It seems to be a match made in heaven: Kimya Dawson and Aesop Rock have recently founded the duo Uncluded. Mostly, because they enjoy music and each other’s company. Of course, a mutual liking of one another doesn’t automatically make a good record. However, their debut »Hokey Fright« has much more to offer than the artists’ enthusiasm for each other. It offers the dissonance that’s naturally generated when two voices of such uniqueness get together and perform some kind of musical poetry slam. When listening to »Superheroes«, their shared liking for spontaneous verbal exchanges becomes most obvious – because the artists do nothing but listing their favorite sandwich-toppings. Hence, Uncluded’s approach to making music can be somewhat tiring. Still, if you don’t listen to the record five times in a row, »Hokey Fright« is very entertaining. Because Dawson’s and Rock’s lyrics are downright honest, their skills in setting strange short stories to music just too advanced. Profound lines like »You can clip my toe nails/ but you can’t clip my wings« (»Bats«) can only be written by Kimya Dawson, and only Aesop Rock can add words together as poignantly as in »Delicate Cycle« (»When interpersonal skill is already poor at its best, a conversation can be riddled with exorbitant debt«). That makes »Hokey Fright« sometimes be more of an audio book than easily consumable music, but that’s what makes this record so very interesting.
Black Country, New Road
Forever Howlong
Ninja Tune