13 & God
Own Your Ghost
Anticon
2011
Rating: 8 schnitzels bought on International Boulevard out of 10
In 2005 there wasn't much out there that I listened to more than the self-titled debut of "superband" 13 & God. This collaboration between German electro-poppers Notwist and "out there" Oakland hip-hoppers Themselves could have been enormous clusterfuck of good ideas gone bad, but they made it work. So when I found out they decided to do another album together some six years later, I got excited.
Now, sometimes I get too excited about things I love, and they end up disappointing because I built them up way too much. But there is absolutely nothing to be disappointed about with "Own Your Ghost" - it might not be better than the first record, but it's damn close to being it's equal. And like the first, it sounds exactly as you'd expect it to - A Notwist record with Themselves performing on the songs with the band. It's a winning formula as near as I can tell, because for the second album I know this is going to be getting played quite a bit in my car, on my iPhone, through the computer speakers, whatever. The melding of rap and rock is almost always clunky and tiresome, but these fellas seem to have it down to a science.
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