(RATS ON COCAINE)

Who the fuck decided this man should be let loose into the culture and run wild! This artist is one of the most wild and creative people I’ve ever heard, and now he’s gone and made his own full-length LP? Everyone watch the fuck out, because it’s gonna feel like… 

RATS ON COCAINE 

This is the brand-new beat tape by vigilante producer Soul La Flare, who as of late has been killing the minds and ears of underground fans alike with his consistent work on many of the Al Divino tapes, where he’s allowed the freedom to create to his heart’s content, which often means genre-bending, sound manipulation, and downright bat-shit takes on influences you didn’t even know could be done, and yet with every new production credit across those EP’s he’s drilled himself into the brains and hearts of us die-hard fans!

Now, that he’s let loose going solo across this 16-track, 28-minute effort, he’s unleashing a wave of momentum, atmosphere, and energy into this underground shit the world just ain’t ready for, and we get this unprovoked unpredictability from track 1!

Right off the bat with ‘MINNIE THE MOOCHER’, we get this ridiculous sci-fi meets western fantasy score with wobbling synth chords, deep keys, a skeletal drum pattern, and sporadic sounds that make you feel like you’re stuck in outer space watching a cowboy bebop-style turf war take place! It’s insane.

As the album continues, you have cuts like ‘THE ADVENTURES OF BRICKY’, which actually does sound like what I imagine a Rat high on coke, running through 1970s New York would sound like. You’ve got those distorted jazz samples going off as if the Rat is running past dozens of live jazz clubs accompanied by a 90s-era hip-hop drum pattern and those maniac synth strings going crazy over the beat! 

Another mind-bending track is ‘RETURN OF THE SOUL LA ARKESTRA’, which sounds like the final boss in Earthbound turned experimental hip-hop. It’s all over the place sonically. Those notes sound like a hive of bees going ape shit flying around non-stop, then you have these high screeching synth chords and a marching band-style hypnotic drum pattern that ties it all together!

Again, if Giygas went the rap route, this would be his theme sound; it’s absurd but glorious all at the same time!

This album is full of chaotically beautiful cuts and episodes of frantic melodies and lucid rhythms that would put the actual drug acid to shame. Soul La Flare isn’t merely a producer; he’s an avant-garde painting come to life. His music is always off the cuff and against the grain, and this album makes me so fucking happy that music of this magnitude and originality still exists in the culture! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/0KAn37EEcKwoLEU0zDra4h?si=Hot2uKuMR4Go0j6SJ6D20Q