Left-field New York rapper Billy Woods – half of Armand Hammer – is a prolific collaborator currently enjoying a regal purple patch. His riveting words have spooled out over a wide array of backings and rubbed up against myriad foils for some time; We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is his second album this year, after the superlative Maps, an outing with producer Kenny Segal.
“Rather be co-dependent than co-defendant”, are, aptly, some of the first words on Armand Hammer’s sixth LP, which finds Woods and his longtime associate Elucid trading dazzling, bleak verses over backings that defy categorisation. Vinyl crackle, digital wizardry and industrial clanks are conjured up by the likes of Segal, El-P, DJ Haram and the relentlessly inventive Jpegmafia. Graceful, jazz-flecked live instrumentation also features, including Shabaka Hutchings on flute; guest vocalists abound.
Jpegmafia’s producer tag kicks off Woke Up and Asked Siri How I’m Gonna Die, a subdued dreamscape where random answers by the AI digital assistant pepper the two rappers’ bluff, aching rhymes. More sonically brutal is Trauma Mic featuring Pink Siifu, while Niggardly has a sinister wind chime doing heavy atmospheric lifting and The Gods Must Be Crazy is a party tune with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Beyoncé reference. It all makes for an exceptional record that deserves your time and headphones.
