Artist Jedi Mind Tricks

Website
Jedi Mind Tricks

With album titles like A History Of Violence and Legacy Of Blood, no one would accuse indie hip-hop outfit Jedi Mind Tricks of having a cheery disposition. This is aggressive boom-bap rap, but with an odd trick cribbed from Elliott Smith's playbook: The music is almost always cheery while the lyrics are devastatingly vulnerable and angry. For example, "Razorblade Salvation" off 2006's Servants In Heaven, Kings In Hell is a tale of a grisly suicide attempt mingled flawlessly with church organs, peaceful woodwinds, a steady beat, and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden inexplicably providing back-up vocals. It shouldn't work so well, but it does in just about every song.

Updated 01/29/2010