New Music: Happy Tooth & Dug - Lie Awake (Single)

Okay, first off I want to point out our new "Fossil Dig" search function and "Please Pass the Chat" box, Trylemma elevated our look this week. Please use the Chatbox for discussions or whatever you feel like talking about regarding hip hop (requests are okay but please don't cramp it up). The comment section on posts is for comments about the post only (no requests and definitely no long request lists please, they will be deleted), and use the email contact form (paint a cave and hope the future finds it) for longer communications, requests, whatever you want. We're always happy to hear from you guys. Hope ya'll like it and it makes using the site easier as we go for the 150 post mark.

So anyway, after our digital coffee conversation I feel like UGF and Happy Tooth & Dug are BFF's. For those of you who didn't catch my review and convo with the two emcees about their newest EP All in Your Head, Happy Tooth & Dug are folks from Columbus who, like all of us, love indie rap but also happen to make it. Together with a shoegaze and progressive indie rock influenced live band their sound is honest and intelligent folk rap, often experimenting with unusual cadences and rhythms and emotional lyrical content. That EP actually landed on a top ten list of Columbus' Best of 2019, so definitely worth checking it out here.

In the time since that fateful post I've been building my collection of their music, so I was pleased to hear from them again announcing their upcoming single available January 31st on outlets everywhere and wanting to share it with UGF and our readers. I was actually stressing this week about having time for a full review, and here I get one song to check out and review by artists I respect. Serendipitous.

The song in question is entitled "Lie Awake", and is, according to the press release a meditation on the worth of "trading comprehension for contentment". It's a long affair at almost seven minutes, and is truly an epic venture worthy of your ears.

The song begins with some dreamy guitar chords which slowly build as a reverbed vocal sample gives way to a percussive bass line and rolling drums. One of my favorite things about this band is the creative way they make use of instruments, and while each element here might be toned down in isolation the whole creates an overall sound of barely controlled chaos. Unsettling but pretty. As the song builds more is added slowly, never becoming overwhelming but maybe only just. I want to give a special shout to the chorus which utilizes a Floydesque synth pad along with some great use of isolated notes from the lead guitarist to add a little warmth to what is otherwise an overall "cold" sound. And as always, the song shines with a contribution from Ryan Liptak's vocal work; he truly elevates the sound of everyone involved in Happy Tooth & Dug with his hooks, it's evident with everything they've done as a group. We get an MPC laced outro that changes things up a bit and prevents any part of the song from becoming tedious, and the listener is left with that satisfying melancholy I mostly associate with work from soso and artists like that, who know how to cultivate emotion without being emo. The difference to me is the depth, teenagers make and listen to emo, adults cultivate and listen to music that cultivates emotion. A snob? Me...? :-)

After we've heard from Dug's opening verse for a bit the meaning of "trading comprehension for contentment" becomes clear. We get unbiased and possibly harsh meditations on self from both rappers as they ramble about facing their truths despite misgivings, and attempt to wrap their heads around who they are with a touch of cynicism and self deprecation. Is it worth the sleep lost to analysis if they can get to the bottom of it all (or is there even a bottom at all?). There are some fantastic lines from both emcees, especially in the second half of the song when the theme of sleeplessness take over. The rappers contemplate dying in a dream, do you never realize you've died and keep on dreaming or do you wind up in a loop? The lyrics do as much to capture that sense of chaos as the instrumental work, and anyone who's spent 24 hours awake can identify the racing mind that results from lack of sleep in the way their poetry flows. This song is also a great example of how well Happy Tooth and Dug work together as lyricists, their voices and styles are distinct enough to keep either one from being redundant, which can be an issue with duos, but they're not so different as to create a jarring juxtaposition when they begin trading bars near the end.

Knowing the message of the song may have influenced the impression I've gotten, but overall this is absolutely a "ceiling staring soundtrack". Things become surreal between the hours of 2 am and 6 am in my experience, and every element of this song truly captures that feeling of entering a darker world, and the mental danger found within. I don't think about anything serious if I happen to be awake and alone during that period, and that's why. All our filters that allow us to view our lives in a positive light are thinner, and things become catastrophic and unmanageable very quickly. The cover art even reminds me of the interplay of shadow and moonlight that starts to take on strange shapes above the bed.

I will say it took me a few listens to find I liked this song as much as I do now. True to form for the band we're dealing with a very unusual rhythm here, and the rhyming almost sounds off the first time you hear it. This is not 4/4 boom bap, so if you expect that and are put off by the difference I really suggest you give it a second or third listen. There's a lot going on here to like, but if you find it's not your cup of tea that's not surprising. If everyone liked this type of music, we'd hear it on the radio and in commercials and after a while it might be totally ruined for those of us who view listening to music as an activity, versus a soundtrack for activity.

I'll close with this, I hope you guys sleep better but until you do feel free to keep writing about what goes through your minds, because this stuff is dope.


Get or stream "Lie Awake" from Bandcamp and other outlets 1/31/20! See you guys Friday.