Of Cities is the second studio album by American hip hop producer DJ Signify. It was released on Bully Records on January 20, 2009. It features guest appearances from Aesop Rock and Matt Kelly.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Cyclic Defrostfavorable
Electronic Musician3.5/5
HipHopDX3.5/5
PopMatters
RapReviews.com8/10
The Strangerfavorable
Tiny Mix Tapes
XLR8R7/10

Dave Segal of The Stranger gave the album a favorable review, stating, "Signify gives us 16 tracks—including six brief interludes ripe for bumper usage in NPR's hipper segments—on Of Cities that bring the funk, but stoically, with urban grime and urbane grimness." Jennifer Marston of XLR8R said: "He's still pushing his drum-heavy style, which is tight as ever, but he's also reeled in shades of glitch, new wave, Kraut-rock, and other genres for the tracks."

PopMatters named it the 3rd best instrumental hip hop album of 2009.

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."The Sickness"5:17
2."Low Tide" (featuring Aesop Rock)4:21
3."Interlude 1"0:52
4."Costume Kids"4:41
5."Delight to the Sadist" (featuring Matt Kelly)3:21
6."Interlude 2"1:18
7."Vanessa"5:00
8."Interlude 3"0:36
9."1993"3:31
10."Interlude 4"0:55
11."Sink or Swim" (featuring Aesop Rock)3:44
12."The Gods Get Dirty"4:27
13."Interlude 5"1:19
14."Bollywood Babies"4:08
15."Interlude 6"0:30
16."Hold Me Don't Touch Me"3:24
Total length:47:24

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

  • DJ Signify – turntables, production, arrangement, mixing
  • Aesop Rock – vocals (2, 11), lyrics (2, 11)
  • Matt Kelly – additional arrangement (2, 7, 16), guitar (5), keyboards (5)
  • Blockhead – co-production (4, 9)
  • Joe Beats – engineering
  • Harris Newman – mastering
  • Paul "Quo" Kwiakowski – artwork, layout
  • Todd Lown – photography
  • Chris Bryant – photography

External links