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SO

Echo Park

Review by Gary Hill

This hip hop EP is a mixed bag. Two songs are extremely good. Two of them are weak. The biggest problem is that three of the songs are a bit too similar.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016  Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
Freaky

Percussion starts this. The vocals come in high pitched, making me think of Black Eyed Peas or Outkast. It works from there with some intriguing shifts and changes. This is not generic hip hop by any means. Instead, it’s unusual and quite artsy. It’s not for everyone, but it is cool stuff.

SuperCharged
In a lot of ways this is very much like the previous cut. The thing is, the charm wears a little thin here. Some of the lines of lyrics have a rather annoying ending section. Add in the fact that the novelty was used up on the previous track, and this is just sort of an “also ran.” It’s not bad, and by itself would be a lot stronger. It’s just not all that special coming in the second slot like this.
Nelly
This is every bit as unusual and artsy as the previous two pieces were. It has some of its own sound, though. It’s a trippy cut that works really well. In fact, it’s one of the strongest here. Yes, it’s definitely related to the others, but it stands taller than them.
Stoopid
From the strongest piece here, we get the weakest. It’s not that it’s bad, but again, it feels too much like the first two tracks. It’s also just a little too percussion based and weird.
 
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