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Carnelian
Studio album by Kill the Vultures
Released	October 23, 2015 (2015-10-23)
Genre	Hip hop, alternative hip hop
Length	47:55
Label	Totally Gross National Product, F to I to X
Producer	Anatomy
Kill the Vultures chronology
Ecce Beast (2009) Carnelian (2015)

Carnelian is the fourth album by Minnesota hip hop group Kill the Vultures.

It was the group's first new album in six years. The album was released on October 23, 2015 by the Minnesota labels F | X and Totally Gross National Product. The album was particularly well-received in Europe, where it was named on a number of 2015 best-of-the-year lists.

History

In an interview with Minneapolis alt-weekly City Pages, Casselle said that the album reflected his personal life, having gone through a divorce and raising a child since the previous Kill the Vultures record, 2009's Ecce Beast, as well as a commentary on the state of the world. Musically, the album features complex, jazz-inflected instrumentation including flute, sax, cello, piano, and gamelan. Rather than use traditional samples, Lewis composed the music himself, recorded it with session musicians, and remixed them into material for the album.

Singles

Before the album's release, the group put out the single "The Jackyl", which featured Channy Leaneagh of the alternative rock band Poliça, Casselle's ex-wife. On October 12, 2015, a music video for the song "Topsoil" was released on YouTube via F to I to X.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Il Mucchio
Reviler	Favorable
Rift	Favorable
Scratched Vinyl

The website Hip Hop Golden Age named Carnelian one of its 100 essential jazz rap albums, calling it "the epitome of (Kill the Vultures') innovativeness, with its ominous use of saxophones, trumpets, flutes, violins, cellos, guitars, double basses, and percussion. This is avant-garde jazz hop at its finest". Carnelian was also named No. 16 in a list of the top 20 Minnesota records of 2015 in the Star Tribune's survey of Twin Cities music critics. Reviewing the record for City Pages, Diane Miller called Carnelian the group's "most ambitious, bizarre, musical, and brilliant record to date," and that Casselle "raps of injustice, hypocrisy, and evil with conviction, imagination, and confounded relatability." Amoeba Music called Carnelian "essential hip hop listening."

The album was particularly well-received in Europe. English website The 405 praised Carnelian as "the most concise and rewarding album of (Kill the Vultures') career." London-based website The Monitors named Carnelian one of its top records of the year, calling it "adventurously jazzy" and saying that it was "probably the most musically exciting hip-hop album of 2015". Italian music magazine Blow Up called Carnelian " a very hard, dark album with a dense and heavy sound" and said that Kill the Vultures was "a group that still has a lot to say". Italian music website Il Mucchio rated the album 8 out of 10, named it Album of the Month for December 2015, and placed it on its year-end Best of 2015 list. It also made 2015 best-of-the-year lists for the French websites Trois Couleurs and Alternative Radio, Czech music blog Silver Rocket, Italy's Never Mind the Bee Stings, and German website Auftouren.

Track listing

Notes

• "Amnesia" ends at 3:09 and contains the track "Last Time" after 0:25 seconds of silence.

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

Kill the Vultures

• Anatomy - producer, recorded by
• Crescent Moon - vocals

Other musicians

• Adam Meckler - trumpet (7)
• Anil Partridge - violin (3)
• Channy Leaneagh - vocals (13)
• Chris Cunningham - guitar (11)
• deVon Gray - strings (3), piano (9)
• Graham O'Brien - bells (1), cymbal (1, 9, 10, 12, 13), floor tom (9), bass drum (10), tambourine (13)
• Jaqueline Ferrier-Ultan - cello (1, 3)
• Jeremy Ylvisaker - guitar (5, 6)
• Jon Davis - horns (1), bass (2-4, 7-9, 11-13), tenor saxophone (7, 8)
• Michelle Kinney - cello (3)
• Pete Whitman - soprano saxophone (8)
• Peter Pisano - guitar (2)
• Scott Agster - trombone (13)
• Tasha Baron - flute (2)

Technical personnel

• Adam Krinsky - mixed by
• Huntley Miller - mastered by
• Kai Benson - artwork, design
• Rob Oesterlin - additional recording (3, 8, 9, 13)

References

1. "Carnelian - Kill The Vultures". Allmusic. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
2. "Kill the Vultures". F I X | Hip-Hop Collective. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
3. Ugarte, Eddie (October 24, 2015). "Kill The Vultures Share New Album Carnelian". Ghettoblaster Magazine. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
4. "Listen to Carnelian, the massive new album from Kill The Vultures, out now - Totally Gross National Product". totallygrossnationalproduct.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
5. ^ "Moon & Pollution - The Box Borealis". Music We Like. Amoeba Music. Spring–Summer 2016. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
6. ^ Miller, Diane (October 23, 2015). "Six years in the making, new LP Carnelian sees Kill the Vultures soar". City Pages. Minneapolis–Saint Paul.
7. "Hear new collaborative singles by Atmosphere and Kill the Vultures". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
8. F to I to X (2016-01-18), Kill the Vultures - Topsoil, retrieved 2017-03-06
9. ^ Locane, Francesco (January 6, 2016). "Kill The Vultures, Carnelian, Totally Gross National Product". Il Mucchio. Archived from the original on 2016-02-14. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
10. Elabbady, Ali (2015-11-09). "Review: Minneapolis avant-rap duo Kill The Vultures return with epic new Carnelian LP". Reviler. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
11. Bronson, Kaleb (2015-11-30). "Review – Kill The Vultures – Carnelian". Riftmagazine.com. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
12. "Kill the Vultures - Carnelian". scratchedvinyl.com. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
13. "100 Essential Jazz Rap Albums". Hip Hop Golden Age. 2022-06-08. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
14. Riemenschneider, Chris (January 1, 2016). "Twin Cities Critics Tally: Best in Local Music: 'Ones' is No. 1". Star Tribune. Minneapolis–Saint Paul. p. E1, E3-4. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
15. Cook, William Caston (2015-12-21). "Unlucky In Love, 13 Albums That Deserved More In 2015". Archived from the original on 2016-02-06. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
16. Carnihan, Kier Wiater (2015-12-24). "The Monitors' 52 Best Albums of 2015". The Monitors. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
17. Ciarletta, Antonio (May 2016). "Kill The Vultures". Blow Up. No. 216. Italy. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
18. ^ "Kill the Vultures' Carnelian International 'Best of 2015' Roundup". F to I to X. 2016-01-14. Archived from the original on 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
19. Carnelian (CD liner notes). Totally Gross National Product, F to I to X. 2015.

External links

• Carnelian at Bandcamp
• Carnelian at Discogs

• 2015 albums
• Kill the Vultures albums