Dust Collector – “Narcolepsy” – [Dystopiaq]

Take a journey thru your subconscious with local hip-hop experimentalist, Dust Collector; this is an 80 minute excursion into the world of sleep and the universes we pass thru amidst it. Though this is almost all punctuated by lethargic, yet distinct hip-hop beats, the breadth of this project is far too vast to be pigeonholed into any category. This moves thru smooth summer grooves into acoustic serenades and glitched out folk like they’re all one in the same. About every other track, a tangential narrator awkwardly walks us thru the psychedelic swirls of surreal imagery, from gentle children’s storytime into some old school horror-hop. Lots of organic sampling to be had, with various voices and everyday experiences emerging from the back of our minds alongside the eclectic instrumentation. Halfway thru disc 1 nightmarish screams and chain dragging chills threaten to wake us, but we lucidly hold fast thru a bombardment of emotions to close with a sleepy machine country lullaby. Disc 2 begins again with a beautifully swaying ballad about lost memories and moves on to the dark, industrial dementia, with some New Orleans marching band stomp poetry thrown in for flavor. Pitch-bent grit grooves to Dead-ly island Casio crimetime soundtracks give way to some jam-funk freakouts interluded by an answering machine love story set to a Motown slow-jam. After awakening, we listlessly drift back into our mind’s eye, lost in vivid daydreams. The album closes with a 1o-minute found sound drone that’ll make sure you don’t wake up again. Immerse yourself in your imagination…