So, as I mentioned last time around Thorts, a personal favorite of mine and an artist who's been particularly friendly towards the work we do here at UGF dropped a new EP recently with Whatever Cecil of An Illustrated Mess. I literally just (Monday night) listened to this album from start to finish (around 20 minutes total) and I wanted to drop a quick note because it really is phenomenal.
Over mostly guitar driven melodic tracks Thorts is at his introspective best, honestly speaking about fatherhood, mental illness and music with his usual blend of cynical humor and touching sincerity. His work has always struck me as deeply personal and as a result it benefits from a vivid quality that makes Thorts a standout.
Whatever Cecil is also in top form and every single beat on this bite sized album is absolute gold, beautiful but not boring in any way. His use of guitar on almost every track is supplemented and enhanced with eclectic drums samples and creative effects to liven things up, moving away a bit from the dreamlike sleepy synths he made use of on the last Illustrated Mess record to, in my opinion improve on his evident talent and keep things surprising. I feel with time Cecil could be the next Factor, producing beats that bring out the completely unheard and unimagined qualities every guest rapper (Lawson Graham did that for me on every track).
Finally, this album is truly notable for the eclectic and unlikely cast of guest rappers. Every track has at least one guest and Thorts showcases a notable humility and lack of ego in letting so much of the album bearing his name showcase the talents of others. OneWerd is as always personable and deep, HeirMAX is weird and wonderful, Scatty Stormborn lives up to the rapidly growing hype and of course Prosodic of An Illustrated Mess totally blesses the opening track and shows that it's not just Cecil that's been building his skills since they last worked together.
Basically this album is a collection of fantastic voices working together over gorgeous production curated and cultivated by old soul rapper Thorts. If any of that sounds good to you get it right here. If not then I'm sure FM radio has some stuff that's more your speed. No judgement.
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