On Saturday, Jan. 29, at the Bay View Brew Haus, Milwaukee hip-hop duo The Hollowz will release its brand new album "Dreams Of Sex And Flying" at a showcase that will also feature performances by AUTOMatic and Raze, Bobby Drake and DJ Optimist. Doors open at 9:30 p.m., cover is $10 and all in attendance get a free copy of the new album.
The new album that follows the outstanding 2010 EP, "The Premonition EP", features in-depth and intricate songwriting and production. The flows are tied tightly to the beat and the music, whether it be a composition that is sample heavy or one that is more organic, and are the perfect accompaniment to each lyrical endeavor. Emcee Logic, Colin Plant and producers Edward Cayce and Ed Ihlenfeld, are seemingly perfect for each other on DOSAF, their second proper effort as The Hollowz.
Starting the album off with a reading of a section from the timeless short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, sets the listener up for a very interesting experience which treads through such topics as being a quality emcee, death of friends and family, drug addiction and suicide, sex and love. In the middle of the album the listener will find a fantastic instrumental track showcasing Cayce's piano skills.
Some of highlights of the album are the extremely slick "Nice To Meet You" featuring smooth-as-velvet approaches by both Logic and guest A.P.R.I.M.E., the extremely disturbing reality based song "Group Therapy" that will resonate with anyone who has ever dealt with addiction or has family or friends that have been afflicted by addiction, and the incredibly dirty but overly creative "Your Place (Or Mine ... No Yours)."
Not to be outdone, producer Cayce steps out from behind the boards to grab the microphone, with help from spoken word artist Bobby Drake, for the final track "Seclorum" that deserves a close listen to understand the depth of the lyrics. The production Cayce provides on the track is a perfect way to cap off an album that is completely captivating from beginning to end.
The weight of DOSAF is extremely heavy, but though it is heavy in topics that many people will find extremely intense, the artistry of the music makes listening to the album several different times completely worth it and should be the standard for a project of such sonic magnitude. There are a lot of people that like to dismiss hip-hop music as being simple and lacking complexity in the realm of composition, but "Dreams Of Sex And Flying" is the kind of hip-hop album that completely shoots those type of theories full of holes.
Born in Milwaukee and raised in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer, Concordia University Wisconsin alumnus Poppe has spent the majority of his life in or around the city and county of Milwaukee.
As an advocate of Milwaukee's hip-hop community Poppe began popular local music blog Milwaukee UP in March 2010. Check out the archived entries here.
Though heavy on the hip-hop, Poppe writes about other genres of music and occasionally about food, culture or sports, and is always ready to show his pride in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
