Hector Bizerk
The Waltz Of Modern Psychiatry
(self-released)
Conceived as the soundtrack for stage play Crazy Jane, the story of a mentally ill can-can dancer in Toulouse-Lautrec's Paris, this third full-length album from Glasgow hip-hop band Hector Bizerk is an immense piece of work that immediately claims its own space away from the stage lights.
It begins with an actual waltz, an instrumental overture that's like Tom Waits scoring Betty Blue, while Waits's junkyard beats throw an arm around a Spanish guitar to wind through Pigalle's streets on the title track before rapper Louie's torrent of words explode the fragile mood.
Context is everything: the asylum narrative adds anxiety, paranoia even, to Louie's flow, his storytelling engrossing, his wordplay ("French kiss a clenched fist") an intense poetry. Voyeuristic remarks about women that would be rap misogyny elsewhere are disturbing, intelligent and historically insightful in Crazy Jane's incarcerated frame of reference.
The album gives drummer Audrey Tait a showcase for the full range of her beautifully-toned percussion skills and, equally, an opportunity to push further her talent as a producer: this album really is the culmination of the boundary-breaking experiments heard on Hector Bizerk's recent series of EPs themed around Glasgow's coat-of-arms. Truly, I can't think of another Scottish band whose creative horizons have expanded so magnificently in such a short space of time.
Alan Morrison
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article