Miao VS. SickSongsOnly EP
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009This is straight off Miao’s Miao Wow Blog:
i didn’t get to listen to aero’s sicksongsonly ep when it first came out. i did wait on the eve of the release sometime during the first week of august to download it right away, but for some reason or another i just never got around to checking it out once i had it. real music deserves a real first listen, you know? i wasn’t just going to let it run in the background while my fiance and i were in the car, or while i was doing household chores.
just so it’s clear — yes, i do know aero, but i’ve never met him. it’s a common occurrence, especially for me. hip hop heads in the philippines are tight like that; i’m just lazier than most and i don’t go to gigs anymore. (my bad! haha.) that i know him doesn’t matter; when i do music reviews, it’s always impartial.
on the first listen, one thing stands out. the beats are OFF THE HOOK. traumatik’s productions are on another level — of the three tracks he worked on, “sicksongsonly” (the title track) is the lead in that introduces the killer punchline that is “stop” (easily my favorite track in the ep). b-roc’s work on “season” is also excellent, very forceful and fleshed out. overall, the different producers did a great job of working together to create a singular sound for aero in this ep.
aero does more than step out of his comfort zone in this ep; sicksongsonly is a solid block of sound that you can’t possibly skip through. every single song is great. in “stop” he says, i had to stop being a hardcore hip hop head ’cause hating the mainstream only made hip hop dead. it’s not that he stopped being hardcore; it’s not that he went mainstream. aero strikes a balance here. the lyrics are honest and intelligent, but relatable; he even spits in tagalog in one song. (he says he’s more filipino than rice and tocino!) there’s pride in his verses, but no arrogance. best of all, the instrumentals and the lyrics go together and don’t overpower each other. the tracks as a whole are familiar and digestable; you can bob your head and follow what he’s saying, easily. in short, he came out of nowhere and killed it! like he said, he’s setting trends for the rest of them. let’s hope that’s true.
the cons: it’s too short (i want more!). haha. seriously though, i hope he challenges himself more when he works on his next project. so far my only complaint here is that his cadence and delivery are the same all throughout. it’s a strong statement but it needs to be followed by something new, you know what i mean? still, i haven’t enjoyed a hip hop album like this in a long while. so get cracking on that lp, aero! i can’t wait.
Thanks Miao!
Peace,
aero.
