Disc-overy of the Week

IRA LEE AND CRITICAL MASS

Die.
Independent

If you're going to release two discs of the dark stuff, do like Tom Waits and put out both discs separately, because most people's depressed episodes don't need a soundtrack that lasts more than 74 minutes. Edmonton MC Ira Lee is not most people. Protests to the contrary aside (“Stupid”), he has a lot of friends in Critical Mass – R&B singers, DJs, francophone MCs and others who add much-needed variety to Die's sardonic mutterings (“there's no hardcore left in these soft-serve human beings,” from “Ground Building Up”). “Bugs,” for example, sees Lee taking a sly metaphor for race hate and turning it into a hip-hop Animal Farm. No scab is left unpicked by Lee's acidic introspection, which, no matter how rhythmically his flow artfully spills over barlines, sometimes crosses over into a self-pitying monologue. But self-pity can be compelling when it's presented right. Is Ira Lee Canadian hip-hop's answer to Bukowski? DAVE MORRIS

EMAIL LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM