Milo
A Toothpaste Suburb
Milo is genuinely doing something different. And not like in that discordant experimental way you used to pretend you loved in art school. But as in logical progression. Full circle type shit. Milo has become a man. His quirk replaced by the same quirk only manlier. The same stream of consciousness only now the flow is a fucking full-fledged flood.
I know Joel says he's proud of Milo. It's because he's seen the same thing. A boy believes he is smarter than the world. A man, a man knows he is not. On a toothpaste suburb, Milo has matured into an artist and offers listeners something in the form of rap music that isn't concerned with where YOU are but, unencumbered, girthy, plunges headforth into the inky black. It's the ultimate in "it's not where you from but where you at" trust between artist and listener.
Milo, first a kid from the middle of nowhere achingly wanting to make music with his gods to Milo that man living in Los Angeles making music inside his own personal valhalla and finds himself maybe even holding the hammer. He is the Jodie fucking Foster of Hellfyre Club. Coincidentally, Dennis Hopper's lead character's name in 1990's Catch Fire is Milo. I hope that has some kind of cosmic superstitious implications on what is continuing to happen to the young man's gifted career. Catch fire, man! Burn!
Syffal Staff Opinions
Argyle Sox (May Hellfyre Live Longer Than Any of Us) Feat. Bus driver - Dreamy harp laden beat, Milo doing Milo things and Busdriver killing the hook. I am a sucker for Busdriver's voice, he is like the Nate Dogg of Hellfyre Club, I want him on every hook and I wish he would wear more bowler hats.
While dealing with Seasonal Affective Disorder, it is the kind of album that brings you back to yourself. Milo is the kind of rapper that is vague in his openness. By the time you are done you feel like you just woke up after a night on LSD. Semi-foggy, spiritually refocused and recharged, and suffering from a weird drug related sore throat.
Walking my dogs on a brisk autumn night imagining the other people out on the street are demons trying to steal my soul. All the while I am fighting with my very nature trying to be a deeper and better person.
Milo is my favorite rapper on an aspirational level. He is constantly improving and getting better, he has gotten so much more skilled and confident in he is presentation. You can feel his confidence in his craft. All that is great, technical prowess is important and all that, but what I love most about Milo is how fully formed as a writer he already is. He is a completely unique one of a kind entity in rap. That is the difficult part for a performer, it feels like he came fully formed with his idea of who he is and what he wants. I envy that, I have been rapping for 20 years and I am still not sure if I have found that.
Peanut Butter Sandwiches with its, "This is how you grow up nice and strong," is toothpaste suburb's Mena Suvari/Angela Hayes dropping rose petals from the ceiling. This track is the window that you sit with your kids at and watch how the men actually make the taffy.
standing naked in front of the mirror on a chilly morning with the bathroom window open to further assist in an image of truth before jumping into the comforting envelope of a warm shower. toothepaste suburb is the soundtrack to becoming more comfortable with your flaws.
Milo, himself, as a young American, and how this kid from the midwest can put himself out there and end up being the fulcrum from which his musical heroes now centrifugate. It's inspiring as Fuck! I also pictured the fucking google search I'd have to do on Trafalgar Square.
Listening to Milo is like tracing the Good Life family tree's strange fruit, born as geographically distant from its origin, a seed blown on the wind of the wireless connections that sow the very heart and soul of Syffal itself, far flung fetuses awakening to a world that already contains the answer, but which couldn't be more at the heart of what truth inside that answer lie. With Milo, alternative rap music has indeed come full circle. And its wearing argyle socks, has The Wisdom of Insecurity tucked confidently under its arm, and is holding hands with Ben Caldwell in the drought-relieving rain.
Just Us because I fell in love with Milo from the album I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here and this is the reprise that brought me back to that original connection I felt with dude. Every time I come back to Milo I remember how this song felt the first time around. There's that weird feeling I get when I remember the friends of mine who've passed before me and it's uncomfortable as Fuck, but hearing Milo vocalize that the pain never seems to really go away is important for me. As a listener, I appreciate that he remembers the little aspects of his friendship with Rob and cares enough to let the rest of us in on the story. As much as this song (both songs actually, the original and the reprise) hurts to hear, it's why I loved Milo in the first place. And I took a night class once where because of all the pot I smoked beforehand I had to spray myself with the blue polo cologne too bros.
Driving alone. I spent the better part of three mornings listening to this on the way to work the first time through and it was almost like flipping through a yearbook it was so gently, yet painfully nostalgic. Milo's growing up, but damn I feel like a fucking teenager when hearing his thoughts for the first time.
I pictured Milo two years ago. Dude was rapping about being a fan of a few certain rappers and now dude's in a fucking band with those rappers and it's not premature to state he's probably the most articulate and "pre-made for rap" out of all of them. His story is almost part of his appeal. Yet, even if I fucking overheard dude rapping, I'd still be curious. Dude is fucking fascinatingly original.
While I don't think Milo is a rapper for everyone, I think I caught him at just the right time to still have a huge rap-hard-on for the dude. His intelligence is fucking disgusting, but the way he writes at a 5th grade level while tossing in references only grad students in philosophy would completely get is amazing. It makes you want to be as smart as this muthafucker. Since when is rap supposed to make me want to read a book? To say I'm proud of the guy would be an understatement. I want this kid to succeed in the same way I want Open Mike Eagle to keep succeeding. I have a very genuine sense of pride when it comes to those two muthafuckers and so far I haven't had to rub their backs and tell them to get back in the game, but I'll be a honkey from the suburbs, I'm prepared to do just that.