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15 October 2003

Heiruspecs, Small Steps (Interlock)
The anguish of unrealized potential is about 80% of the experience of being a dedicated fan of obscure music. Heiruspecs are that persistently rarest of things, a live hip-hop band, and their association with the Minneapolis underground hip-hop scene might lead those in the know to expect blazing, improvised takes on Atmosphere's moody minimalism, or maybe the Micranots' paranoid madness, or at least Eyedea's atonal boom-bap. But, strangely, what Heiruspecs mainly traffic in is frighteningly close to being smoothed out on the R&B tip, the sort of middle-of-the-road '70s groove you'd expect to be backing Common after being ripped from a Lonny Liston Smith record. So what's the point of having a live band if you're just going to ape the sound of old records? Well, I'm sure these guys are a decent live show, and they've founded most of their reputation on backing up other artists -- that is, playing other people's songs. The two on-board MCs who nominally front Heiruspecs aren't bad, but one of them has a style dangerously similar to that of Atmosphere's Slug, most exemplified in "Meters". It's the 1st-person narrative of a cab driver, which, while good in and of itself, is introspective and contemplative in precisely the same style as Slug's best work. There are a few flashes of promise, but if you're interested in a live band that does more than using their instruments to mimic samplers, may I humbly recommend Miscellaneous Flux's Dead in Dreams? It's daring and frequently invigorating where this is vague and often sleepy.
      — David Morris

.: posted by Editor 11:07 AM