700 BLISS - Nothing To Declare CD

700 Bliss is the forward-thinking duo of DJ Haram and Moor Mother. On their first full length release for Hyperdub, Nothing to Declare, the duo create an album of noise rap, one that ties together the raw edges of club music and hip hop with punk energy, jazz, house-party catharsis, loud percussion-heavy analogue sound design, and cheeky skits. Some tracks (“No More Kings”) are distinct experimental rap tracks with rolling hi hats and lyrical bravado while others (“Seven”) are poetry set to noise and sound collage.

Nothing to Declare is a smart, danceable revelation. The darburka drums of their 2018 debut, Spa 700, are present, but here they’re submerged into a chiseled soundscape of dive bombing bass, piercing bleeps, crunchy distortion, and wavering synth lines. On “Anthology,” Moor Mother pays homage to Katherine Dunham, the matriarch of Black dance. Elsewhere, her flow is sometimes processed and distorted into monstrous shapes, with Haram delivering a foil to her vicious spitting on “Bless Grips,” “No more Kings,” and the title track, “Nothing to Declare.”