Sage Francis - Human the Death Dance

When Sage Francis opens the album saying "this is hip-hop for the people / stop calling it emo," they're words that bely the front cover's highly stylised Hot Topic-centric fonts and imagery, which are pure emo of the most lamentable kind. And, as should be expected, Human the Death Dance is filled with the hyper-articulate self-deprecating chest-beating that Sage has repeatedly excelled in – a long way from the battle rapper that he grew up as, a fact acknowledged by the snippet collages of recordings of Sage as a wee pup. Likewise, the production has moments of utter transcendence, especially some of Alias's and Odd Nosdam's work but especially Buck65's hoe-down stomp around some gorgeous live vocal samples. A special mention should also go out to local crew Eaters, who contributed a minor bit of sample'n'synth to Clickety Clack. All the ingredients are there, but the album doesn't sounds as wonderful as it could, maybe it's because Sage is just treading old ground – but isn't that what hip-hop's all about? [Ali Maloney]