He might have decided to sneak it out at the close of the year while all eyes are on the festivities but make sure you don’t miss the new LP from Kid Acne. For Totemic Template (or rather Totemic Template (Edna & Friends Vol. 1) to give it its full title) finds our man once again teaming up with his beatmaker of choice since 2019, Chicago producer Spectacular Diagnostics. In the time between then and now, the combo of our Kid’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics filled with pop culture, myth, conspiracy theory and Sheffield vernacular references combined with Spec D’s lo-fi psychedelic beats has resulted in a body of work that occupies similar territory to that of like minds Kool Keith and Dan The Automator and to some extent Tom Caruana’s work – notably 2022’s Strange Planet – of which this latest instalment is a prime example.
Totemic Template also finds Acne sharing the mic with a number of distinguished guests from both sides of the pond. His long-time partners in rhyme Sebash and Nosaj of New Kingdom appear on excellent opener Goongala setting the tone for what follows in a perfect balance of boom-bap crunch, retro lo-fi ambience and lyrical nuttiness. Three other cuts also feature more than one emcee – Cerberus Nebula when Cise Greeny and Dap Zini get on the space-themed tip too, Baba Ganoush on which Vandal Savage and Junior Disprol guest and triumphal closer Mutant Crate where King Kashmere appears alongside Juice Aleem and Infesticons’ Mike Ladd. Of the remaining tracks, no fewer than six others feature a guest too: King Kashmere turns up again on the trippy space-themed Ahead Of The Curve, Sharif joins the mothership just off Arrakis for the Dune (1984) movie Mentat-referencing Mind In Motion, Jehst and Cappo swing by on I’m Right Here and Inconceivable respectively – both swirly FX-laden affairs, while Sonnyjim does a turn on the space-jazz-hop of Those Ones, and B.E.Z. another on the hypnotic Buggin’ In The Night which vies with Goongala for best track. Best lyrics on the other hand must surely go to Inconceivable – not least of the reasons for which must be Acne’s six-bar rhyme journey from quoting Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Tone Loc’s most famous hooks to the ubiquitous ‘Take Me To Your Dealer’ poster of Athena fame, by way of ‘soggy semolina in the school canteen, n’ah mean?’ with a possible Thundercats reference lobbed in for good measure. If you’ve got a predilection for tongue-in-cheek bars that endlessly mine the nexus of film and comics with the outer reaches of science and myth along with a penchant for quality cinematic beats (and why wouldn’t you be?) Acne’s your man. Best of all, the title indicates there’s more to come – here’s to that.
(Out now digital/ 17 February on vinyl on Invisible Spies)