Chief Tizo Interviews #4: MC Coolarge

Hey folks! We promised new interviews, so here we are with a fresh interview with experimental hip-hop stalwart MC Coolarge. We discuss the lyrical content behind his old/new material, question some of his sonic influences, and get some info about his upcoming untitled LP, which is due in Autumn.

Check it here:

You can find MC Coolarge's current discography HERE.

Song of the Day: Aesop Rock - Oxygen

Taking a deep-dive back into Aesop Rock's discography since taking a break after Skelethon came out. Float had some really great beats provided by Blockhead and Aesop's lyrics seemed a bit more "raw" and visceral in a good way. I gotta say though, his flow really hasn't evolved too much over the years, which isn't a bad thing to me but it is easy to understand why some people would find his work hit or miss.

Either way, some nice nostalgia is to be found here (the album art is very turn of the century) with the accompanying strings and esoteric samples provided by the aforementioned Blockhead. A new (old) age of hip-hop primitivism seems to seep out of the arrangement, and is something that is hardly heard of much today. Aesop seems to both evoke intelligence and desperation in his delivery for this track, and while it's hard to tell exactly what he's explicitly talking about, it's clear something is amiss. "Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into..." An underrated classic.

Favorite 2012 Releases Thus Far

I have a few favorites that differ from Bryan's ,but mostly he got all of my favorites. Just to list the ones I share with Bryan first

Death Grips - The Money Store

Dark. Erie. Noisy. Catchy. Fun. So far it is my AOTY

Portico Quartet- s/t

This album is probably going to be the best jazz release of this year. The saxophone on some of these tracks is so warm in contrast to the somewhat cold electronics on the album, which is shown clearly on my favorite track on the album, Ruin.
This is THE album to chill out to everything just works.


Now for the albums that I liked, starting with another jazz album, BBNG2
BADBADNOTGOOD-BBNG2

BADBADNOTGOOD is a jazz band from Canada that takes hip-hop beats from Kanye West, Gucci Mane, Tyler, the Creator and even does a rendition of James Blake's Limit To Your Love .They take these simple beats and add their own flare, which is not only influenced by jazz , but a large amount of genres. They even have a cover of "You Made Me Realise" which is great.
They don't only re-do people's beats either they even have a few of their own songs, which are actually some of my favorites on the album. This album is a grower, with each listen it gets better and better.
The album is free on their website



Loma Prieta - I.V.

This is a Screamo band that is made up of members of Beau Navire (they made my list last year with their album Hours), Archeopteryx, Punch, Sailboats, and us, haunted bodies. Together the band makes some of the most abrasive hardcore music to ever come out this year. Starting with the opening track Fly By Night, which comes in hard and then later in the track the band turns more and more melodic, something I really loved from Beau Navire's Hours album.
My favorite tracks comes from the Trilogy (Trilogy 4 "Momentary", Trilogy 5 "Half Cross",Trilogy 6 "Forgetting") in which the noisy guitars seems to stack on and on with these crazy riffs. The sound is massive, fast and antagonistic.
Altogether this album delivers the most aggressive music I have heard this whole year.


Children of the Night - Queens... Revisited

Children of the Night delivers everything I like in a hip-hop group. They all have diverse styles they all have great rhymes and luckily they have some great beats. The way the group collectively rides a beat is very amusing especially on "Kids From Queens", which was the first song I heard from them.  The chemistry on the album with the producers and the rappers is strong and it is seen in the tracks.
The album is free on bandcamp

What I have been listening to lately.

So it has been a while that I have posted anything so I am going to post a few albums I have been listening to lately and hopefully you may listen to some of them.

Beau Navire - Hours 

If you know me personally you would know I am a avid fan of Screamo. Though it is a label that has been basically contaminated with metalcore and post-hardcore it is still one of my favorite subgeneres of  punk . Beau Navire features artist from different screamo bands, Loma Pierta, Specters and one of my favorites I Wrote Haikus About Cannibalism in Your Yearbook. Together, Beau Navire is a band that can provide a spectrum of emotions while playing.  This album alone is 22 minutes of sheer emotional explosions. Beau Navire has this skill of having extremely violent songs that end with sounds of remorse and loss.

Unwound- Leaves Turn Inside You

Bryan has already posted a little something about them which is a huge coincidence. This band is one of those post-hardcore bands that doesn't sound like anyone at all. I don't even like calling them post-hardcore I always feel like they are space rock. The songs on this album would probably be perfect if matched up with 2001  A Space Odyssey. Such smooth sounding atmosphere. Ohhh Boy! Good album. Good band check them out.

Danny Brown- XXX

To mix up my music taste here I am posting one of my favorite hip-hop albums of this year. Danny Brown is a Detroit rapper with a style that is his own. This whole album is just rude, crude, emotional, sad, depressing and even funny. He has songs about his many vices (drugs, drinking, partying, sex) ,but also he has songs about his drug fiend family and what being 30 feels like. I feel that there is no low point in this album at all so give it a try,