MIKE's "showbiz" is my first highlight of 2025
January and February tend to be the calm before the storm when it comes to new releases. A time that I often use to check out the stuff that I may have missed the year before or to revisit the records that I fell in love with during that time. But it’s not that nothing is being released. As the first signs of the end of the winter tunnel are visible I’m feeling more hungry for new music, so I’m really glad that the first album of 2025 that really excites me arrived. It’s not – surprise, surprise – some crazy death or black metal record. It’s MIKE’s “showbiz!”. I’ve become aware of MIKE pretty late, I must admit. It was through 2023’s “Burning Desire” which quickly became one of my favorite hip hop releases of that year. I may like his new one even more. Usually, I’m not the biggest fan of overly long records. And at 24 songs you would think that there may be some fat that should have been trimmed. But the songs are mainly really short, so the album clocks in at a relatively lean 47 minutes. And it never gets boring. Sonically, it feels a bit like going through a really cool unknown record collection only bits at a time, just to get a feel for what’s hidden there. It’s a wonderfully inviting world he creates here with those bits and his relaxed yet focused rap style that often makes his verses feel like streams of consciousness. An early highlight and hopefully a promise of what’s in store for us this year. - Manu
Comments
Post a Comment