Grand Buffet - Sparkle Classic
(Brickbrain)
Pittsburgh's star white hip-hoppers, Grand Buffet, follow up their less than impressive debut (Scrooge McRock) with a solid half-hour of creative rap music. Sparkle Classic showcases the talent that has developed over the past two years. A deep sense of randomness and mirth, combined with really tight beats, makes this album successful.
"Real Cool" explodes, rather angrily, as Lord Grunge and Grape-A-Don threaten to hack your PC, smash your TV, and turn Andy Capp comic strips into 3-D. This aggression continues throughout the entire album, culminating in the frenzy of "You're on Fire," which features reassuring sentiments from Grape-A-Don's Dad.
The real Grand Buffet manifesto is "Candy Bars," where the boys proclaim "I like candy bars/and baseball cards/and superstars/Grace Jones/and a pack of Twix/ and a pack of Donruss '86". This is as definitive of a statement of purpose as I have ever heard. Grand Buffet, rather than fronting with wack street imagery, celebrate their real roots--white suburbia, video games, and junk food. This unique approach to hip-hop is refreshingly honest and completely guileless.
Despite the apparent novelty value of Grand Buffet, Lord Grunge and Grape-A-Don back it up with excellent skill. They have developed their own unique sound that mixes hard beats and noise, supplemented by weird electronic sounds. Square waves are all over this crisp sounding CD, which was recorded directly to hard disk on a Macintosh G3. The music of video games seems to be a strong influence on Grand Buffet, as well as Automator's production on the Dr. Octagon record. The musical apotheosis of Sparkle Classic is the final track, "Tape Master," is a mostly unintelligible rant bathed in static, delay and white noise.
The scatological influence of Dr. Octagon is also in full force on this album. I can think of four poop references off the top of my head, from the appearance of vampire shit in "You're on Fire" to Lord Grunge's confidant admitting of defecating in his pants. This sense of humour carries the CD but never undermines the music.
Grand Buffet are an amazing band; watching them live is a testament to a friendship that is evident in everything they do, from lyrics to body language. My one complaint with this CD is that this friendship is not overtly expressed. The rhymes and vocal interplay are solid, but the live experience is just a lot more powerful. The forthcoming home video should hopefully fill that gap.
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