Part of Oakland, California's Anticon collective -- a group of wordily reflective young men who migrated to the west coast from a variety of backwaters, releasing hip hop and electronica records in an ever-changing permutation of line-ups - Alias aims for similar slowed-down dream-hop territory as DJ Shadow, but from a more oblique, elusive angle.
Unlike Alias's last release, 2002's The Other Side of the Looking Glass, Muted has him hanging up his microphone and staying firmly behind the mixing desk. It may be Californian, but instead of sunny LA grooves for the stereo of your convertible, Muted's slow, crackling beats and barely intrusive samples of glassy synths and restrained guitar is more evocative of San Francisco's infamous mists rolling in. 'Chew The Fat' is typical, summoning up a frail optimism from a deep melancholy of droning keyboard and typewriter-esque skitters.
"Am I Cool Now?" samples an Anticon detractor (we guess) complaining that "It's just stupid nerd-rap. They know nothing about the culture that created hip hop, know what I'm saying?" Proud to be a nerd, Alias avoids even the white trash aesthetic of Eminem or Bubba Sparxxx: of the two tracks which feature vocals, 'Unseen Sights' with The Notwist's Markus Archer is reminiscent of a lo-fi bedroom musing, whilst 'The Physical Voice' features his cohort The Pedestrian attempting to overload your synapses by delivering a taut set of lines more suited to coffee-house poetry evenings than at-home listening, punctuated by startlingly long silences. A record that slips quietly out of the room if played as background music, Muted lives up to Its narne by refusing to shout for your attention, But venture closer and it might whisper something unsettling in your ear
[AB]