Def Jux have the bestest copy protection EVAH! Official. Back in the day I spent a whole evening trying to download Mr Lif’s superlative Emergency Rations EP from Kazaa and every other track had this weird mechanical voice over the top. ‘This is promobot repping for Mr Lif’ it said and, maybe I’m just perverse but it actually added something worthwhile to the album. If I was pushed to justify why I’d say the voice had a melancholic lilt in keeping with producer El-P’s dystopian furturism.

Fast forward five or so years and, I know this is difficult to believe, but: they’ve actually topped it! I just got a promo of El-P’s second proper solo album, ‘I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead’, and this beauty has personalised copy protection. I don’t mean just my name printed on the label, some American voice cuts in every couple of minutes to say ‘This promo copy belongs to Richard Stacey’. Pretty exciting, huh? It’d be even better if they’d got my name right. Not sure if it adds much in a philisophical sense, but it’ll be good for impressing people with at parties. If I wanted to throw the kind of parties where they get down to dystopian futurism.

The album sounds tight too. I’m going to wait until I’ve got an unprotected copy before I listen to the whole thing, though. If I order one now from the Def Jux store I’ll even get a signed copy. I wonder if he’ll personalise it?