Taking time off from performing in laundromats and bowling alleys, Los Angeles emcee Open Mike Eagle released his new album Dark Comedy this past Tuesday (6/10) via Mello Music Group.
Handling the majority of the vocals himself, Mike only calls on funny-man Hannibal Buress, Das Racist’s Kool A.D. and fellow LA native Toy Light to help contribute to the LP. A complete 180 from the production side of things as 11 different producers (including Dibia$e, Busdriver and others) are credited.
I personally haven’t been able to give the album a solid listen yet, but based off what I’ve heard and what our resident pen Paul Thompson had to say in his review over at Weiss’ lair, I have high high hopes. One look at the closing paragraph and you should be on board (or at least intrigued) too.
Read on and press play below…
Terrifying as it may be at points, Dark Comedy is a brilliant personal statement, one that asks difficult questions of the artist and his world and isn’t too proud to claw at his own ego for answers. If Mike Eagle is worried about his audience’s eagerness to dig into the project, he needn’t be. Time has a way of giving these matters perspective. When it came time to anthologize his works in 2003, Edward Albee reflected on the utter commercial failure of Tiny Alice, the successor to his massive Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: “I do not plan out my plays to fit in with either critical bias or commercial safety; nor do I worry that my themes may be difficult or dangerous and my techniques unconventional. I go with what my mind tells me it wants to do, and I take my chances. I think this is better than second-guessing the tastemakers; it gives me freedom for my wisdoms and my follies.” Dark Comedy is full of both wisdom and folly, drawing wit and sincerity from both.
