Return To Monster Island

This dropped the same time as Young Zee's Musical Meltdown Part 1, so it took a little while for this one to sink in, too; but this is Dope Folk's concurrent release: Monster Mixes by X-Ray. X-Ray is the producer for Darc Mind and Legion of D.U.M.E., both of whom Dope Folks has already put out EPs of, so it makes sense that he'd return. But instead of those two groups, this time it's material by The Monster Island Czars, a bit of a hip-hop super group consisting of guys like MF Doom, MF Grimm and Kurious using aliases taken from Godzilla movies.*

So, various members have come and gone from the group, it may or may not have broken up and reformed a couple times, and it's not always clear who's considered an official member and who's just doing a guest spot. Basically, the Czars just seems to be a blanket term for whoever gets down with the gang and records a song. Many of the most famous members seem to be ex members, if the group is even still considered to be together at all. ..And again, just to make it all the more confusing, everybody's using aliases. Not even necessarily consistent aliases (Kurious has been both Gappa and Biolante... I think).

Being that this is billed as an X-Ray EP, we know that all of this material must be from before 2004, because that seems to be when he, a.k.a. King Caesar, left the group. All six tracks here, in fact, first appeared on X-Ray's self-produced CD-R Monster Mixes Vol. 1, half in a series of two (there was also a Vol. 2) albums from 2002 and 2003. All these six songs come from Vol. 1 and are making their vinyl debut here.

So just what have we got? The labels add a little to the already confusing nature of the M.I.C. by referring to the artists sometimes by their monster aliases and sometimes not. For example, one song is credited to MF Doom, and another is credited to Rodan and Megalon. Dope Folks is just following X-Ray's lead here, however, as he listed them the same way on his CD. So let's break it down and clear it all up.

The opening track is "Run the Sphere," credited to the M.I.C. featuring Jet-Jaguar, Kamackeris, King Ceasar, King Ghidra, Kong, Loch Ness, Megalon and Rodan. That line-up translated is MF Grimm, Kwite Def, X-Ray himself, MF Doom, Kongcrete of The Reavers, ummm... even I don't know who Loch Ness is, Tommy Gunn and Onyx the Birthstone Kid. Listening to the song, they don't seem to rhyme in quite that order, though, and there's an extra credit, as there are only seven verses (and yes, X-Ray does rap on this). There's another version of this song on Rodan's solo album (Theophany: The Book Of Elevations) called "Run the Sphere v.2.3," which features an additional rapper in between the first and second verses of the original (the one that starts off "hold up; those that knows I knows I ain't got the time"), though. I believe that to be Loch Ness, who is erroneously also credited here. ...You'll note that Loch was never credited on the original 12".

Anyway, the title "Run This Sphere" should probably be pretty familiar to you, not just from the Rodan album, but because "Run the Sphere" was also the group's debut single in 2001 on Brick Records. But X-Ray didn't produce that (or the remix on the B-side of that first 12"). So even though the label doesn't say so, this is the remix he made for Monster Mixes. I'm not sure I can say this is better than the original, since that was pretty fresh; but this is a very cool alternative, much smoother and heavier.

Next is "Doomsday Remix" by MF Doom featuring Pebbles the Invisible Girl. "Doomsday," of course, was the title track of Doom's debut solo album on Fondle 'Em, before the Monster Islands Czars were a thing. This remix is really fresh, breathing new life into an older track. And, just to be clear, it's not the widely released "Doomsday" remix from the MF EP that Doom did with Grimm in 2001. That was good, too; but this is a different one, and even better.

Next is a Darc Mind song called "You da One." I'm not really sure why this track was included, as it's just an album track from their main album, Symptomatic Of a Greater Ill (and, as such, isn't making its vinyl debut here). It was also included on Soul Food and the Monster Mixes CD, so X-Ray must just really like it. It's certainly good enough, but I'm surprised Dope Folks chose this over one of the many other options. Oh well.

Flipping over to side 2, we get "I Seen It All" by Spiega, a.k.a. Spice of The Reavers. He has a voice and flow very similar to Kev Roc, giving this the feel of another Darc Mind song. And that's certainly a fine thing.

Next is "Century 21" by Rodan and Megalon. We've already established from the "Run the Sphere" credits that Rodan and Megalon are actually Onyx and Tommy Gunn. Onyx, of course, is one of the original KMD members; and Gunn may actually be best known for the 12" he released on Fondle 'Em under the Megalon pseudonym, "One In a Million." Anyway, this is a really tight track, with a very addictive sample. Rodan even included it on his solo album in 2004. That album - though less obscure than Monster Mixes - was still CD only though, so the song is still making its vinyl debut here.

Finally we end with Kong's "Broken Nose Flow." This has a cool, darker flow than everything else on the EP, evoking a crime film soundtrack, and cutting up an iconic Mobb Deep vocal sample (you can probably guess it based on the song's title) for the hook. And Kong has a really slick, non-stop flow on this one, making for a really nice closer to this EP.

You know, now that I think about it, perhaps the reason X-Ray sometimes credits rappers by their monster alias and sometimes not is because some of this material (i.e. the "Doomsday" remix) wasn't really recorded for a M.I.C. project, but just the artists' own solo ventures. That would make sense.

Anyway, it was a bit complicated, but we've sorted it all out. At the end of the day, it's a nice EP of six really good tracks by the Monster Island fam.  All good choices except the Darc Mind is sure to be a duplicate for anyone who's a big enough fan to be buying the vinyl. So I really would've liked to see another song chosen instead. ...I mean, I don't know. Maybe Dope Folks is planning to ultimately release everything from both Monster Mixes volumes onto wax, anyway. That way nothing will have missed its shot, in which case why not just stick it on here, too; as more of a bonus track? But until such a time, I have to consider that the one disappointment of this otherwise fine EP.


*As the Godzilla flicks got goofier, and the number of rival monsters got ridiculously large, they eventually came up with the conceit that all of the monsters somehow wound up living on a shared island, called Monster Island, until one or two of them needed to escape and stomp through Tokyo for another sequel. In the entry I remember most clearly from my childhood, a little boy somehow winds up on the island and befriends Baby Godzilla, and so he gets real Godzilla to fight all the other monsters and help him escape. Or something.

Darc Mind

The 90's fucked up when they didn't put out Darc Mind. They were a serious NY duo; with the ultra-deep voiced Kev Rock dropping hard but intelligent rhymes over dark, ominous boom bap production by GM Web D. Together, their style smoothly bridged the gaps between backpacker, thugs and Dead Prez. Unfortunately, we barely heard them.

They had a song called "Visions Of a Blur" on LOUD Records' flagship soundtrack album, Soul In the Hole with a killer bassline that definitely managed to get heads attention despite being placed between many NY giants in their prime, including The Wu-Tang Clan and the solo debut of Big Pun. LOUD also released a promo-only single of theirs called "Outside Looking In," produced by Nick Wiz. But that was it. Darc Mind was on their roster, and they even recorded a full album for them called Symptomatic of a Greater Ill; but it never came out.

Until 2006, when an indie label got in touch with Kev Rock, recovered the masters, and pressed them up as a proper double LP for the first time. Which label? An early venture by Diggers With Gratitude? Or maybe Freestyle Records sounds like a better guess? No, believe it or not, it was Anticon. Pedestrian was actually - like most of us who had the Soul In the Hole tape - a fan since the 90s. He made it happen, and the rest of the album turned out to be exactly what we'd all hoped it would be: just as dope as "Visions of a Blur."  Dark and heady. Smooth yet hard. The album's still available on their site, by the way. I absolutely recommend it.

This isn't the only time Anticon's ventured into this arena, by the way. You know those Grimm Teachaz EPs that Chopped Herring's been putting out? You know, with Son Doobie and all? Well, if you're digging those EPs, you should definitely check out the cassette full-length album Anticon put out of theirs in 2011, also still available on their site.

Anyway, that's only half of this Darc Mind story. Thanks to the buzz around Anticon's release, plus the credibility GM Web D earned under the aliases of X-Ray and King Ceasar (yeah, they're both actually the same guy) producing for MF Doom and the Monster Island Czars, of which he's also a member, Darc Mind reunited and started putting out limited CD-only releases through their website (I think one also came free if you bought their album off of Sandbox or something). And in 2013, Dope Folks pressed up some more of their lost music on vinyl.

Now remember, Symptomatic of a Greater Ill, Soul In the Hole and all that was 1996-1997 era. This six-song EP, called Antediluvian vol. 1 [I assume that means there's a part 2 coming!], is all from 1990-1992. I mean, holy crap, who knew the pair went back that far?!

Well, we sorta had a hint that they went back at least a few years earlier than Soul In the Hole. A couple years ago, Dope Folks released another GM Web D production: the Legion of D.U.M.E. '94 EP. That EP was a sweet combo of the rare Legion of D.U.M.E. 2-song 12" on Darc Mind Records[!], plus six more never-before-released other D.U.M.E. recordings. In fact, Legion of D.U.M.E. consists of both Web D and Kev; the difference is just that it also includes two other members: Prime Time and Scott Free.

But still, Darc Mind material from as far back as 1990 is kind of a mind blower. Two of the songs - "Smooth Wit the Roughness" and "Fine Brown Frame" - are actually from those self-released CDs Darc Mind put out on their own. But this is still their debut on vinyl and the first a lot of us are really getting to hear them. And the other four, as far as I know, have never been released in any capacity.

Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that this material, even though it's way older, still has the same ethos as Symptomatic. Dark, smooth, hard. Kev's younger but basically sounds the same, and GM's production sounds pretty much the same, too; albeit with more recognizable samples than his later work. And "Fine Brown Frame." That song has a lighter, bouncier, more old school feel. It's still good, but it doesn't sound like the rest of their material. Overall, it's just different enough to be fun in a "isn't it fun to hear how they used to sound" kind of way; but similar enough not to disappoint any of their fans.

Like all Dope Folks releases, it's limited to 300 copies, and comes with a cool sticker cover. However, in this instance, there's also a cheaper, limited CD option available only through Darc Mind's Mindbenda site. So the 90's dropped the ball, but the 2000s and 2010s have once again swooped to catch it and score a slam dunk... or something. I'm not good at sports metaphors. All this Darc Mind material is quality stuff.