Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

For whatever reason --- primarily the title, WHEN ELECTRIC NIGHT FALLS --- I had prejudged Bisc1 to be a dance club turntablist and his disc to be a collection of hit for a minute dance tracks. Wrong on one count --- Bisc1 is a rapper, over electronica tracks --- and pleasantly surprised on all others. This bad boy is an unexpected gem.

WHEN ELECTRIC NIGHT FALLS is Bisc1’s first proper long-play (he also has an EP, THE BASICS for sale and a 17 track mixtape, THE STAY UP PROJECT, available on his myspace page) combines samples, riffs, found sounds, all sorts of different things under Bisc1’s raps. The single, “Turbulence,” is a standout, but “Paranoid” would make a great follow up, sounds bouncing out from all over the place. Actually, just about everything on WHEN ELECTRIC NIGHT FALLS is da bomb. It’s impossible to assimilate all of this in a listen or three. Bisc1 strikes that perfect balance between rap and club music, giving WHEN ELECTRIC NIGHT FALLS the cred it requires for acceptance from both camps. Take “Strange Love,” with Bisc1’s sinister rap over a guitar riff and a speeded up vocal track --- that shit gets irritating after awhile, but somehow, it works really, really well here. Bisc1 is no slouch as a rapper either; “Another Day” is particularly noteworthy.

WHEN ELECTRIC NIGHT FALLS is in many ways reminiscent of the Byrne/Eno classic, MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS, though Bisc1 in no way tries to duplicate that particular effort. I’m not quite sure what to call this; cosmic rap, perhaps, in a cosmos populated by the crowd in the bar scene in Star Wars. Even “Great Escape,” which is a (relatively) grounded track, sounds like a musical trip around the world in just under five minutes. And that’s without the hidden track that comes exploding out at you all of sudden. This guy is phenomenal. If he doesn’t cross over --- both ways --- then no one can. Recommended.