Will Schube never got the boulder to the top of the mountain.
Daedelus’ world is steeped in myth. First, the name. A play on Papa Icarus, the father of the boy who flew too high. Without reading too much into it, the name fits (although Alfred Darlington’s nom de plume varies the original Daedalus spelling). Daedelus changed the LA beat scene and passed down his wisdom to his Low End brethren without ever quite reaching the sun himself. His latest record, Labyrinths, is an ode more to his namesake than it is Bowie and Henson. Daedalus built the Labyrinth, Daedelus built the Labyrinths. We’re proud to premiere the album’s second single, “Minotaur,” featuring the excellent Zeroh.
The last time Daedelus and Zeroh shared a room was at a POW event. Boogie and Nosaj Thing were there too. You’re welcome. As good as that was, this is better. “Minotaur” skitters and plunders the deepest depths of bass. Daedelus has always excelled when holding up a mirror to dance music’s ugliest cliché’s. He takes the played out and gives it a diagnostics check, a post-mortem report more thorough than the one the Republicans ignored in 2012, and a remedy for recovery. He’s the beat scene MD. How else do you think he grows such great sideburns?
“Minotaur” is the sort of track that absolutely flounders without the perfect guest spot. The beat is shifty and dynamic—bold enough to hold water as an instrumental—so it takes a strong voice to assert a voice atop the chaos. Zeroh manages to stay within the beat’s pocket while jumping above, below, and through it. His technical skill is masterful, his aesthetic flourishes finely tuned to the beat’s nuances.
“Minotaur” is untethered by structure, but Daedelus’ construction, along with Zeroh’s control of his cadence, gives the track a prevailing calm. It’s dark and brooding; the funeral dirge for Icarus, written by the mourning father. Zeroh sings, “You could be free, you could be out.” Good advice for the minotaur, who loses his life in the labyrinth. Fortunately, being stuck in Daedelus’ Labyrinth(s) sounds like one of those good problems to have.
