Last August, AyOh—known to his friends as Alec Owen—released Dot Cotton, a monstrous freshman effort that came in as 18 soulful, funk-inspired instrumental beats. It was fairly cohesive for a first record—easy to nod your head to, get lost in, and let soundtrack late summer days—but it was also a little much.
On Millennial Comic Book, Owen returns to the ideas that dominated his first record. One could say that it’s simply a rehashing of old themes, but there’s a degree of maturity and restraint on this album that wasn’t present on its predecessor. Owen’s sampling is tighter and more focused, and it brings to mind some of hip-hop’s greats—Dilla and Madlib being the most obvious. He’s put less emphasis on his production, instead relying on samples to carry the listener from track to track.
The record opens with “A.M.,” and it feels like it. When I listen to this track, I can feel the sun rising, radiating through my bedroom window, heralding a slow morning. It’s certainly the moodiest cut on the album, and a strong opener for an LP that’s about to drop you headfirst into a series of feel-good bangers.
One of the most impressive facets of Millennial is how well it flows. Despite various songs being punctuated by pieces of spoken word (Owen attributes these to the ’60s-’70s avant-garde comedy troupe The Firesign Theatre), it’s easy to lose yourself between songs and never recognize that half the record has passed you by without your giving it a second thought.
Standout track “Playedlykeme” is a repetitive one, but sports a tight, funky bass groove. And there’s enough melodic structure in the truncated, chopped vocal samples that it moves along effortlessly, before the whole beat fades away and reappears as a completely different idea that lasts a mere 20 seconds. Owen isn’t the first to employ a beat change—producers use it all the time—but there’s something about how the two sections compliment each other that really resonates.
First-time listeners should be warned this record is kind of a one-trick pony without much in the way of variety. The formula remains generally the same across each of the songs, if you can call them that (the longest track comes in at just over three minutes, a few hover around 2:30, but most sit around the 1:30 mark). That’s okay, though, because they’re not necessarily supposed to be full, fleshed-out songs. At their heart, these tracks are simply energetic hip-hop beats. Millennial Comic Book is the manifestation of potent and busy ideas, but that’s part of what makes it so enjoyable.
More Info
Bandcamp: ayyohh.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @AyOhBeats
SoundCloud: @awomusic