When former Company Flow man El-P released his first album for five years in March (I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead), critics and fans were falling over themselves to praise him. You cannot deny, a hip hop album that opens with a collaboration with The Mars Volta and later forges an unlikely MCing partnership with Trent Reznor is going to be interesting at the very least.

The Overly Dramatic Truth is not a collaboration but still manages to sound like Sole rapping over Where Is My Mind? by The Pixies. Also featured is another album track, Smithereens, the video for which has been causing a storm of controversy in the States. Remixes of EMG and Flyentology from Bass Clef and Cassettes Won’t Listen complete the single. The latter’s take on Flyentology is a definite selling point and manages to totally outstrip the original.

El-P paints a particularly bleak picture of the world we live in. However, with tunes this good, it’s hard not to feel a little optimistic afterwards.

Label: Definitive Jux
Website: www.definitivejux.net
Release date: 2nd July 2007

Tracklist:

1. The Overly Dramatic Truth
2. EMG (Bass Clef Remix)
3. Flyentology (Cassettes Won’t Listen Remix)
4. Smithereens