Using computers and a boyish sense of mischief, Milo creates space age bachelor pad rap songs for kids who think Spock > Kirk. Or for the kids who even catch that reference. He’s been called the champion of Nerd Hop, consistent creator of auditory Art Rap, we’re not concerned with the genre, we just admire the work he’s putting out there. Art Nouveau recently caught up with the 20-year-old emcee for a riveting conversation that covered everything from Nas’ Illmatic, his admiration for Schopenhauer and his upcoming project Milo Takes Baths.
In what could be considered a ludicrously audacious move, The Weeknd chose to open Echoes of Silence with a Michael Jackson cover. This, apart from initiating a deluge of #mindblown twitter posts, turns out to be frankly inspired as it fits into the rest of his catalog scarily well. It actually makes you reassess the Jackson original with new found realization of how dark it is, rather than questioning its place here. The initial loops of breathy, shuddering, sighs reinforce this suggestion that the third part of the Balloons trilogy will maintain the lurid atmosphere and thematic concerns of hedonism and intoxication that were established in the first mix-tape of the trilogy, House of Balloons, back in March. Sure enough, the lyrics, when layered together with woozy, faltering synth, convey the obsession with sex and drugs, whilst the undercurrent of violence is reflected in recurrently bellicose production elements: when the drum machine beat comes in on D.D, it cuts through the texture like a gun shot and Outside are intermittently punctuated by blasts evocative of muffled explosions.
