Demon Queen: Exorcise Tape (Rad Cult, 8/6/13)
It seems that Black Moth Super Rainbow’s Tom “Tobacco” Fec made some friends while passing time out in right field. Tobacco and Zackey Force Funk, an MC from the Tucson’s Machina Muerte crew, mesh their styles together as Demon Queen, and the results are neon-laced and synthetically satisfying.
Both Tobacco’s and ZFF’s styles leave a hazy afterimage, throbbing with thick keyboard tones and odd noises, but the former’s pop sensibilities tame the latter’s rap/funk leanings and vice versa. The outcome is an excellent framework for the melodic hip hop provided by other members of the Machina crew like N8NOFACE, who’s featured on the album’s lead single “Rude Boy,” and posse leader Isaiah Toothtaker, whose verses on “Despise the Lie” sound surprisingly natural among Demon Queen’s squelchy synths.