
700 BLISS
Nothing To Declare (Hyperdub)
Camae Ayewa, one half of Philadelphia duo 700 Bliss, has released music at a rapid rate in the last few years, but you wouldn’t think of all of it as the sound of someone having fun: in the case of her solo albums as Moor Mother, they’re often harrowing in their polemic. Zubeyda Muzeyyen, aka DJ Haram, is more demonstrably inclined to pen club-tearing tracks but hasn’t released anything substantial since 2019.
Until now, the second record by Ayewa and Muzeyyen under this name. Nothing To Declare is 16 tracks of scuzzy electronics, off-the-dome raps and daffy skits that bear hallmarks of both producers’ other releases but operate outside of their ostensible comfort zone. It’s probably outside of everyone’s, in fact.
Ayewa’s vocals are more gruff and menacing then ever, while the pair’s beats are gloriously unpolished, bouncing between cutting-edge alt-rap, heavy dub noise and proto-techno, with Anthology fitting the latter bill and underlining how 700 Bliss have made something musically and politically radical, and some fine craic to boot.
words NOEL GARDNER
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