Martyr Loser King

Personnel: Justin Warfield (guitar, percussion, programming, background vocals).Audio Mixer: Michael Patterson .Recording information: Swinghouse, Water Village, CA.Photographer: Geordie Wood.Coming off his 2011 release Volcanic Sunlight -- reportedly his "pop" record, but more a conceptual art move than a possible chart-climber -- poet, rapper, writer, artist, and activist Saul Williams returned with Martyr Loser King, an album that matches his last provocatively titled effort, 2007's The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. Here, the versatile, former She Wants Revenge member Justin Warfield replaces Tardust's producer Trent Reznor as the man who rips pop and rap music into fascinating, compressed shreds, but both Volcanic Sunlight and Williams' work on the 2Pac jukebox musical Holler If Ya Hear Me seem to influence the funky choruses and connectable bits of the album. The hooky "Ashes" gets stuck in the head like a Kid Cudi cut, although the Lonely Stoner isn't like to w