So I told my dude Tooth that if I did any reviews in the next few weeks I'd give this a shout out. Anyone following UGF knows I've done my best to support the career of this guy and his often companion Dug after hearing their amazing live band EP All in Your Head. Their whimsical / introspective songs consistently hit home for me and I really feel like both of them are basically the kind of people who read this blog and listen to our music, so let's do what we can to support their dreams.
Coming October 8th, we have Happy Tooth's newest album Done Suffering. Basically Happy Tooth has decided that while suffering often produces great art, great art does not require suffering. There's no reason our favorite artists have to experience pain, and emotionally juice themselves into oblivion by age 27. That's essentially the message I get from this. He wants this art to be a good experience for everyone including the artist, and hopes that we can still enjoy what he produces when he's basically doing 'not bad'.
Common themes for a Happy Tooth record of course pop up here as well: the indie rap scene ("Canceled", boom...), day jobs / finances and mental health are of course present and discussed with the same cynical yet heartfelt poetry, but we also hear a bit about getting old. Turning 35 for me was a big eye opener and a bit of a downer and it seems as if he's going through the same thing. It's a universal experience, and discussing it the way he does does even more to bring his music down to the level of the listener, something he really excels at. I guess I'm trying to say it feels like a frank conversation with the guy, unpretentious and honest. Very refreshing.
One thing I wanted to mention, I found the production, entirely handled by Fisk, a bit challenging. I told Happy Tooth that I had preferred his work with Bum Theory or his previous album The Laughter's Rehearsed. It was this discussion that really prompted me to post this, because as I suspected this is the type of production that really requires you to listen carefully, preferably with headphones. In places it's more dependent on rhythm than melody which makes the sound less accessible but actually really works when the listener focuses on the weird use of samples, hats and sidesticks / drum rolls etc. It's very quirky and unusual, and it DID grow on me.
Finally, we see indie vet and genius Ecid dropping a verse, as well as Claud Six fka Lucas Dix and very exciting, Ryan Liptak aka Mild Child one of the humongous talents behind Happy Tooth & Dug gives us some vocal magic and I believe instrumental production as well?
All in all this is a good album, well worth your time and few dollars. On October 8th I hope you will consider clicking here and buying it on the format of your desire. In the meantime you can hear what he's working with as a few singles have been dropped in anticipation.
Until next week!
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