Welcome to the present, where pop music dominates the airwaves, the charts and TV. Everywhere you turn on your radio dial, every channel you flip to to check music, you're faced with the Same Old Shit (S.O.S.). Pop labels and artists try to bury the industry's cries for help under more half-dressed hoochies shaking their asses and more half-talented MCs rhyming over half-assed beats. A few brave souls have heard the shout that sounds like a squeal and are trying to get through the thickened skulls of the indoctrinated with something new. Leading the charge are M. Sayyid, Earl Blaize, High Priest, and Beans -- collectively known as the Antipop Consortium. Welcome to the future, where the S.O.S. stories of the present have been wrapped up, summarized and dismissed by a Tragic Epilogue.

This Consortium is trying to make you reevaluate everything you know about hip-hop. From flows, to production, to subject matter - nothing remains unexplored. If this comes in contact with most hip-pop, a powerful explosion similar to the matter/anti-matter reaction is bound to occur.

As producers, they eschew simple loops for much more dynamic, progressive soundscapes. While the average listener will recognize things sounding like loops, especially with drum lines, listen more carefully and you'll discover seemingly insignificant elements inserted in various places to give the discerning ear a break from the monotony that plagues modern urban music. The care and effort put into the music are unmistakeable on tracks like "What Am I," where effects and sounds are added in perfect sync with the lyrics. The same attention to detail is apparent in the lyrics. Each word on each track is carefully chosen. There is not a word, not a syllable, not a sound out of place. The lyricists work with the beats and vice versa, rather than just a group of talented (or not-so-talented) rhymes over a beat but not really having anything to do with it. Many of the songs actually feel more like spoken word pieces than songs intended to make you shake your ass on a dance floor somewhere.

Of course, an undertaking like this one can only work if only the best is accepted. The guest artists are no exception. While the list is limited, the skills are not. Apani (also of Polyrhythm Addicts), Aceyalone, Pharoahe Monch and L.I.F.E. appear to lend their masterful vocal stylings and electro foetus provides additional sounds on "Eyewall."

Like most projects significantly different from the norm, this album is not for everyone. Because of the Consortium's unabashed experimentation and willingness to throw all convention to the wind, those who need to hear something conforming to the hip-hop "formula" may be disappointed in places. This applies equally to the backpackers and the commercial heads. It takes an open mind to truly appreciate some of the work here. The album is also not very consistent, as each track seems to be intended to stand mostly on its own, not necessarily having any relation to the tracks around it. This is both a weakness and a strength on an album such as this, because for every track you may not feel, there are two that you will. Especially potent are the interlude type instrumental tracks such as "PSA2" and "Here THey Come Now."

It's much more likely on this album than most for different people to have different opinions of which songs stand out. That said, particularly hot cuts include "Laundry," "Nude Paper," "PSA2," "9.99," "Here They Come Now," "Sllab," "Smores," "Driving In Circles," "Heatrays," "Disorientation," and "What Am I."

The final verdict: This one's definitely not for the masses, and that's a good thing. It's probably different from the stuff most people have heard, much the same way Funcrusher Plus by Company Flow set the hip-hop world on its ear. If you enjoy music that pushes the creative envelope, make sure to give this one a few spins.