- Through sludgy electronics and fearsome vocal performances, Moor Mother and DJ Haram offer a damning look at the past and present with a look to a better future, or at least a different one.
- Whether it's through free jazz, post-hardcore, boom-bap or noise, Camae Ayewa, AKA Moor Mother, will find a way to deliver her message. By digging up the bones of colonial pasts, opening gateways to radical thought in the present and ringing the warning bells of apocalyptic futures, she wields music as both a weapon of protest and a tool for learning. Tough pills to swallow are her trade, even on her days off. The inviting choice of names for 700 Bliss—Ayewa's side project with Zubeyda Muzeyyen, or DJ Haram—and their debut EP Spa 700 had me thinking the collaborative project would have been a lighthearted affair. Instead it was an exercise in sheer force: hardcore poetry interwoven with noisy, diasporic sonics. It's been four years since then and the duo have finally returned to Hyperdub with their debut album, Nothing To Declare.
700 Bliss combine deconstructed club music with politically charged verses to ends that aren't suited for passive listening. On Nothing To Declare, Muzeyyen's opaque walls of noise, rattling darbuka drum samples and fierce basslines provide the ideal podium for Moor Mother's signature earthy growl to reach deific proportions. The title seems tongue-in-cheek: they definitely have a lot to declare. Moor Mother's musings are apocalyptic, as government-sponsored murder, the pillaging of Black culture and guerilla warfare linger in the distorted haze each instrumental conjures. "Billionaire multi-millionaire in the castle in the air / Look down from his book on psychological warfare," she booms on "Discipline," a haunting portrait of the powers that be.
With the playfully self-aware "Easyjet" skit, on the other hand, the duo role-play as 700 Bliss haters and poke fun at their own trademark deliveries. Moments like these should feel out of place amidst such dark narratives, but the album's freewheeling DIY energy can accommodate any mood the duo sees fit.
In an interview with The Skinny, Muzeyyen said, "It's not always easy to thrive in the present while remaining engaged with important topics, but we try to find a balance between the two." Over the course of Nothing To Declare, the duo use each other's voices as counterweights to strike that balance. Whenever DJ Haram shows up, her distinct valley girl cadence is part sensual and part menacing, a hypnotic palate cleanser to Moor Mother's abrasive raps.
Guest features include experimental pop producer Lafawndah and Palestinian experimentalist Muqata'a. It's easy to imagine a bunch of friends sitting around passing a mic back and forth, experimenting with progressively wilder deliveries. Punk artist Alli Logout on "Capitol" steals the show, unabashed and deranged, bringing to mind MC Ryde at his most untethered.
Rapid-fire, discordant drums are another recurring motif on the album. "Candace Parker," built from granular breakbeats and electronic chirps, features Moor Mother gliding from one chilling bar to the next ("They rape our mothers while y'all just record"), with an unforgiving, Old Testament venom. At times things can feel cluttered to the point of claustrophobia, but then something like "Sixteen" is patient and minimal, as unquantized and distorted percussion pulses through the track like 8-bit explosions.
From start to finish, Nothing To Declare poses scintillating questions that have no answers, leaving genre tropes smoking on the electric chair. DJ Haram proves the perfect dance partner for Moor Mother and her atemporal poetics, as the duo scour through the darkness of history only to lay the bones out in front of us, ensuring we never forget that our present is an echo of an often horrific past. This inescapable fate comes out on closer "Lead Level 15": "So much lead in the rain / How much more can we take?" We might find out sooner than later.
Tracklist01. Nothing To Declare
02. Totally Spies feat. Lafawndah
03. Nightflame feat. Orion Sun
04. Anthology
05. Discipline
06. Bless Grips
07. Easyjet
08. Candace Parker feat. Muqata'a
09. No More Kings
10. Capitol feat. Alli Logout
11. Sixteen
12. Spirit Airlines
13. Crown
14. More Victories feat. M. Téllez
15. Seven
16. Lead Level 15 feat. Ase Manual