Gravity
A Paroxysm of Excellence

Instrumental hip-hop is a genre that often receives contrasting judgments, sometimes even opposing ones. There are those who argue that it is "lame" music, lacking rap and the charm of rhymes, and conversely, those who positively consider it, appreciating its ability to enhance sound and fill the voids left by the absence of words.

Beyond schools of thought, it is evident that instrumental hip-hop allows one to characterize their own tracks and avoid any forced adaptation to the style of the MC of the moment. This newfound freedom is expressed in the desire to explore new paths, wild trails where the boom-bap and 4/4 beats mix with electronic, experimental sounds, different from those typical of Double H.

The aspects we mentioned are all found in A Paroxysm of Excellence, an EP released in 1998 by Gravity, a moniker behind which hides the Swedish DJ and producer Kristjan Frederiksen. We know nothing of him, except for his origin (Gothenburg, to be precise) and the fact that he has recorded singles and compilations under other pseudonyms (DJ Upperkut, Kristus).

The name Frederiksen would have slipped into anonymity if it weren't for a certain DJ Krush. The Japanese artist, in fact, included two tracks from A Paroxysm of Excellence in his mix Code 4109 ("Back to the Essence" and "What Is It..."), granting them visibility that remains nonetheless relegated to the underground (for the record, Gravity will never produce an album, and his tracks will practically vanish into nothingness).

The most curious element of Frederiksen's EP is that we are not facing the debut of an unknown Scandinavian beatmaker, but an excellent work, among the best productions of the period.

The technique of Gravity is exquisite, and from the very start, we understand we are not dealing with a sampler novice, but an expert producer, aware of the tools at his disposal. If we had to name someone, we could compare the Swede’s minimal hip-hop to the aforementioned Krush, yet we would still not fully encompass his sound, more aggressive and claustrophobic than that of Hideaki Ishii. The aggressiveness is evident from the choice of drums, powerful and dirty just right, and then from the samples, ranging from jazz to abstract electronics, giving the beats in A Paroxysm of Excellence dark, hypnotic tones, tending towards paranoia.

We mentioned experimentation, and indeed the two concluding remixes deviate from what was heard before, revealing intriguing contaminations with the rhythms of the era. "PMS (Mr. James Barth)" is an unsettling breakbeat with cosmic atmospheres, while "Fleksibl (The Illectrician Remix)" alternates syncopated drums with minimal-electro patterns that I found a bit sparse (adding some other "ingredients" would undoubtedly have improved the recipe).

Apart from this slight dip, A Paroxysm of Excellence fulfills almost all the promises contained in the ambitious title and demonstrates that hip-hop is not limited to just the verbal side but is accompanied by a significant musical component marked by constant research and dedication.

Sure, there's the regret of never having seen a full-length album from Gravity, but it doesn't matter much: we are content with this exciting listening experience.

DeReviewer Rating: 4.5/5