Send "MF DOOM " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Part of the appeal of a live album is that it's raw, real, truthful-- musicians performing without the safety net or assistance of a studio. So it's unusual to be confronted with one, and the first question that comes to mind is, "Is this really a live performance at all?" DOOM has a purported tendency to send phony "Doomposters" to perform in his place at shows-- and a reputation as a terrible performer when he does show up-- so he must have titanium balls to even consider putting out a concert album. So Expektoration's validity has been called into question, particularly since it sounds so much better than his other concert release, 2005's Live from Planet X. That record is so bad that you know it's legit.Expektoration does feel like the genuine article though-- the crowd at least is real (right off the bat, they shout along with the "Super!" drops in "Hoe Cakes")-- and there's a feel to this album that transcends the redundant and sloppy nature of your typical barrel-scraping live rap album. One of the probable reasons people thought this was a phony show is this is a ridiculously clean-sounding recording, a soundboard job where the audience and the ambient sound pop in only when they're needed. Sure, you can occasionally hear another voice interject a phrase in the background, one of those stage-sharing dudes that may or may not be a weedcarrier and traditionally is there to pick up the slack if an MC doesn't feel like finishing a line. But that stuff's minimized on this album-- for the most part, it's all DOOM, and he sounds a damn sight more dedicated here than his sullied reputation might have you assume. If you want preliminary evidence, just take note of how diabolically energized DOOM's voice sounds compared to the cool, calculated, almost deadpan muttering of the studio versions. That laidback demeanor sounded great on record, but the dynamics of a live show are different enough that he'd need to crank things up in the liveliness department to really engage with the audience. His success is established in short order, as MM.. Food? highlights "Hoe Cakes", "Kon Queso", and "One Beer" are pushed up from blunted stream-of-consciousness raps to animated diatribes. He snarls and chortles, he sells his own punchlines, he gets jovial one moment and guttural the next, he turns periods and ellipses into exclamation points. Even his banter slays; at the threat of a stage-dive moment, he warns the crowd, "You don't want me to do that shit, I'm a good 220!"...full text |
| Popmatters |
| MF Doom, a.k.a. Doom, has been dogged by controversy since it was discovered that at some shows, it sometimes wasn’t even him behind his iconic mask. You couldn’t see his face, so how did you know who was up there bouncing around? Whether intended to dispel any such concerns or not, Doom’s Expektoration offers up a complete and blistering live set which should be welcome to his legions of fans. He is among the best rappers out there, possessed of a singular style, an esoteric persona, and some of the most refreshingly oddball lyrics this side of his friend and collaborator Ghostface Killah. On his best records (and he’s had few missteps), Doom has successfully blended funky beats with humor, darkness, geekdom, and often-obscure pop culture references to create a style which often falls totally out of synch with the mainstream. This is perhaps why he is so beloved. He is endlessly inventive, clever, and fun, but clearly has no interest in being much more than a well-respected curiosity. He hasn’t ever flirted with stardom or name recognition, and likely never will. He wears a mask for crying out loud. And this is in stark contrast with most every major figure in hip-hop you can name. Although this record is a lot of fun, it doesn’t do much to change my mind about live hip-hop records. In general, I don’t enjoy them much, or at least I don’t enjoy them anywhere near as much as I do studio hip-hop. This is pretty out of sync with my opinion of most rock-’n’-roll, which is that (in the words of Mr. Young) “live music is better, bumper stickers should be issued.” I account for this apparent discrepancy by reminding myself that such all-important aspects of hip-hop (at least for me) as flow, intimacy and mood are often impossible to replicate in a club (let alone a stadium). The noise, boom, and echo of a rock venue works for rock-’n’-roll because the rawer a band gets to sound, often the more electric it begins to feel. This just doesn’t seem to be the case for hip-hop. The rawer it gets to sound, the more it makes me long for crisp production and clear highs and lows. Don’t get me wrong: while I’m standing there, live hip-hop is fantastic, but it doesn’t make the transition to tape the way it should. If you can name me the hip-hop equivalent of, say, the Allman Brothers’ Fillmore Concerts, then please enlighten me. I want to be schooled on this....full text |
| Plugonemag |
| Expektoration Live captures a MF Doom concert at B.B. King’s in New York. Judging from the track list, which draws heavily from Operation Doomsday, his Madvillain project and MM…Food, the gig took place sometime between 2004 and 2005, before the rapper’s Danger Doom commercial breakthrough, and before he earned infamy by ripping off audiences with “Doombot” imposters that lip-synched his songs. It’s a shame that Doom doesn’t care to perform live anymore, because he wasn’t that bad. Expektoration has a grimy, frenetic quality reminiscent of Doom’s best work, as he and backing DJ Big Benn Klingon rip through indie classics like “Accordion” and “Rhymes Like Dimes.”...full text |
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