Audio By Carbonatix
Robert Betts, aka Recone Helmut, who’s presently splitting his time between Denver and Brooklyn, has been fiddling about with electronics since the ’90s, first with LD-50 and then under the pH-10 banner. But on largely instrumental numbers such as “Serious Delirium,” his formula — heavy grooves interspersed with vocal samples — doesn’t seem as fresh as it did during the Clinton administration. Fortunately, tunes that team him with guest MCs leap off the plastic — especially those featuring Pete Miser. “Enter the Underground” is a surefire party starter, while “BK United” is jammed with phallic-oriented hilarity; after Miser takes a shot at rappers who only “boast and brag about their penis,” he announces, “Even masturbating next to me, you couldn’t come close.” Helmut’s Miserly decision definitely pays dividends.
— Roberts