Third Sight – “Symbionese Liberation Album ” – [Disgruntled Records]

Local duo Third Sight comes up big on this new one. I don’t know about you, but Jihad the roughneck rapper has no problem leaving me behind in the dust scratching my head. He can be raw when he needs to be, then veer off into ironic absurdity at top speed, and then come skidding back into the parking lot like nothing happened. Speaking of scratching, D-Styles crafts one sick beat after another, and cuts in with sharp scratches of voices and god knows what else. As good as D-Styles is, the quality doesn’t drop off when guest DJ Ricci Rucker lays down a weird strung-out slow nod of a backing track on “The People vs The Fake”, Other highlights: “Run” is a dramatic assassination tale from the shooter’s point of view, Jihad hits the street to work over a human beatbox on “UCP”, and “Rip Mics In Half” shows off some serious skills from a handful of guest emcees.