It’s hard to tell what MC Chris took seriously while developing this album MC Chris is Dreaming. There are times where the listener may think, “This is a complete joke, he must have completed this album in a night. For heaven’s sake, the album cover looks like it was drawn with pen on loose leaf paper.” And half way through the album, one may think that was one of the quickest, nerdiest, and wittiest rhymes that’s ever been spat. In other words, the quality of the album is proportionate to how much time is invested to finding all the little hidden lyrical gems.
This album, set to drop September 30th, will sound absolutely ridiculous to anyone who has not heard of the genre nerd rap. MC Chris has a nasally and high pitched voice that spits culture driven lyrics driven by straightforward videogame-like beats. Take it as a whole and the album seems childish. But dissect it just a little bit and it becomes a pretty comical album.
This isn’t necessarily a concept album but there is some inspiration to it. Freddy Krueger haunts the dreams of the former Adult Swim contributor and while most of the songs are utterly ridiculous stories about how awesome he is, like “MC Chris Is The Shit,” or the death of Krueger, “Freddy’s Dead,” the album is pretty rewarding if listened to closely.
The beats can be very familiar, most likely a mockery of today’s popular rap sounds, and the lyrical content is a poetic version of literally anything that comes to his mind or dreams. The man must have ADD.
Granted there are some pretty clever lines that can be caught if listened to very closely. His nasally voice can be very distracting though and requires the listener to be completely invested into what he’s saying. Once someone is, they’ll find clever little lines like in “MC Chris is Dreaming.”
“MC Chris is dreamin’ / I’m not paying attention / My head’s in the clouds I’m on another dimension / I’m like a space cadet and a space camp convention.”
Written down, the lyrics do not seem so special but the relentless speed at which he says it makes it pretty remarkable. He keeps up that quick pace throughout almost all of the tracks and it makes it a fairly impressive run, but once again, the listener needs to be totally invested into the song to catch these lines. This album is similar to watching a Disney movie with loads of adult humor – the movie can be enjoyed as a whole, but watch it closely and find some pretty raunchy and rewarding cameos and easter eggs. In the album, these lines pop up one after another and can be hard to catch with the beats sometimes overpowering his squeaky voice.
Many of the tracks have to do with Freddy Krueger invading Chris’ mind which are entertaining but are some of the funniest parts of the album, these little run-on stories and dialogues between Chris and Freddy or Chris and the producers he’s trying to sell the album to. The two characters will go off on seemingly never ending tangents which shows some thought went into the chemistry of the characters but still makes one think, “These guys are just screwing around.”
Aside from the dialogues, other songs like “Sad Sack,” are a bit more raunchy but pretty funny. It’s a typical trap beat with lyrics about, well, his sack. It’s clever because usually songs with this kind of tone are more aggressive and hardened. But this is reminiscent of Eminem in terms of lyrics. It’s some pretty X-rated stuff, but the sharpness and speed of it makes it more professional.
“There’s a bit of a goo / in my fruit of the looms / but that isn’t why I lost a few of my dudes / I don’t need a big crew.”
It sounds so childish written down, and it is, but it must be compared to the quality of a TV show like South Park. It’s comical because of how narcissistic and sarcastic it is. MC Chris is Dreaming is the same thing.
If an open mind is kept, the album can be rewarding, but there’s a lot of time and focus to invest if the album is to be fully appreciated. Maybe when a lyrics sheet comes out the songs will need less attention and can be more easily enjoyed.
Key Tracks: MC Chris is Dreaming, Freddy’s Dead, Sad Sac
The Murphys wear their love of hometown and the working man/woman proudly on their collective sleeves. This was made ever more present on this night when, prior to performing “Bastards on Parade” midway through the set, the band was presented with the first and only ever “You Give a Shit” Award by members of the local IBEW/CWA unit for their support of the union during the recent Verizon strike.
The band employs dual lead singers. Al Barr provides the gravelly yet melodic Oi! style vocals while band founder Ken Casey lends his slightly gentler voice to the trad-Irish and rousing pub rockers when taking leads. In addition to the boisterous front men, the band also employs some top notch musicians in drummer Matt Kelly, guitarist James Lynch and multi-instrumentalists Tim Brennan and Jeff DaRosa. Brennan is imposing and animated. Whether he’s ripping chords on lead guitar or squeezing out notes on the accordion, his tall frame looms large onstage.
Throughout the show, the band recognized the dedication of its fans. Casey invited one enthusiastic audience member to the stage to take his job for a song of his choice. The fan traveled from Raleigh, NC to see the band and Casey recognized him as one of their most die hard fans as he allowed him to take the lead on “Devil’s Brigade.” Following the performance, Casey said of the aspiring vocalist, “What he lacks in melody, he makes up for in enthusiasm.” A big hug between them sealed the arrangement and the fan headed back to the crowd.
Starting with the most famous banjo notes to open a song, the unmistakable “The State of Massachusetts” whipped up the crowd and the mosh pit and merged into the traditional “The Irish Rover” to close the set.
Opener Brooke Annibale, comes from Pittsburgh via Nashville via Pittsburgh and back again. Her sound reflected her disjointed travels. Her beautiful voice sometimes reaching a more emotional gravelly strain, melodic strumming interrupted by dashes of brilliant fingerpicking, and simple rhythms shifting in surprising jolts. One of her songs took a cyclical path as well. “Alright,” off of her 2015 LP The Simple Fear (as most of the set was), was written while she was employed at Starbucks. After finally recording it a few years later, Starbucks bought the tune to play in their stores nationwide.
A smooth, stylish, distinctly different vocalist, Tad Robinson impressed with both tone and control by knowing when to punch a phrase and when to lay back. He also exhibited notable harmonica skills, particularly on the chromatic harp. Holdman took the lead for a song of his own with a bit of a gospel touch, and Robinson often gave Anker plenty of room to showcase his abilities on the Hammond keyboard. Remarkable moments during the two set show included “Rained All Night” from Back in Style, Little Walter’s “Last Night,” and a crowd-pleasing rendition of the O.V. Wright southern soul classic, “A Nickel and a Nail.”
Red Shift is a respectable band in the rock genre. Their music is impressive in many ways and, as a brand new band, they have a lot of potential. Ortiz has a very nice voice that fits in well with the rock genre. His voice is equally as impressive in “Heads or Tails,” one of their more rock-out tracks, as it is in “Around the Sun” which is slightly more mellow, giving the group plenty of options for the future.
NYS Music: So you’re getting ready to kick off the Sounds Like a Party Tour, which is jam-packed with dates and riding high on how well Crush has been received. How are you feeling?
Jesus: He’s coming for EV-ERY-THING bro. He’s going to be crushing this whole tour!