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Just had a listen to the whole album, and it's okay. Nothing really stands out for me.

I can't help but compare this guy to Aesop Rock, but not quite getting to his level in terms of flow, lyrical content or style.
The production at times is just annoying and creeps over El-P's voice with dramatic effects being all of the rage, I'd have much rather preferred a solid, stable beat, so we can focus more on what he's saying, because some of what I caught was clever, witty lyrics.

The intro and outro tracks were far too long and over-stretched, and more or less sum up the album as a whole for me, okay, but ultimately falling short of being something memorable or exceptional.

That being said, there is nothing necessarily wrong with the album, but it just doesn't do much to differentiate itself from similar products.

In conclusion, I'm going to have to give I'll Sleep When You're Dead a 6/10.

Engine

Fuck similar products, this is about one specific EL-P album.

I was super-hyped about this when it came out because Fantastic Damage was one of my all-time favorites (still is) and I remember liking this one significantly less than that one. I've heard it a bunch of times but not recently. I'm sure I have a lot more to say about it but I need to re-listen before I give y'all the rant you deserve.

__________________

Like an arrow,
I was only passing through.

Sparky

*****DISCLAMER****
I'm a huge El-P fan and will not hide the fact that i am totally biased and that I would blindly follow the man into a volcano with ****ing lava everywhere
***********

It's an aquired taste trust me, this album gave me a headache the first time i listened to it, but there is a lot of reward if you keep listening.

You get rid of the random chaos and overproduction and you lose El-P's identity. It doesn't impact the lyrics negatively, it just makes it harder to
decipher.

You know those crappy drug montages hollywood movies always have? Guy does 1 hit of drug X and all of a sudden the world turns into a crazy hysteria driven distopia with prodigy music playing? El-P is this scene done right in music form for me, it sounds really dumb but i don't know how else to articulate it.

Your main complaint was that it needed to be more simplified and formulaic, but you want it to be more original too. That's by no means a unfair opinion, but it kinda seems like your trying to find reasons to dislike it at this point.

Plz just listen to it moar >.<

It's good no doubt, but it lacks the emotional resonance and punch of El-P. He's a great lyricist, but El-P doesn't hide behind vague imagery and stream of consciousnesses the way aesop does, el-p actually says some ****!