that versatile of an album. Being that it is only 8 tracks long, there isn’t room for much versatility, so maybe the next album should be longer, or at least a bit more experimental.
In conclusion, this album has great production as said before and again. There are gorgeous vocal samples and a very unique style overall, but Vermilion lacks in versatility and it’s easy to just listen to it once or twice before you’ve moved on to another album. I would recommend you to get this album if you are very open to all genres of hip hop; if you are a traditional boom-bap production kind of person, than this album may not be for you. Whichever kind of person you are, however, always respect originality. Originality is one thing that Dirty Art Club has plenty of for sure.
5.5/10
