ARMAND HAMMER Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Armand Hammer is the New York-based duo of ELUCID and Billy Woods and now they are back with their first new album in two years. We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is a debut long player for Fat Possum and it is their biggest work yet with plenty of high-profile guest spots from the likes of JPEGMAFIA, EL-P, Kenny Segal, Black Noi$e, Preservation, DJ Haram, Child Actor, Sebb Bash, August Fanon, and more. Since they were last recording together, ELUCID and billy woods have both released critically acclaimed solo albums but show that they save some special magic for when they join up in the studio.

Review: Surprisingly, long-serving underground rap duo Armand Hammer (AKA ELUCID and Billy Woods) have never recorded an album under the guidance of a single producer. Haram, then, is a unique item in their discography, produced as it is by a lone beat-maker, sometime Mobb Deep, Dilated Peoples and Ghostface Killah collaborator the Alchemist. Musically the album is alternately pin-sharp and drowsy, with sparkling synths, obscure instrumental samples and warming tones riding loose, jazzy and largely laidback hip-hop beats. As you'd expect, ELUCID and Billy Woods are in fine form throughout, spitting rhymes that their label accurate describes as a mixture of "the profane and the pure".