Mochipet: Microphonepet

When we last left our hero David Wang, he had just unleashed his pop-culture glitch-blender of an album called Girls Love Breakcore, which was about as madcap as any electronic album could possibly get. With Microphonepet, Wang (under his Mochipet moniker) has rounded up all the hip-hop tracks that he’s recorded over the past five years, himself playing producer while a staggering lineup of underground rappers get to show their chops over his delightfully off-center sound collages.

Unfortunately, as with any producer-oriented rap album, Microphonepet‘s guest spots cover the entire spectrum of quality, ranging from good (“Get Your Whistle Wet” featuring the Hustle Heads) to very, very bad (did the rapper on “Vnecks” actually just say “keep shakin’ that rectum”?). At times, Wang’s beats could rival any current club banger (as on the apocalyptic synth opener “Tangle”). At others, his sounds are successfully borrow from templates from other rapper/producers.

Throughout it though, the two-dozen MCs just can’t hold their own against Mochipet’s wild, crazed beats that sound alternately old-school (the “You Put a Spell On Me”-sampling “The Graduate” featuring Dubphonics), jazzy (“Do What You Feel” with Artlinkletters), and out-there futuristic (“Girls and Boys and Toys” featuring Jahcoozi). Ultimately, Microphonepet falls apart as an album — its just too long for a single sustained listen — but its individual moments shine very brightly, which in a modern-day digital jungle like this one, is really saying something.