VTHH NOTES 5/31/23 — Vermont Hip Hop

I had to get at least one of these in for the month of May, right? I have been rebuilding my projects after nuking my laptop with a full mug of coffee, and apologize for disappointing more or less everybody who needed coverage & promotion lately. The laptop debacle sucked utterly, because I wasn't backing up my shit and lost a ton of irreplaceable work. If any of you are in a similar situation, please, stop reading this right now and fix that.

First things first: A_Dog Day will be Saturday, August 26th, and huger than ever to celebrate the event's 10th anniversary. Big announcements coming soon, bud. Just make sure you're around when it all goes down.

Next up, the Juneteenth celebration in BTV is shaping up to be simply monumental. Current lineup includes Konflik, Rivan, Charlie Mayne, DJ Dakota ... oh, and Arrested Development is headlining. More information as it comes; there will be activities and events popping off all over downdown Burlington that day. Note that it will be on Saturday, June 17th, since the 19th is a Monday and only a day off for Federal employees. So far!

Big things are popping in the Capital City, too. Fresh off his winter-long run at Reks-N-Effect down in Sugarbush, the tireless hustle of Mister Burns is coming to Montpelier for “Positive Grounds,” a new concert series at Positive Pie. They're kicking it off in high style with The Perceptionists headlining alongside, of course, Sed One and Burns himself. Props to local dispensary Gram Central for sponsoring some crucial culture.

There has been a ton of great music dropping this year, and for that I am grateful. There has been even more mediocre music, of course, but all of this is very necessary. Not to mention inevitable, with a statewide scene growing so quickly. I shudder to think about how much footwork will go into updating the 802 Hip Hop Discography project, which is already highly incomplete as is. Still, let me highlight a few standout releases in brief; I hope to revisit all of these in more detail.

First up, Caleb Lodish gave us a fully realized compilation album, I Expect Nothing In Return. I very much expect to be in the Album of the Year conversation come next January. The young beatsmith gathered up some of the best of his generational wave on one consistent, ambitious project and it all hangs together perfectly. It's a beautiful snapshot of this moment in time, but it also indicates that Caleb Lodish has a bright future in this industry as an old school A&R tastemaker in addition to a one man beat factory.

Then we have Conswank's low key masterpiece of tone & honesty, Low Point Retreat. Similar to Mr. Lodish's magnum opus, it's a project that leaves you even more excited for what's coming next, because it is such a thoroughly realized vision. Making great songs is no easy trick, but making a great album, a coherent journey that hypnotizes listeners, is art on another level entirely. Ol' boy even got himself featured on good old WCAX, which triggered a bit of baffling hate, both from Facebook mouth-breathers and from salty local artists. And verily, fuck them all. 99 Neighbors has been big news around here for a long time now and that won’t change.

In 2023, I hope to see that same stratospheric story arc for BTV's foremost retro-futurist R&B practitioners, Jewlery Company. Their debut LP, Romance Scam Online, is just front to back jams. Manriel Grant and Ezra Ouellette are both outstanding songwriters; sly, smart, cynical and vulnerable. And their taste in beats is world class. (Legendary pull quote from Ouellette in their recent Seven Days review: "If the instrumental sounds like an '80s pop ballad took molly the night before, it's a good instrumental.")

Not stock photography but an actual picture of me, suffering for your art. I am 68 years old.

That’s about all I’ve got the bandwidth for today. I’m still going through all the submissions that came through on my, uh, hiatus, but please assume I’m sleeping on your latest project / release and get in touch. I’m trying to rebuild my situational awareness, here.

And don’t forget: Bay Area legends Souls of Mischief are coming through Higher Ground on Thursday the 15th.