Curse Ov Dialect: Dark Days Bright Nights

- As one recent commentator acutely put it, Melbourne’s Curse Ov Dialect have been keeping Australian hip hop surreal since 1994. Their appearances are pretty sporadic these days - new album Dark Days Bright Nights being just their second album in the last 12 years. But it must take a while to put together these incredibly dense words and sounds; and any new music by Curse Ov Dialect is something to be celebrated - because you just know that no matter what musical trends are popular at any given time, it will sound like none of them.

They have a distinctive sound of their own though: beats layered with odd string and horn samples, 80’s sounding guitars and keyboards, and a wide range of vocal snatches. Over this background are piled dizzying, interweaving rhymes. One of the group’s MC’s Paso Bionic is sadly missing from Curse Ov Dialect these days; but Vulk Makedonski, Raceless, August 2 and Atarangi still pack in so many rhymes you wonder how anyone else could have fitted in.

The other characteristic the band are known for is radical politics and drawing on the different ethnic backgrounds of the members. This is still the case too; although as ever, finding meaning takes a bit of interpretative work. Dark Days Bright Nights at times is pretty straightforward in its politics - Cultural Theft is about justice for aboriginal people, Never North a strident claim of Macedonian sovereignty (it’s title a reference to the recent forced name change of the Republic of Macedonia). Minion Disease is about the marginalisation of homeless people and refugees; as is Gully Millionaire, which shows Curse Ov Dialect can still surprise by doing a relatively straightforward storytelling track.

Beyond that I’m not really sure - two weeks of listening not enough to uncover everything contained in this packed hour of music. But then again, their classic album Wooden Tongues came out 15 years ago and I still have no idea what most of it is about.

But that’s the beauty of Curse Ov Dialect - their infinitely complex music forces the listener to pay close attention and keep digging for more. Their embrace of migrant identities brings out the complexities that form our culture, their love of hip hop history a reminder too that music is made of much more than a few simple elements.

Curse Ov Dialect have never really made music for mainstream consumption, but they have gained a much-loved cult reputation around the world. At one point in the US they found a home at the bastion of alternative rap that is Stones Throw Records - not many Australian acts can say that. Dark Days Bright Nights is not about to be their commercial breakthrough; but with another slab of wonderfully complex, creative and bizarre hip hop; Curse Ov Dialect have cemented their status as underappreciated national treasures.

- Andy Paine.