Gangrene: Vodka & Ayahuasca

         Gangrene is a rap duo (The Alchemist and Oh No, respectively) based out of Southern California.  In the past two years, they have worked incessantly to produce a large body of work. Their Sophomore LP, Vodka & Ayahuasca, was released in early 2012.
     Gangrene has followed the current Left Coast trend of combining outrageous lyrics, with the stoner-friendly loops.  The result is a dark album;  exchanging playful psychedelia for bad trip gravitas.  Many of  the lyrics are tongue-in-cheek, and the album should be taken with typical rap culture hyperbole (the two rapper do not really dabble in black market organ trade).
     Despite the sound and off the wall subject manner, Vodka & Ayahuasca is not a nonchalant, quick, collaboration.  The production is pristine, and the album has a astoundingly cohesive feel; one song, and deranged thought, tactfully slithering into the next.  Both parties show off their musical chops and compositional ear, as the two flavor the album with guitar heavy riff rock and psychedelic loops and blips.
     Vodka & Ayahuasca may not be for everyone.  Even the most avid gangsta-rap fans may not be able to digest the albums heavy sounds and themes.  Those who are able to listen to the album with the awareness of the West Coast abstraction that it presents will find an interesting listen, a genre dancing album, and a concrete frame of reference to the underground rap scene.  It may not go down in the books as one of the greatest, but it is a pleasant listen.