★★★★ by Sketch tha cataclysm
Will holding Uncle Phil in a tearful embrace as he questions why Ben Vereen doesn’t love him. Jessie Spano singing an off-key accapella rendition of The Pointer Sisters’ classic “I’m So Excited” flying off of caffeine pills. Arnold and Dudley’s encounter with a pedophile due to their love of bicycles. And now. . . Open Mike Eagle blessing us with a 6 song collection of dope rhymes, vocals, and beats. Haha.
A Very Special Episode
Of is not so much a follow up but what feels like a continuation of the
vibe and feel of Mike’s Dark Comedy,
his brilliant fourth full length that dropped just last year. This EP was
released by Mellow Music Group just as he began his nationwide tour with the
Minnesota collective Doomtree this month.
LYRICS: ★★★★
Mike’s lyrics and delivery are at the utmost peak of awesome
on this project.
“Dark Comedy Late Show”, Exile’s re-interpretation of the
Toylight-produced “Dark Comedy Morning Show” from Dark Comedy, bursts the gate open on this project with great lyrics
filled with social commentary and personal thoughts. “. . . And it’s close to an
all-out war, with kids being murdered for being black and tall outdoors, they
respond to demonstrations wearing Kevlar briefs when the main problem is nobody
respects our grief. . .”
Vocal delivery changes, pacing, and his usage of singing
kept me glued for the entirety of the project. His sort of start-stop style he
employs on “Stay Still Awake” works perfectly with the metaphorical imagery of
the morning after a party. His voice then floats the song to a close with his
singing of the refrain “play fair, stay there”. This is juxtaposed beautifully
with the EP closer “Ziggy Starfish (Anti-Anxiety Raps)”, featuring a more turnt
up, choppy flow from Mike that comes off as a cousin to his classic “Qualifiers”.
The bridge “Knee-deep in the center,
only water divides us, same places, different continents, and my headspace is
an island, I smoke freely through my problem, I’m tuned to radio silence, came
to me while I was driving, right then, it was decided” leads to one of the
catchiest hooks Mike has ever written.
I don’t want to
miss out on mentioning the guest spots on “Trickeration” from fellow Hellfyre
Club member Milo as well as the oft-unappreciated MC Paul Barman. The latter unleashes
a torrent of internal rhymes such as “Keep receipts for price-gauge tax return,
shacks and earn, give your taciturn ass a turn”.
BEATS: ★★★★
There seems to
have been a progression of musical backing choices in the Open Mike Eagle
catalog. With each project, it appears that Mike has gotten more and more of a
handle of bringing cohesion to his projects with the beats he chooses. His
first two albums and the EPs that appeared between and after them had more of a
vibe of a collection of dope songs from a range of producers. 2012’s 4NML HSPTL seemed to start this shift
toward a full album flow with its works all produced by UK producer Awkward, as
well as coming closer to capturing the feel in production of Mike’s live beat editing
in his performances. Dark Comedy
beautifully carried that flow forward, even while returning to the
multi-producer format of his previous projects.
A Very Special Episode Of. . . pairs Mike with production from Exile, Gold
Panda, 2 from Illingsworth, Lo-Phi, and Cars & Trains. “He said I like
beats that sound like Zelda towns. . . “ is a great way to describe
Illingsworth’s first contribution “Split Pants In Detroit (Or Hyrule)”, a
compressed drum 8-bit track punctuated by the inclusion of the sound of a Mario
coin. “Stay Still Awake” features the brilliant Cars & Trains on production
with keys and sparse drums dancing to a beautiful chord progression. The work
Gold Panda put in on “Ziggy Starfish” could help easily get Mike some commercial
airplay.
OVERALL: ★★★★
This EP feels
more like the energy in the room during the more chill Mike Eagle live sets
than probably any project he’s previously released. It starts and ends strong
and has some dynamic to it to show his range. The physical CD came packaged in an Oregon Trail era 5" floppy disk (which seems to be his EP tradition). Even the track that felt the
weakest to me, “Trickeration”, had a great beat and rhymes and had a welcome
appearance by two awesome and interesting emcees.
If I had to offer
any criticism that edged toward the negative, I would have to say that I really
would’ve loved one more song to have the higher energy of the closer “Ziggy
Starfish” earlier on in the project. I think that would’ve balanced the vibe of
the other songs out a bit more for new listeners. The few folks that I played
the project for, which had never encountered the gentleman’s work prior, all
commented that he seemed to come alive at the end in a way that wasn’t apparent
throughout and I guess I could see that. To me, this is an exhibition of range
but, to the uninitiated majority, it could make the laidback nature of the
previous 5 songs appear to be a lengthy build up to the energy of “Ziggy
Starfish”.
Beautiful work as
usual. I look forward to what comes ahead from the man.
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