Out of the Dungeon X

Welcome to Out of the Dungeon, a many part series detailing a decade of NSFTM noise, hip hop, 'n' adventures from top No Sunlite for the Media scholars, historians, fans, 'n' collaborators. Medians share their thoughts on the absolute values of various NSFTM rekkerds, while we provide free audio streaming 'n' hi-quality file purchase of all the albums at our bandcamp page.

Out of the Dungeon X: No Sunlite - Coherent?
Dungeon Records, a Complete Album
Zoom Loco's Analysis

[Dungeon Records, now long out of print, can be digitally downloaded here]

"You’ve never seen a rapper who can do these tongue tricks
Triple axle verbal lutz ‘n’ of course thee landing sticks "

No Sunlite has better albums than Dungeon Records, but it does not have any better lyrics and delivery than on this lo-fi masterpiece. Repeat: There are no better lyrics in the file cabinet than what Math and company have laid down on the best tracks here. True, it is not every track. And the production is still sometimes iffy, but it has moved to the point that the album sounds merely creatively underproduced, not unproduced. Samples and mixes that will eventually define the NSFTM sound abound here, on a record that is actually quite creative.

Sometimes it can be argued that just releasing singles is the way to go, but for NSFTM this is not the case. While it's tempting to notice the large gap between their best songs and the bottom of the barrel, their albums generally have a wacky coherence that means even if some tracks are sub-par, the entire experience is better than the sum of the parts. This is especially true for Dungeon Records, which sports a large handful of killer tracks, supported by an army of creative, half baked, if interesting, underachievers. They nonetheless have fun production and are short enough to maintain interest in most cases.

[Legendary, though often poorly screened, Dungeon Records shirt design]

Dungeon Records could be described as quintessential old skool hip hop infused with focused lyrical content made palatable for 70 minutes by frequent breaks to other styles and quick production change-ups. Emphasis on rap delivery earns the album's high points and gives this release top billing. While the obvious vocal and lyrical peaks are at the beginning and at the end of the record, the production weaves the varied sounds into a coherent narrative that allows the diversity to keep things fresh. Most songs are either acoustic guitar sing-along types or lo-fi hip hop. That this album is the group's most coherent speaks of No Sunlite's ecclecticism, but the albums is indeed listenable as a whole. The album is No Sunlite's first truly consistent album, both in sound as well as lyrical content, essentially making itself a Beavers 2.0. Make that 2.5.

The band's anti-pop theme of noncommercialism, while present in previous releases, comes explicitly yet also artfully on Dungeon Records. The production gets steadily better throughout the album, as the tone grows gradually darker and more serious. The band still falls into its own trap of song snippets and ideas instead of fully developed pieces, meaning, like their other albums, it has more than 30 tracks. Whether the band might have done better by creating two albums - one of acoustic songs and another hip hop album - is a question best not asked.

The first song, "Rhino" is an upbeat head bopper that combines the call and response camp sound with old skool rap vibe. By the end of the album, the evolution in tone is especially obvious if compared to this upbeat track. The next song "Why Do You Break Yr Legs", also a live staple, continues in the same vein. While those songs became the most recognizable tunes on the album, oddly, the album's best song comes next. The old-timey "In the Morning" is the only album track without obvious hip hop or camp influences. There is not another Josh track in the No Sunlite catalog that is so good as this left-field classic with uplifting and positive lyrics.

The album's first apex continues with "Vanity," where Jana and Math intertwine gorgeous angelic vocals and desperate rap lyrics taken straight from the book of Ecclesiastes. Aside from being excellent back-to-back with "In the Morning", the song caps a string of 4 songs that seem to have a "single" feeling. However, while lyrical content also presages future NSFTM releases and the songs are some of the most memorable moments of the album, these early tracks are not woven into Dungeon's tapestry of sound so well as the rest of the album.

The true nature of Dungeon Records begins on the next song, "22nd Century Paranoid Man" when Math finally finds his "ultra off kilter flow." In the first of several truly bizarre genius cuts on the album, the band combines hip hop with Black Sabbath and references Merzbow. The album's fine use of samples is also demonstrated here, before the call-and response camp sound takes over for several disparate but seamlessly combined tracks.

Kool Keith-esque beats take over again with "Straight From tha Underground", a song indicating the lyrical intensity to come further on the album. The havoc of the production and a touch of Ozzy in the chorus distract from lyrics like "blue screens can't make your matter more gray." Such message-driven writing become more obvious in the next camp song, the live favorite "Point of the Song." However, the album has already begun its mid-record slump. Jana's hook and focused lyrics on "Demons" saves an otherwise weak track and keeps the album moving as it continues to alternate back and forth between the two styles.

While many second-string verses in the album's middle sometimes get tedious, other high points include the catchy yet nonsensical "Cost" and the conversely weighty and epic standout "It's Either thee Media or thee Bullet," another candidate for best track on Dungeon Records. It's also possibly the only song of its type ever recorded by the collective and is Martha's greatest contribution to the album until track 28. Sporadic yet driving, the spoken word proto-rap lyrics mix biting sarcasm with surrealism in a stream-of-consciousness song that brings the soul of mid-60s Dylan stories into a new millenium. "The white liberals who have been posing as No Sunlite for the Media have failed us".
A vinyl double album might break there, as the mood turns decidedly lighter again as "You Mention Anything She Can Make a Song Out of It " breaks the mold by sampling a 90 year old woman, Math's grandmother. The upbeat nature continues on to the hip hop with "No Sunlite in Northern Virginia" where a funny sample allows NSFTM to creatively attempt to "say new things with old words." Unfortunately, as in the middle, the album then starts to revert to the genre alternation and then begins an even deeper slump. "Medical Emergency" is actually the first album track to make successful use of a handful of mediocre MC's by passing the mic between the lines, but things don't begin to truly rebound until, aided by electric guitar, "The Whack System" infuses new energy again. A-side quality returns as Math delivers an absurdly complex and coherent verse on "Knick Knack Whack Gets Smacked."

"Learn to Defeat the Devil" reprises with an industrial sound that catapults the album to its final apex, which begins with the fabulous "Mississippi John Hurt Beats NSFTM." This track makes Wu-Tang's gauntlets seem easy to follow - these flows are ridiculous, so far out yet wonderfully intense. The last time hop hop sounded this fresh was 1985. The violent chorus sampling the blues legend and Jana's superb vocals further solidify the song as an NSFTM classic.

"Going Up" is a necessary fun interlude before the apex's ultimate punch, "Stay Awake," which, combined with "John Hurt" are NSFTM's finest lyrical deliveries to date as both MC's hammer it home. The haunting sample mixed with Jana's downbeat vox solidify the album's end as the best stretch of tracks on the album. "Thirst," the varied yet strangely classic vocals track, closes it down in a serious manner and leaves no question about the album's central theme. "Million dollar industry, Billion dollar industry, Not us this time, Passover me, Shard of a truth."

-Zoom Loco
La Jolla, CA
Nov. 2k9
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