"I took a stage dive in the ocean..."
Sometimes an artist hits you with a punch that you didn't see coming. This happened with increased frequency as I listened to Darren Isaiah's (the artistic moniker of New York based rapper, songwriter, actor, recording artist Darrean Johnson) latest 2020 album "Prince Freakazoid". Blending a myriad of genre's, and painting in different dark shades, his songs feel like individual diorama's that are seemingly themselves could each be a paragraph of some future novel. There are cheeky elements, surprising turns and a feeling that the album exists as a self portrait of an amalgam of personas or personalities real or not. In the end, it doesn't matter if the narratives here are auto-biographical or fictionally shaped. The feeling of self doubt, bluster as calloused skin and sex as an embodiment of love (even if it isn't) feels totally relatable. The following are some brief thoughts on each track as interpreted by me:
"Planet of Prince Freakazoid" the pains of broken relationships and needing to be loved, casting it out but no one is catching.
"Nurse Outfit (Dissimulated) steeped in the bending circular world of porn as release as Isaiah bounces lyrics over a circular post punk jag... again even here, Isaiah is pushed aside
"Coping With Mechanisms" feels light and airy like a Sunday morning on the Hallmark channel- lo-fi saccharin but the white picket fence is peeling as Isaiah spins a narrative about toxic stuff, toxic love that is not.
"Dolly Molly" feels like a barbiturate laden The Orwells song pushed through fucked up speakers as Isaiah's vocal croon elevates. His hip hop sleepy singing style is contagious swimming in a dark sky melancholy "rise and shine my little grinder like Folgers cups"
"Self" sits smack dab in the middle of "Prince Freakazoid" but to me defines the album for me. It made my already perked up ears perk up more and my heart swell. On this forlorn testament Isaiah spouts a tugging rap over a bedroom pop guitar prog that feels like those sweet ukulele things by You Tubers. Isaiah takes this emo melancholia and descends over it like a dark storm. There is bluster, bravado, pain and belief in oneself believed and doubted too.
"McLovin" has such a super swoony vibe with tropical punk affections. Somehow I thought of "Where is My Mind" by the Pixies even though it has nothing sonically in common. I think it was the trippy oceanic psychedelia that both songs share.
"Cuckhold" quietly blew my mind as I tried not to imagine Isaiah fucking with a Shrek mask on and you know what happens when you are told to not think of the proverbial Pink Elephant. The enticing / funny opening phone message falls into a dark abyss or circular guitars that are kind of Cure like and, the songs ends with a punch line.
While listening to "Big Mouth Fragile Heart" it finally occurred to me that Isaiah might (more than likely) be a fan of 60's Brit Pop, of the Beatles in particular, because I felt the LSD tinged kaleidoscope here and it makes me smile. It is a perfect bed for Isaiah's askew lyrics. The song blips and bleeps and deconstructs. A wonderful surprise. Love this.
"Topo Gigio" has a lush, ambient pop meets neosoul, meets indie pop / hip hop and (at first) sounds like the most beautiful and maybe less dangerous track on the album but that soon changes.. There is a subversive dark turn told in flirtations of suicidal thoughts and escapist cartoon abstractions as coping mechanisms. There are also references to previous songs on this very deeply constructed album that makes it the perfect emotional coda.
-Robb Donker Curtius
* * *
spotify
darrenisaiah
soundcloud
Darrean Johnson, Professionally known as Darren Isaiah is a rapper, songwriter, actor and recording artist born in Manhattan New York on May 11th 1987. Raised by his single mother Valerie Johnson in Harlem NY, Darren started rapping at the age of 6 and eventually started writing songs at the age of 12. His true love for writing and creating music was at the age of 14 when his mom bought him his first microphone and he purchased a recording program on his computer called Cool Edit. Darren Isaiah started creating songs with his personal friends and since then he had always dreamed to become a main stream music artist
At the age of 19 Darren Isaiah first appeared on National television by becoming a contestant on 106 and Park: Freestyle Friday as former performing name “Dangerous The Rude Boy Mynd” only losing to indie rapper C-Fashion in a freestyle rap battle. The lost only made Darren Isaiah hungrier and more determined to make it in the business and he worked harder than ever to polish not only his songwriting ability but his lyrics. In 2015 Darren Isaiah released his first song on iTunes and Google Play called “That’s My Bestfriend” and since then the song has had over 20,000 streams on Spotify. Later on in 2016 he released his first iTunes and Google Play EP called “Koi Fish for Sale” and released his first music video “Dizzy” for the popular EP Description provided by artist representative-
No comments:
Post a Comment