Audiopile Review: Backwoodz continues their slow drip of reissues of their formidable (and now very expensive) back catalog, this time landing on Billy Woods’ Known Unknowns, his 2017 album almost entirely produced by Blockhead. Issued several years before the recent explosion of interest in the Armand Hammer universe, Known Unknowns has become a fan fave not only among Woods’ numerous solo releases but also for fans of Blockhead, who was more than ten years past his initial surge of interest after serving up instant classics with Aesop Rock, producing numerous tracks for the Def Jux imprint and issuing his beloved debut on Ninja Tune. But sometimes the best stuff happens when no one is paying attention. And both, indeed, are on point here, with Woods being particularly fired up, his incessant flow and memorable hooks are equally matched by Blockhead’s dense and energetic production. Far removed from the downtempo-adjacent sound of his now classic Music By Cavelight, Blockhead fills every empty space with samples of spacey library tracks, stark jazz, clattering drum breaks and wheezing horns, all stamped with his bleary-eyed psych-funk trademark. Fans of either Woods or Blockhead will need to grip this one. Sorry for the high price point here, but it’s still a bit cheaper than buying direct from the label or forking over $300 for an original. Well worth the price of admission.

Known Unknowns is billy woods’ follow-up to 2013’s Blockhead collaboration Dour Candy. Blockhead is still behind the boards here but there are also a couple beats from his longtime collaborator Aesop Rock. But the center of the whirlwind is still woods, who re-emerges from a two-year hiatus after releasing the avant-garde Today, I Wrote Nothing in early 2015. Known Unknowns finds the artist on more melodic ground, but still his esoteric, acerbic self, spinning verses equal parts joy and terror, wry wit and blind rage. There are guest appearances from ELUCID (Armand Hammer), as well as Aesop Rock, Homeboy Sandman, Googie, singer Barrie McLain and DJ Mo Niklz. Since Dour Candy, Blockhead has worked with Aesop, Sandman and MarQ Spekt but Known Unknowns shows that he and woods have developed their own unique chemistry.