Cage Albums (4)
'Depart from Me'
Release Date 6/30/2009
Tracks 14
Label Definitive Jux
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Any encounter with indie rapper Cage's material should come with an expectation of joyless lyrics, soul-crushing stories, and animosity as a muse, so pointing out that Depart from Me is an uninviting album may seem unnecessary. Still, angst-free and well-adjusted listeners could still fall hard for his previous effort, 2005's Hell's Winter, thanks to the rapper's Atmosphere-meets-Eminem writing style combining with the Def Jux label's subterranean, head-bobbing beats. Here, the opening "Nothing Left to Say" sets a familiar tone with "This beauty they speak of/I can not see" and "The monkey on my back is still flingin' shit at you" couldn't be more true, but a new attitude emerges with "I've got one thing to say/I'd like to share it with you/If you don't, is it too bad for me?/Or too bad for you?" This prickly and punkish stance is reflected in the album's sonic landscape which trades the bottom-end thump for guitar crunches and post-hardcore grinding. "Teenage Hands" and "Beat Kids" -- which must be inspired by the sick and twisted television show Wonder Showzen -- both sound like Steve Albini's classic Big Black crew with the addition of rhymes, while the twentysomething slice of life, "Kid Rocks," pimps the no wave revival as it twitches with angular funk. When it works, it works well, but the snottiness overpowers on the less-successful cuts, making them feel a lot like preaching to the converted. Rabid fans won't mind much; just make sure you're sold on Hell's Winter before taking this bumpier ride through Cage's inner turmoil. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Hell's Winter'
Release Date 9/20/2005
Tracks 14
Label Definitive Jux
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Cage's past is mostly hardcore and genuinely underground, but his style has bordered on shock for shock's sake, and with the Smut Peddlers he was especially prone to going off the deep end of garish and sleazy. That's why it's a little surprising this joint lands on Definitive Jux, a label that prides itself on being for real. They've thrown the big names at him too, not only El-P and RJD2, but DJ Shadow and the legendary Jello Biafra. Shadow and Biafra participate in the awesome and caustic "Grand Ol Party Crash" with samples from the classic video game Sinistar and casts Biafra as George W. Bush. Biafra's transforming of Bush into the über-manic Frank from the film Blue Velvet would be the towering highlight of the album if it weren't for the wealth of brilliant, introspective tracks that take longer to sink in, but are twice as rewarding. Cage spills an ocean of venom on his absent father on "Stripes," which wryly plays off the fact his father shares the name of movie star Bill Murray. The chilling highlight "Public Property" acknowledges Cage's new, truer style of writing to longtime listeners, and while you can say he's been down this bleak road before and Hell's Winter is just his Movies for the Blind album with a better guest list, his prior horrorcore writing seems a silly kind of scary compared to the vivid despair here. Producers El-P, Camu Tao, and RJD2 all offer dense concoctions that are perfectly suited to the album's angst, and the whole affair is tight with no tolerance for filler. If he uses his traumatic upbringing one more time, then let the haters have at him, but besides being another reason to love the risk-taking Definitive Jux family, Hell's Winter improves on every Cage release that came before it and offers the most compelling insight into the tortured rapper yet. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Movies for the Blind'
Release Date 8/6/2002
Tracks 18
Label High Times
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
They say making music has therapeutic value, and for the volatile Cage's sake, one hopes it's true. On his full-length solo debut, Movies for the Blind, the German-born MC comes out firing, calling out MTV and Eminem on "Escape to '88," before moving onto "Stony Lodge," where he seethes about the institution he spent 16 months in as a teenager, and "The Soundtrack," where he fantasizes about killing the stepfather who put him there. The intensity never lets up, and Movies for the Blind is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Most of the songs here are built around fantasy, and Cage's fantasies tend to be dark and angry, revolving around sex, violence, and substance abuse. Unquestionably harsh, the lyrics are rarely boring. The former Smut Peddler is a versatile, often compelling, MC, and on some tracks he's absolutely brilliant, wedding his palpable rage and accomplished lyricism to heady abstraction. With some of underground hip-hop's finest manning the boards -- DJ Mighty Mi, RJD2, EL-P, and J-Zone -- the beats are never in question. The team of producers lays down a diverse blend of styles that matches Cage's bizarre, brooding vocals from beginning to end. ~ Martin Woodside, All Music Guide
