Breaking Ground: Quote - Self Effacer (2013)

 

There's no shortage of artists out there, both past and present, whose music combines the sounds of Hip Hop and more folksy guitar driven sounds. There seems to be some strong connection that ties the roots of Hip Hop and Folk together. Perhaps it's the histories of personal story-telling that both genres share, or the importance traditionally placed by both genres on lyricism (above other aspects of the music.) Whatever it is, a lot of it works for me and I think the same goes for Dimxsk - Ceschi, for example, is a key name for the both of us. This week, Dimxsk passed me an album that fits into this tradition: Quote's "Self Effacer" from 2013. 

Quote is a rapper, producer, and singer from Victoria, Canada, though I am told he now resides in South Korea. Quote wrote and produced the entirety of "Self Effacer," an album which appears to be his debut. The project is a solemn dark recording of Quote's struggles with alcoholism and how such struggles played out in his personal life and relationships. 

The album, which consists of ten tracks, is formatted in an interesting way. Half of the tracks are fairly standard Hip Hop cuts with rapping and half of the tracks are more bluegrassy folk songs with singing. The album begins with a rap track, then follows up with a Folk tune, then another rap track and so forth. The project as a whole leans much more towards the folky side, however, as the majority of the rap tracks are very acoustic guitar driven. Without yet getting into the details, this basic format threw me off a bit. I think the root cause of this is my feeling that Quote doesn't really tie the two sounds together very well. On the rap tracks, he is very much in rap mode and on the singing tracks, he's very much in that mode. By simply having odd number tracks be Hip Hop songs and even number tracks be Folk songs - it brings light to this divide (as if this was the only way Quote knew how to mesh the sounds) but nothing sonically really combines well or blends smoothly. On the one track where these sounds do meet face to face, on the nearly seven minute "Autumn," Quote essentially just performs a long Folk ballad and then seemingly tacks on a sped up rap verse for the last minute. In terms of just general style, things feel a bit disjointed. 

The individual rap and Folk sounds themselves are not bad, however. Though, I can't say I am extremely impressed by either. In terms of rapping, Quote has a pretty straight-forward flow and chosen cadence that he reuses throughout the rap tracks. Vocally, he sounds a lot like Buck 65 with a dash of Jonny 5 of the Flobots. Quote unfortunately, however, lacks the more complex and engaging rap styles of the former artists. It definitely seems like a lot of his raps may have begun as ideas for non-rap songs but were tinkered and put to a basic rap flow. The rap beats leave a bit to be desired too. Often, it seems like there was a rough guitar driven track and then a drum machine was thrown behind it with some electronic clicks and clacks here and there. 

On the Folk and singing side of things, I like Quote a bit more. He has a pretty good voice and while the melodies don't always hit, when they do, they hit hard. While I'm not very familiar with the genre, I do enjoy the sound of Quote's bluegrass takes. I do think there was some room for some more experimentation sonically, however, on these tracks (most of the "eclectic" sounds come on the Hip Hop tracks.) There's a really nice electronic break after the hook on "Man Down The Road," that might be the best sounding thing on the track. But it isn't given much life. 

The standout Hip Hop track and the standout Folk track are actually back to back near the end of the album. On "Calculated Sacrifice," Quote deviates slightly from his standard rap delivery and goes a bit off-kilter with his cadences which is nice. This is accompanied by some airy synths and jittery drums that give some unique flavor to the song. Then, on "The Killer," Quote sings us a haunting death country tune with a beautiful ethereal hook comprised of just "Whoas." I would have loved to hear more things that followed the formulas of these two respective songs.

While the sounds and formatting of the album may not entirely work for me, I am very impressed by Quote's brute lyricism. The album's opener, "On The Breakwater," sets the stage of Quote's reflection on his life of alcoholism and the day to day, sometimes second to second, tribulations that it has brought him ("It's the silent screaming halogens burning in traffic lights/It's the alcohol fevers and purges that warm the night.") 

What's particularly engaging about Quote's story here is that, from what I can tell, it isn't necessarily one of redemption, optimism, or even necessarily hope. On "Burdensome" and "Man Down The Road," Quote expresses some hope that things will be better in the future once some recovery milestone(s) is reached, but he also acknowledges that such milestones are unrealistic and/or that such milestones won't actually bring him what he is looking for ("I'll make a record once I graduate that's a long shot/I'll be happy once I'm done, that's a nice thought" on "Burdensome.") Instead of such hopefulness, we're given a very bleak and intimate look into Quote's reality - one of anxiety ("On The Breakwater,") painful monotony ("Break Don't Bend,") isolation ("At A Distance,") and lost passions ("Burdensome.") Powerful moments are found on "Call Me Out," where Quote expresses that he's content with even the pity from those he was once close to, and "The Killer," a great story-telling track where Quote is put on trial as both the victim and perpetrator of a crime. 

Despite the darkness here, there is some true basic beauty to be found in Quote's lyrics, perhaps just in the mere honesty of reflection that he shares. There is some acceptance in his words, but it's not necessarily the acceptance you might treat as a "first step" towards some recovery (though it may very well be that as well,) but rather the acceptance that helps briefly mute the chaos of the world - which may be sufficient for Quote. 

As noted, I believe "Self Effacer" is Quote's debut project (or at the very least an early release from him.) Bandcamp shows that he has made at least two other projects since this release. While "Self Effacer" doesn't quite work for me overall, I am interested to hear where Quote takes his sounds (hopefully finding a better way to combine them and build on them) and his overall story. Peep the album, and download it for free, below!

Self Effacer