Hip-hop pioneer El-P returns with Cancer For Cure, his first full solo album in five years. The record sees El-P unleashing cascading, visceral flows over his own bombastic production, resulting in a blistering tour de force.

In addition to El-P’s own signature bristling, muscular, abstract-yet-reference-rich lyrics, Cancer For Cure features Interpol’s Paul Banks, Outkast associate and Atlanta native Killer Mike, Nick Diamond of Canadian indie band Islands, and eccentric rappers Mr Muthafuckin’ eXquire and Danny Brown. Musically, the record takes another leap forward from El-P’s 2010 instrumental workout Weareallgoingtoburninhellmeggamixxx3 deploying menacing synths, fist-pumping beats, bottomless bass, live instrumentation, ear-worming melody and overall setting the standard for hip-hop production higher than ever.

El-P’s groundbreaking musical adventures began as one third of Company Flow, a group who single-handedly paved the way for experimental hip-hop. The New Yorker also produced Cannibal Ox’s classic debut album The Cold Vein and founded the Def Jux label, described by Pitchfork as “the Motown of indie hip-hop”, and has collaborated with a diverse spectrum of artists, including; Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Cat Power, Zach de la Rocha, Mos Def, Matthew Shipp and The Mars Volta. His previous two solo albums – 2002’s Fantastic Damage and 2007’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead – were both critically acclaimed and widely loved.

Recently, El-P’s rap trajectory has been on a steady ascent following appearances on Das Racist’s mixtape and debut album, a hugely buzzed single Drones Over BKLYN and a verse (which made Stereogum’s Ten Best Rap Guest Verses Of 2011) on one of the year’s biggest online hits, Mr Muthafuckin’ eXquire’s Huzzah. El-P has also wholly produced a collaborative album with Killer Mike due out later this year and entitled R.A.P. Music.

Cancer For Cure will be released in the UK on 28th May through Fat Possum/Turnstile. Lead single, The Full Retard, is available as a free download from: http://soundcloud.com/fatpossum/el-p-the-full-retard