It's all brand new material here, except "Infinite Shine," which is a lyrical remix of their 1996 classic with all new verses. No Essence this time around, but she makes a cameo in the music video. The instrumental's a bit lusher, but I wouldn't quite say this version merits replacing the original. But it's not like we're forced to choose. I recommend playing 'em both in a row to form a proper monster jam.
But this isn't a nostalgia trap; they're not afraid to try experiment with fresh ideas. "YKTK" (You Know the Vibe), made a track out of Andre 3000's 12-minute new age flute jam from his New Blue Sun album. Then Swift goes super backpacker on "Time Doesn't Exist" to a degree only rivaled by Sir Menelik in his Dr. Octagon days: "I wake up and meditate daily, which regulates my blood pressure to one ten over seventy. Box breathing calms my energies and any negativity. E equals MCs to the third, which is the Natural Element theory of relativity. Unidentified anomalous phenomena of, near and around nuclear facilities defining man made constructs of space time. The universe has a pretty face and waistline. It's both a gift and a curse existing with a great mind. Mind you, I've been on some higher consciousness, but I find it hard to convey the words for it. Sippin' ayahuasca tea with a shaman, god, theorizin' time is timeless in the mind." Hmm, maybe psychedelics explain what was going on in the writing of Dr. Octagon, too.
The production and flows are consistently on point. Mr. Voo sounds as crisp and on point as ever, and Swift and Butta are as cool as their 2Face days - wait'll you hear A-Butta's verse on "Cosmos Is Calling." Tracks like "Three Cards Monte" and "Nile Is Flowing" can be transferred directly to their All Time Greatest Hits album: "the Nile river flows from the South to the North. I'm mouthin' off but I sound like a mafia boss. That means I hardly raise my voice but you know what I'm sayin'. When we ask where you at, that means you owe us a payment. And if we audit you, you gotta show us the statement. No Zoom conference, we pull up to your boat in the Caymans, or to your Poconos basement; I know the location. Home invasions 'cause we know when you go on vacations." All the beats here sound perfectly in keeping with NE's past music yet - apart from "Shine 2" - fresh and new. Apart from the occasional Rakim vocal snippet, Dave Chapelle clip or classic drum sound, the only sample I really recognized was on their somber, reflective track "Alive and Well," which uses the same main loop as X-Clan's addictive "Ooh Baby." Otherwise, it's all uncharted territory.
My only qualms with the album lie in two of the seventeen tracks. "Whole Foods of Rap" and "Book Smart Street Smart" are both kinda corny, though even then, the samples and the way they ride the groove is tight. "Book Smart" feels like it was ripped from the pages of Tiger Beat magazine with each member detailing how they like their women: "these the type of women that listen to Natural Elements: free spirited and quick-witted, can geek out to Star Trek and Jeopardy trivia. Explicit images sent, it can get intimate. Exotic Spanish goth chicks? Yeah, I'm into them." Then "Whole Foods" actually sounds fantastic in terms of the production and how they ride over it. It's just too bad they're trapped inside this cheesy concept where yes, they explain that they are indeed the "Whole Foods of rap, some they don't know what to do with that. Low-gluten snacks and groceries for the juicin' cats. Whole Foods of rap, organic and holistically. Whole Foods of rap, no ham on the rotisserie." It's just silly and doesn't jive with the atmospheric instrumental. But both songs will still keep your head nodding along with the rest.
Alignment is available on double LP in a black and white picture cover, as you can see above, with a limited edition of 100 copies on white (white) vinyl, and the rest on classic black. CDs and cassettes are also available, so go nuts.
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