Pitchfork

Between Bambaataa tweaking Kraftwerk and Kanye sampling Can's "Sing Swan Song" for "Drunk and Hot Girls" hip-hop's had plenty of time to familiarize itself with krautrock-- or at least its more hook-friendly aspects. Baltimore glitch-rap trio Food For Animals have gone a bit further here on this one-off track: as a group that's exhibited a tendency to push the limits of noise and abrasion in their production, teaming with Faust founding member Hans Joachim Irmler-- who previously worked in the context of avant-garde hip-hop via the Dälek-assisted Derbe Respect, Alder-- seems like a pretty natural collaboration. Recorded at Irmler's Paper Factory studio during FFA's European tour last year, "Planet Say" bobs on an Irmler keyboard that gradually settles into a steady sway-and-bob groove after a minute or so of Tesla-coil buzzes and cracks, and once everything starts clicking into place it sounds like snap music gone controllably haywire. MCs Hy and Vulture V complement the beat's notion of accessible weirdness, spitting double-reverse metaphors and circular half-logic one moment ("If I see ya I'm'a see ya when I see ya") and referencing Halle Berry's role in B*A*P*S or comix legend Jack Kirby the next.