Agonizing over what to write for my turn on UGF this week I went back over the huge amount of really dope material we've been the lucky recipients of already this year (we as in all of us, not just UGF specifically) and I came upon this email from early January that in a haze of work stress, relationship worries and health problems (no not Covid) I had completely forgotten about. Jonah Mociun aka Th' Mole of Weird Rap was kind enough to offer up an advance listening copy of this one and I've gotta say a full length Staplemouth album of this caliber is exactly what I need right now to deal with all of the above.
For those of you who may only be dimly familiar with Staplemouth, his rap career stretches back decades to ...Of Proliteariots, one of my personal favorite groups of that era and some of the earliest members of the Plague Language Fam. Since then he's been a member of New Cocoon, Tree Dusk Muir, Cane Corso Records and now Pen Thief Records. Basically everything this guy had an influence on was at least at some point pure gold. Not only does he have the most impressive rapid fire lyrical chops I've ever heard (or seen, I love showing folks who claim his recordings are impossible and must've been digitally sped up a video of him rhyming with fellow Kansasians [Kansians? Damn...] The Blos, his voice is powerful and in some ways really beautiful ("Hanging Gardens 2012", Q.E. M.F. D.) and his lyricism is labyrinthine, requiring hours of patient listening to tease out.
I am much less familiar with Th' Mole I have to admit. I love the work he's done on production, and his zany appearance and on stage antics make him one of a kind in no uncertain terms. I have often been interesting in hearing more from him (I pretty much enjoyed his album with Demune and a lot of that was his beat making) but I find his literal mountain of material seriously intimidating and I have no idea where to even begin. I will say I know enough about him to be really excited by the prospect of these two weird rap vets collaborating for the first time.
I did have a chance to listen to Rift all the way through. Initially, and I believe many of you will probably agree, I was disappointed to find out we were getting this schizoid rework of the original songs before the full length project (schizoid as in split). Side A of this tape is Staplemouth's lyrics, Side B is Th' Moles beats although both sides have had modifications made to make them more listenable as seperate entities. I was truly excited to hear this in finished form, but it seems it may be months before we get that opportunity.
BUT. To those of you who feel the way I did, I highly recommend if you're a fan of either of these artists to give this album a listen. You can already hear Staplemouth's contribution on the Weird Rap Bandcamp and it is some of the heaviest, most incredible songwriting he's ever done. As usual he devotes much of his breath to rapid fire meditations on eschatology and other darker spiritual topics, and as usual his gorgeous singing voice finds itself lent to melancholy rhymes, but without the benefit of beats (just some sonic tinkering, sound effects etc.) his words become more stark somehow, easier to understand, and easier to truly empathize with. I feel, maybe I'm wrong, but that much of these lyrics are at their core articulations of a worried father watching what I think we all probably worry is the beginning of the end of the world. And there is probably no one better than Staplemouth to drop such serious topics in a way that keeps the songs both thought provoking and dope AF.
Also, the part that you won't hear until the day of it's release, the production is something else. It was a cool experience to go back and forth and hear what will be the sonic backdrop for these musings and find out how unexpected they actual are in many ways. Th' Mole is a very talented musician, and these beats are intricate, head noddingly dope and progressive to the point that they sound more Danny Carey than Scott La Rock. Heavily layered drums and tripped out, spacy synths make these songs a drum circle on Pluto, and I gotta say I CANNOT wait to hear this album in it's finished form. It promises to be one of the best rap albums of the year.
And real quick, since I have access to the press photos, let's meet the players.
Now, if you find yourself as excited about this as I am, here's a little audio / visual project they put together for the album as well.
Now, I'm not going to say everyone will like Rift. This is not for the casual fans of hip hop. If you think the best indie rap out there is on RSE you're going to want to skip this (no judgement, just don't want to waste anyone's time). Maybe wait for the final offering when these songs finally meet and achieve their true form. But if you're in the mood for something different, something that truly demonstrates the skill of two consummate professionals, and is definitely worth the extra work to pick out the hidden treasures it offers...
Dive in to Rift (Estuary Prelude) right here.
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