So it's been a crazy week for me (do I start posts with "so" a lot? It seems so) which is becoming more and more common lately. I'm recovering from dental surgery which was even more fun than you might expect and I'm strapped for time. However, I got a really cool email from the subject of this post and it turns out he actually reads our blog which is seriously fucking fantastic. So I really feel like the least I can do is try my best to help him promote an album that demonstrates from the first note how talented, driven and dedicated to the art of hip hop Variex actually is.
For those of you who weren't aware, Variex has been a musician first and foremost for his entire adult life. Starting back in high school he led a spoken word club and wrote and produced songs for himself, eventually learning the art of engineering formally and going on to have a hand in tons of music from Bay Area artists and beyond. For a more detailed background and lots of other information, check out his website over here. I discovered his music through his affiliation with the radical artist collective New Cocoon, which I just now learned he had a hand in founding. It typified their willingness to make music that could struggle to attain mainstream appeal, but lived through it's sheer audacity and heartfelt desire to destroy conventional norms. However, for me his signature style of electronic shoegaze folk rap was instantly something I could both relate to and seriously enjoy. Not only was his production unique and intricate, ranging from unsettling to beautiful to hard as fuck but he employed a sing song high paced rapping style that was impressive, fun to listen to and unlike most of what I'd heard before.
Up until recently Variex's work could be summed up as such. Mostly hand crafted electronic sounds and effects, with spacey and melodic production provided the background for emotional and personal poetry about difficult subjects. Honestly, I could have been happy with hearing that style from him indefinitely. However, starting with his collaborative effort with Rawbeartoe Always Something, Variex's sound has taken quite a different turn. That album seemed to reflect a more funky and R&B side of the musician, and it gave somewhat of a preview for what he had in store for his fans.
Two years ago Variex dropped the The Bread Crumbs EP, a sort of preview for Struggle Sandwich and a radical turn away from the style he'd made himself known for. Demonstrating what had up until then been a sort of behind the scenes fascination with the G-Funk style of West Coast hip hop, The Bread Crumbs EP was very well done but proved to be not for everybody. Variex's talent behind the boards and behind the microphone has been indisputable for a while now, but the question with his newest album was how well he could fit those talents into a tribute to the West Coast stylings of old, popularized by artists like Bored Stiff, San Quinn and Too $hort. The production and sound of The Bread Crumbs EP was laid back, professional and funky, and borrowed heavily from the artists mentioned above. It utilized talk boxes, g-funk synths and sample based beats along with lyrics with slightly more edge although still about his family, his home and his past.
I personally liked The Bread Crumbs EP. Not everyone did but if nothing else could be said for it, the man is extremely talented when it comes to making music on an indie rappers budget and resources. Plus when it comes down to it, a dynamic musician is a real musician. With age and experience Variex has found himself drawn to a different style and with his extensive credentials his work is always worth a listen.
Now I say all that to say this. Following up the EP with a full length album in the same format was a bit of a risky move for the artist, who tells me he considered scrapping the Variex alias entirely for this record and using a different name. However, considering that he plans this to be his last record for a little while he elected to release it under the name he's worked so hard to bring to our attention.
Struggle Sandwich builds off the energy and ambition of the previous EP, and in a way brings Variex's career "full circle". Blasting off with a previously released track giving an extensive history of his love of rap music from "I Got 5 On It" to "Daylight", we begin to see that the G-funk style is not really a departure for Variex at all, but an attempt to be true to a part of his work we haven't heard as much of, and bridge the gap between his indisputably indie and indisputably popular roots.
This album plays all the way through like a summer drive through the SF Bay Area. As a lifetime resident of that same part of the world I hear so much in this music I can relate to, from the laid back blunt scented production that brings to mind a backyard BBQ on a summer evening (no watermelon sugar highs here) to the very real observations on the changes we've experienced as the internet exploded and made living in our home towns a struggle for so many of us. All tracks are definitely influenced by the Bay Area legends of the previous decades, but they have the same emotional appeal and stylistic flair that made me an instant fan of Variex ever since I heard Quitting Tomorrow. Despite (or maybe as a result of) being a bit slowed down in some places (one thing that made Variex's older work fun to listen to was his rapid fire delivery) he's able to more fully showcase his songwriting abilities. My girl opines that his love poem to his partner of 10 years "Until I Met You" is better than "Evenfallingsky" because she can understand what he's saying. While I disagree a bit (Evenfallingsky is amazing), it brings up another point that this record could very easily find more widespread appeal through it's identifiable themes and accessible sound.
Struggle Sandwich, entirely produced, rapped and lacking a single credited feature save some guitar work and scratching on two tracks is clearly a sort of magnum opus for Variex. It is polished, catchy, relatable, smart, slick and hella cool. And while I will say again that I found the originality and experimental sounds of his older material in some ways preferable, there is no way to avoid finding something on this record for a true fan of hip hop to vibe out to.
Alright I did my best. As I stated earlier I'm recovering from surgery and I have a mouth full of stitches and a belly full of pills. But I wanted to help draw some attention to an artist I respect, and I hope you will have sympathy for me and look past a possibly meager review to the great music it's attempting to showcase.
Get Struggle Sandwich from the homie himself on mp3 or CD right here! Oh and check in Friday for some difficult to find music from the man dating back over ten years. Thanks dude for allowing us to offer this gem!
