Today’s Sounds: The Alchemist
The concept is a gamble. This isn’t an “album,” according to hip hop architect the Alchemist. But it’s not a mixtape either. It’s not an instrumental affair, but neither is it exclusively a rap throwdown.
Rather, Russian Roulette spins a highly refined collection of loops assembled entirely from sampled Russian sounds of all genres. Unless you are an aficionado of the source material – and I certainly have no particular point of reference for it, myself – ya’ gotta just sorta trust that Alchemist’s world renowned crates could probably fill a hot Soviet block.