Judging from the cover things will be more serious. That couch that adorned their past two mix tape covers?
Das Racist Pizza Hut
You probably really liked it, all the happy, mellow vibes it gave off. It looked warm, inviting, a place to rest your weary bones after a day of hard work. Well they burned that mother down. No more dicking around. Serious music is about to be made. Music history will forever remember the exact moment Das Racist got off the couch and wrote down some serious jams. After this nothing will be the same.
After testing the waters, they are ready to go deep. That means no more sarcastic sampling of Billy Joel; instead they’ll just rap over a sample of The Doobie Brothers “What a Fool Believes”. Now there’s an intense song, a song written about a tortured genius from somewhere back in her long ago.
Even the titles show a certain maturity. “Booty in the Air” indicates a greater understanding of the lost art of dance and flirtation. For me, someone with their ‘Booty in the Air’ generally shows an understanding of the subtle art of flirtation. Language isn’t limited to that song, they also present a song called “Shut up, man” understanding that ‘dude’ doesn’t represent where they are now.
I'm a sucker for strange new wave revival records anyways, but when they veer into vaguely Devo-ish territory i really can't help myself. The warm, pulsating quadra synths and 8-bit arpeggiators used here are offset by the driving bass and the excellent process-heavy baritone vocals, but what really stands out are the fantastic, eminently hummable melodies. Love the way Maus uses textures to delineate song sections instead of relying on cadential chord progression tropes. Clocking in at under 30 min., the songs rarely overstay their welcome and, though they get progressively grander and dystopian on side B, manage to never quite jump the shark.