Talking to a friend about CLBRKS, he says “I love him, he just sounds like the kind of guy you can kick it with”. And it’s true, there’s something grounded, accessible and filthily funny about BRKS’ sesh chronicling delivery, even at its most Clockwork Orange macabre, ‘might rob ya then thank ya’ he spits on new tape ‘Performance Enhancing Diet’. Following up March’s amuse-bouche, ‘MICROWAVE COOKING 2000’, the new project sees BRKS teaming back up with acclaimed producer Morriarchi, the pair looking set to become collaborators of Freddie Gibbs and Madlib calibre as they expand their surreal ready-meal dystopia. The tracks blend samples of retro microwave ads, off kilter hip hop beats and CLBRKS’ abrasive, ‘Pavarotti with a dirty shotty’ flow, to create a project with the raw drama of cult cinema.

The tape reaches peak ‘American Psycho’ on tracks like ‘CL SKI LODGE’ and ‘WINE LIST’, where CL plays with character, packaging luxurious, braggadocious fantasies, ‘I’m on horseback in the fucking Swiss mountains’ with implicit threat and loss of control. The cheery corporate samples become increasingly eerie when juxtaposed with lyrics charting a downward spiral - less cocaine and caviar, more ketamine and frozen pasta bake, ‘I microwave it, for less than a minute cos revenge is a dish best served cold’ he spits.

‘Performance Enhancing Diet ’ is playful and often tongue in cheek but consumed as a whole it serves as the soundtrack to a timely rejection of consumer culture, particularly in the context of creativity, where you’re encouraged to ‘hate your boss/but kiss his arse at the same time’. The irony of ‘Wine List’s sample encouraging customers to make their nutritionally void microwave dinners healthy by ‘just adding a side salad or a sweet potato!’ draws parallels with the irony of trying to thrive in a system void of sustenance. It’s especially resonant in the context of making art at a time when the future of the arts looks so bleakly uncertain. Convenience is aligned with luxury, the future looks to be full of quick fixes, but is, in fact, hollow and unfulfilling.

‘Performance Enhancing Diet’ offers no rose-tinted solutions, often verging on nihilism, but it’s something to get our teeth into as we sit down to discuss how to make the world better.

Out on BLAH RECORDS on streaming platforms and on limited edition cassette.