Russian Roulette cover

Russian Roulette

Released

Alc’s time in Gangrene must’ve caused one of Oh No’s favorite tendencies to rub off on him. Like the Mediterranean-sourced samples that made up Dr. No’s Oxperiment and the Addis-addled Dr. No’s Ethiopium, Alchemist’s own take on the formula hopped on a rocket to Russia and built its own little Tarkovskian zone out of long-lost Brezhnev-era prog. The feature-filled album plays out like rapidfire collage, its attention-scattering lack of breathing room hinting at deeper strangeness the listener can puzzle out themselves. From an alternate soundtrack for Rocky IV (“Apollo’s Last Stand”; “Decisions Over Veal Orloff”) to a satellite drug-lab suite (“The Kosmos”, Parts 1-8), Alchemist’s uncanny alternate-Soviet-universe sources sound like little else out there.

Nate Patrin

Suggestions
1st Infantry cover

1st Infantry

The Alchemist
Everything's Fine cover

Everything's Fine

Quelle Chris, Jean Grae
Yeti Season cover

Yeti Season

El Michels Affair
Quakers cover

Quakers

Quakers
Nia cover

Nia

Blackalicious
Johnson&Jonson cover

Johnson&Jonson

Blu, Mainframe
Universal Beings cover

Universal Beings

Makaya McCraven
Variables cover

Variables

Alfa Mist
The Antidote cover

The Antidote

The Wiseguys