Anime, Trauma and Divorce - Open Mike Eagle: Review
is a Chicago based rapper and comedian on both television and podcasts. He broke out in the growing experimental rap scene with his 2014 album Dark Comedy and has since been one of the most critically acclaimed voices in rap with his conscious and comedic style.
Review By Lavender:
The first time I ever got to review Mike's music was in 2017 when he released what is still to this day my favorite of his projects Brick Body Kids Still Daydream. He followed that up in 2018 with one of my favorite EP's of the year What Happens When I Try To Relax and has been largely quiet since then aside from a single in 2019 and a feature here and there. Even with some singles that didn't quite blow me away I was excited for this record given Mike's bassline of talent. While it's clear that this record comes from a very different place as his other projects, the incredibly lowkey beats and repetitive hooks can become a serious drag at parts of the album and it's that same bassline of talent that manages to just barely save many of these songs.
The first highlight we heard from the record came all the way last year on a track that I ended up placing on my singles of the year list The Edge Of New Clothes. I had no idea this was going to end up on the record but I'm glad it did because I like the song a lot still. The rattling beat is detailed and infectious and Mike's energy and lyricism are right on point. Death Parade is the opener and another one of my favorites on the record. Mike has no shortage of short catchy bars and delivers an emotionally rich hook and the resulting combo works really well. Sweatpants Spiderman is a really interesting update on Mike and where he is at this point in his life. While the hook doesn't do a whole lot for me the verses are a wonderful assessment of Mike at this point in his life as well as what he's feeling and thinking that makes the track stand out. Everything Ends Last Year is one of the records only really lowkey songs that works perfectly and it's because of the subject matter and the emotion on display behind Mike's writing and performance. He discusses losing his TV show and the events surrounding his record label proclaiming how tired everything has made him. The sentiment is resounding at this point in 2020 and the song is a huge success. There are a number of comedy themed tracks here that go over with varying success. My favorite of the bunch if The Black Mirror Episode which has a banger beat and some ruthless bars that walk a fine line between being hilarious and also too real. Mike literally accuses an episode of Black Mirror of ruining his marriage and I think that only he could have done a song like this so well.
Headass is the first comedic style song in the tracklist and it's a funny tribute from Mike and Video Dave to all of the headasses out there. The song is light fun and certainly pretty entertaining even if it doesn't provide much musicality. Wtf Is Self-Care is another track I thought was really funny as Mike runs through one great joke after another trying various self-care methods. Even without a great beat or hook the song is pretty entertaining. One thing I should definitely admit is that anime is a pretty weak spot in my entertainment vernacular so I ended up doing some pretty serious research listening to this record and I still understand very little about the track I'm A Joestar. While there are bars that still make me laugh regardless I do have to commend the songs infectious energy and even the one note hook is performed with enough vocal power to be memorable. Even without the references I find myself enjoying and laughing along with the track despite some flaws in the beat and hook.
Bucciarati was a little bit better of a single that sees Mike wearing his heart on his sleeve with a nice feature from Kari Faux. Nothing about the track really blows me away but Mike does put some serious vulnerability on display despite the fact that I think I can forget the instrumental while I'm still listening to it. Asa's Bop is one of the records duds, while it suffers from the same problems a lot of the album does with a weak hook and a lifeless instrumental it just doesn't really have anything else to overcome that. Airplane Boneyard underwhelms in basically the same way as a painfully lowkey closing track. While I still enjoy Mike's lyricism a lot the song doesn't offer much of anything musically to keep me around.
Anime, Trauma and Divorce does highlight some of the ways that Mike has always impressed, but it lacks in the bells and whistles that usually surround him. The songwriting and instrumentals on the record are just not up to snuff but Mike's great song topics, lyrical focus and unwavering emotion help make the record en engaging listen. While a few of the tracks bring an emotional sentiment with them that matches the lowkey instrumental perfectly far too many of these tracks are forced to compromise. The result is an album with some major highlights and a number of other songs that feel like they could be great with some more work, but tend to underwhelm in their current state. Whatever Mike does next I'll certainly follow especially given that his work is the clear highlight of this record, but this isn't likely to be among my favorite of his albums when all is said and done. 6/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
I like the composition of this cover and the une of the bright pink color. I think that while you see this layout on covers a lot the way that this color and concept work sets it apart from the others that would have just used a regular photo and title next to it. The image itself has nice tones and it doesn't take away from the whole of the cover. There is a lot going on in the sidebar but is isn't enough to make it unsucessful. 6.5/10
For more hip hop check out my review of Blu & Exile's Miles here
