rone music has always intrigued me, but aside from a few scattered :zoviet*france: mp3s on my hard drive, I have never really explored the genre to any depth. The science behind drone intrigues me: the repetitive buzz can supposedly induce a sort of hypnotic trance. Maybe I lack the attention span and dedication required to fully embrace the drone, but I do enjoy drone elements in other music. The Velvet Underground is the easiest example of this, playing a single guitar chord without variation in rhythm for entire songs. The effect is alternatively disconcerting and entrancing. Negro Necro Nekros by Dalek achieves a similar effect by co-opting drone elements into a blistering hip hop context.


Dalek, an excellent hard-edged MC from Newark, New Jersey is no stranger to the more dissonant side of music, having collaborated frequently with sonic extremists Techno Animal and 2nd Gen. However, the musical backing on Negro Necro Nekros is the true star. Producer Oktopus (a pseudonym of producer Alap Momin) constructs austere atmospheres of paranoia, despair, and desolation using a wide variety of samples.


Here’s where the drone comes in. Hip hop by nature is basically repetitive: MCs rhyme over what essentially boil down to layers of loops. The layers can be peeled back, added on, skipped, flipped and scratched to keep things interesting, but a good loop is essential, and some of the best producers are the best loop generators (DJ Premier and Timbaland stand out). What Negro Necro Nekros really hits upon is the obvious connection with hip hop’s repetitive loops and drone’s repetitive whirr, and fuses the two into a hypnotic combination. This isn’t to imply that the production on Negro Necro Nekros is minimal in the same way most drone is; in fact, the opposite is true. Oktopus layers atmospheric noise and ambient tones with a variety of looped instrument samples that keep the backing music deep and engaging. Live instruments are occasionally thrown into the mix: “Three Rocks Blessed” descends out of Dalek’s stark urban imagery into a four-minute breakdown of tabla and sitar (reminiscent of a less-slick version of Thievery Corporation).


Dalek’s no fool: he knows the music is just as potent as his rhymes, and wisely chooses to share his spotlight time with Oktopus’s creations. On “Images of .44 Casings,” Dalek spits a verse with a beat poetry rhythm, then backs off to let the music reinforce his message (he apparently lives a dark and violent life). A simple piano loop (paying homage to the RZA’s obvious influence), assorted buzzes and hums, and a great blustering break beat come to the forefront. Then Dalek rattles off another verse. The effect makes the entire song throb hypnotically, a wonderful parallel to the already-mesmerizing beat.


“The Untravelled Road” switches things up a bit, throwing a bevy of jazz samples into the mix. Disparate trumpet and saxophone licks duel over skittering drum fills, and the whole thing is held together by another overwhelming break beat. The disc closes with “Praise Be to the Man,” a twelve-minute opus with more sitars, a lumbering bass line, and amorphous wordless shouts in the background. After Dalek’s rap, the track devolves into some Eastern-flavored feedback and noise.


Negro Necro Nekros isn’t a typical hip hop album (actually, it’s an EP, clocking in at just under 40 minutes with five tracks), and it probably appeals more to fans of well-produced hip-hop inspired outfits like Thievery Corporation and Massive Attack. As for myself, I think I’m ready to tackle a bit more of the :zoviet*france: oeuvre, although I doubt any of it will be as intriguing as this. Wish me luck.