In this week’s episode, we discuss the SV and Alyssa Jane joint album “Neo Phily”, the newest chapter of the ongoing “Top 3” rap feud, the first trailer for “Transformers One”, the slapstick comedy film “Hundreds of Beavers”, the surrealist comedy-drama “Problemista”, the WWII spy action comedy “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and Zack Snyder’s follow-up to his Netflix-released space opera “Rebel Moon”: “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver”.
LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE
Boston producer and Jim’s Pool Room Records co-founder Sean ‘SV’ Veligor and New England rapper/singer/songwriter Alyssa Jane join forces on their debut joint record “Neo Phily”, which serves as both a follow-up to Alyssa’s 2021 debut album “grey area” and SV’s 2023 compilation project “My Corrhiza”. In my review of the latter, I stated that Alyssa was THE (yes, this word will be presented yet again in caps) standout performer on “My Corrhiza”, thanks to her diverse range in rapping and singing. She also displayed a willingness to wear her heart on her sleeve, even when she’s going hard on solo cuts like “Dopeness Right There” (whose chorus alone is still lodged in my brain since I first heard the song back in JANUARY of last year) or collabs like “Without You” and “The Tree” featuring Jim’s Pool Room artists Capo and Gage respectively.
Going back to Alyssa’s debut record, it’s interesting – and probably intentional – that it bears the same name as the excellent 2019 album from British rapper/singer Little Simz. Not only was that album my official introduction to Little Simz’ work, but it presented a rapper unafraid to address her flaws and insecurities through engaging and relatable introspection whilst showcasing her truly impressive lyrical dexterity. After the first few listens I gave “Neo Phily”, I checked out Alyssa’s “grey area” and from a production standpoint, I can see how her penchant for smooth, low-key beat selections fits so well with SV’s moody, mid-tempo instrumentation.
What’s interesting about “Neo Phily” is that it feels like a thematic expansion of “grey area” and a thematic / sonic expansion of the SV and Alyssa Jane tracks on “My Corrhiza”. Therefore, fans of Alyssa who were probably expecting her 2023-released singles like the respective smooth jazz and bossa nova crossovers “Karma Suits Ya” and “NEW PR!” to be packaged into a new album may have to wait a while longer. This is entirely an Alyssa and SV presentation to the extent of having NO guest features, not even from Jim’s Pool Room.
The album’s rewording of the term “neophilia” (love or enthusiasm for what’s new) and the juxtaposition of diurnal and nocturnal imagery in its cover art hint at the journey the listener is about to embark on. It’s a journey where the ‘new’ is right in front of us but the ‘old’ is not that far behind, and where light and dark co-exist, both externally and internally. From the opening track and third single “Kerosene”, SV and Alyssa establish the emotional ‘grey areas’ the listener will experience on this journey. The post-hook alone sets up the album’s main theme of emotional duality (“Tonight, I be quick to remember that I live two lives / Not talking about a disguise”). Though SV’s beat on this track is smooth, wavy and laid-back with some pleasantly jazzy horns and guitars in the mix, Alyssa wrestles with her own self-doubt while presenting herself as unwavering in her pursuit towards greatness in her life and career. She accepts her imperfect self, but the only way for her to attain some level of perfection in her life is obviously to move forward. Performance-wise, Alyssa sounds so natural over SV’s production, effortlessly switching between rapping, singing and even vocalizing, as she does on the pre-hook after the first verse.
Compared to SV’s last instrumental, the production on the following track “Leave” sounds moodier, darker and significantly hypnotic, with its synth keys, drums and occasional embellishments of sax. It’s as if something unnerving – an emotion or memory perhaps – is creeping into Alyssa’s subconscious. Thematically and lyrically, this is one of the album’s darkest moments as Alyssa finds herself stuck in a particular rut in her life, desiring to leave everything behind in search for answers.
Her emotional burdens get heavier on the next track “Pressed” where on the beat, we get this odd, brief skipping effect on the drums during the non-vocal sections of the track. It’s a subconsciously self-aware aspect of the song, as I saw it as a representation of how unclear Alyssa’s life path is. I will confess that during my first listen to this track, I swore some background process on my laptop was causing the song to stutter while I was playing it on Spotify. Sporadic Windows 10 annoyances aside, “Pressed” is easily one of the album’s best songs! Yes, the beat is great – even with the ‘skips’ – but it’s Alyssa’s vocal range that makes this song work. She embodies the emotional baggage she’s dealing with at this point in the record through her vocals, whether it’s the smoothly-sung, catchy-as-hell hook, the slightly heightened expressiveness of her raps, or her gradually aggressive post-chorus after the first verse.
Up next is the album’s second single “Trip on Me” which features this dreamy mix of R&B-styled drums, trap percussion and retro-80s synths. As the title implies, someone’s emotionally tripping on Alyssa (a fan, a friend, a potential partner perhaps) and as the superbly trippy animated music video suggests, she’s taking this person on this psychedelic, mental journey through her highs and lows. Once again, she’s embracing her flawed, imperfect self and in the context of the song, hopes that this ‘visitor’ gains a deeper understanding of who she is before taking their friendship or relationship one step further.
Speaking of relationships and ‘tripping’ on people, there’s the album’s lead single “Down to Zero”, where Alyssa raps and sings about not being able to get her ex out of her mind and wanting to rekindle their obviously fractured relationship (“I just need you to know that you’ve been on my mind / Ever since the second we decided to break the bond”). SV’s instrumental perfectly sets the melancholy tone of the song with its somber piano keys and light snares and synth notes in the background. The hook is well thought out, as Alyssa flips the “ready or not” kid’s game into a heartfelt plea that not only will her ex be close by when she finishes her count from ten to zero, but she’ll be capable of finding him before he’s considered ‘lost’. If I have one gripe with “Down to Zero”, I felt it deserved a second verse, given how exceptionally well-written this song was.
The album’s final leg begins with “How it’s Made” and “If You Been Bad” where Alyssa picks herself up from the lows she’s been experiencing on this record thus far. The former track features a droning ambient beat laced with boom-bap drums and a pitch-shifted vocal chop. Alyssa puts this beat to great use as she reduces her self-loathing and regains her confidence through some much-deserved self-affirmation. Her opening lines establish the mindset she’s in at this stage on the album: “Sympathetic to the ones before you / They got a side of me I can never undo / Had to pick up the slack to be something / Now I’m working overtime to deliver my cool”. And throughout this song, she’s boastful with her bars, vulnerable with her emotions and grateful for the support she’s received from her fans and loved ones during the mentally tumultuous times in her life.
We then get what is my opinion the BEST SONG on this record: “If You Been Bad”. SV’s production has a distinctly dramatic flair to it, as if I’m hearing a spacey, boom-bap version of a spaghetti western theme composed by the late, great Ennio Morricone (kids, ask your parents). Alyssa delivers what is essentially a therapy session on wax, with these freestyle-like raps centered on how her music has helped her cope with mental, emotional and even spiritual loss over the years. The second verse shows a startling amount of growth on the record, as Alyssa mentions the recent support she gave to her father and acknowledges the creative medium of music as a true blessing in her life. And yet near the end of the song, she shows awareness of how easy it is to slip back into the darkness, breaking hearts and burning bridges in the process (“Staying out of trouble cuz the karma’s active”).
With the inspirational highs given by those two tracks, I guess it’s fitting that “Neo Phily” concludes on a dour note with “Slow Motion”. I say ‘guess’ because while a part of me wishes we got a brighter, optimistic ending to the record – with Alyssa’s confidence back up and her life back on track – the reality is that life itself doesn’t play out like that. Try as we may, there will be moments of uncertainty, pain and stress that will inevitably pop up after the moments of joy, happiness and peace of mind. And I have to applaud Alyssa and SV for concluding their project with that harsh truth in mind. SV saves his most somber instrumental for last with a beat consisting of frail, disenchanted piano keys, amplified quite effectively by vinyl crackle. As the title suggests, Alyssa finds herself moving in slow motion thanks to the “creeping” demons she’s been addressing and fighting throughout the record. Like the equally distressing “Down to Zero”, this is another track where I felt a second verse was absolutely needed. With its near-minute and 45 second runtime, making it the shortest track on the album, “Slow Motion” feels more like a ‘To be Continued’ than a ‘The End’. But maybe that’s the point. It’s not supposed to be the end of this neophilic journey. There’ll be more pain and struggles to endure on this path but there’ll also be more blessings and achievements to be had on it as well. In other words, this Neo Phily story is still being written, and each page begins with one step forward.
Overall, “Neo Phily” is yet another top-quality album from Jim’s Pool Room Records and a thoroughly entertaining project from Alyssa Jane and SV. It’s also a remarkably cohesive record, thanks to the seamless blending of SV’s mood-inducing instrumentals and Alyssa’s reflective lyrics and heartfelt vocal performances. Creatively, the sky’s the limit for these two and I can’t wait to hear what they put out next!
OVERALL RATING: 8 out of 10
Now available on Spotify and neophily.com
“Remember, remember, the 5th of November”. It’s both funny and ironic that the first line of an old British folk verse about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 – now etched into pop culture thanks to 2005’s “V for Vendetta”, one of the best dystopian films ever made – will now be associated with the 2024 United States presidential election. I will confess that, at the time I’m writing this review, I’m marginally aware of the developments in this upcoming election between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The bits of information my brain receives are courtesy of CNN, which my news-loving father and older brother tune into on brief intervals. And I speak as a non-American when I say this: when this election takes place, the ENTIRE WORLD will take notice!
C.W. Franz, who’s tackled a wide variety of concepts in his music over the near four-year period I’ve covered his work – devotes the entirety of his latest album “American Republic in Crisis” to that election. Stylistically, it’s similar to 2023’s “Alpha and Omega: Beginning and Ending” where C.W., inspired by events that left him unsettled, delivered an apocalyptic folk album centered on death, its inevitability and the bravery – or lack thereof – of facing it. And in a way, you can picture this project as the third in a series of albums inspired by unsettling current events, the first being “American Darkness” which was released early last year. But what makes “American Republic in Crisis” the most ambitious – and dare I say, most provocative – of this unofficial series is the use of archival sound recordings of various American presidents.
And this leads to the “dire warning” – as advertised on the liner notes of its Bandcamp page – C.W. gives on this record. A physical war, not a digital one between keyboard warriors and quite possibly a CIVIL one (more on that later on), will inevitably arise following the outcome of this election. And drawing from America’s internal and external wartime history, C.W. believes that – to quote the age-old axiom – history will repeat itself.
Additionally, C.W. makes it clear in the liner notes that this album is “a difficult release, not for everyone, but every civically-minded American should hear it”. And yes, I can imagine a LOT of people dismissing the idea of a potential post-election war, whether they’re Democrat or Republican, peace-loving or confrontational, American or non-American. But I can also imagine a lot of Americans sensing that a fuse has already been lit and the powder keg associated with it is set to explode on the night of November 5th. At this time, because I have to actually review this album, I will say this in terms of whether I believe a civil war is inevitable or not: the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building DID happen. January 6th 2021, during Biden’s presidential transition, to be exact.
“American Republic in Crisis” kicks off with “The Gerontocracy”, the title of which is a vicious critique of the current ages of both Trump and Biden and how misguided their decisions are and will be in regards to governing the United States. After a quick vocal snippet (“Liberty Bell!”) followed by a field recording of a Liberty Bell replica being rung in Denver, C.W. sets the dark, apocalyptic tone of the record using his trusty custom soprano cigar box guitar. By the track’s 6 1/2 -minute standards, C.W.’s vocals take a pretty long while to appear, which they eventually do around the 3:40 mark. In the same hushed, half-sung, half-recited vocal delivery he exhibited on “Alpha and Omega: Beginning and Ending”, he rips apart any and every expectation that America will be “great again” after November 5th with lyrics drenched in bitter criticism (“Gerontocracy is the only outcome / Demonic or well-meaning, both aged”, “Follow the scent of misleading snouts”).
The next track “If You Can Keep It” is the first on this record to incorporate an archival sound recording. In this case, it’s the “Progressive Covenant with the People” speech from Theodore Roosevelt. Unless you’re familiar with that speech, I highly recommend that you visit the Library of Congress’ website where that audio recording and its transcription are available. The clip used on this track ends with Theodore saying:
Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.
In the context of this song, it’s suggested that there is an invisible government who’s been pulling the strings for decades, deciding who becomes President and caring less about how voters feel about the outcome. C.W. opens the song with the line “Red Lion….look it up!”. And so said, so done, I looked it up!! According to Spiritualdesk.com (always remember to cite your sources of info, fellow writers), “red lions are associated with strength, power, and courage, as well as passions, desires, and motivation in reaching one’s dreams and goals”.
But the following line “There used to be equal time” suggests that the Red Lion of this song relates to a famous 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case – Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v FCC – where the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine (radio and TV broadcasters must present a balanced and fair discussion of public issues on the airwaves) was brought into question. After some creepy micro-tuning at the tail end of the second verse, C.W. requests that the “heirs of the Sons of Liberty” should be thrown “into the River Charles”. My interpretation of that line is that the legacy of the Sons of Liberty is long-forgotten at this point, and their heirs (whether by blood or belief) gave up in the fight for liberty. Through C.W.’s logic, nothing has been done to improve the lives of the modern American citizen.
Up next, we’re treated to the two-parter “Bellum Americanum”, Latin for…you guessed it…..”American War”. Part 1 opens with a clip of actor Fritz Klein playing the role of Abraham Lincoln and delivering the now-iconic Gettysburg address in its entirety. But it’s the final line of that address C.W. clearly wants us to hear and remember before he starts strumming his guitar:
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth
Lyrically, this is the album’s most dense and cryptic song, as C.W. examines the dog-eat-dog and dog-FEEDS-dog (The lines “The vertebrates become encephalopods” and “Sabertooths without fangs”, for example, are verbal jabs at most, if not all, Republicans) structure of American society. It also serves as a nightmarish setup of this “American War” (even the final moment of C.W.’s strumming sounds nightmarish), with Part 1 representing the fuse and Part 2, the powder keg.
Speaking of Part 2, “Bellum Americanum II” opens with the actual recording of the famous Franklin D. Roosevelt speech “Four Freedoms”. Unlike the full speech used in Part 1, this recording stops at the third of the four fundamental freedoms listed by Roosevelt: the Freedom from Want (“economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world”). The last one, however, is Freedom from Fear (“a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world”). Was this purposefully left out of this track? More on that later on!
It’s remarkable how bleak C.W.’s string-based soundscapes get with every passing track and on “Bellum Americanum II”, it’s no different. Lyrically, he touches on the current American War of Democrats vs Republicans / Biden vs Trump and how, at this moment, media is the most effective weapon being used. In the second verse, he mentions the negative impression this battle has left on the social, racial and economic identity of the average American citizen. He closes the song with a lyrical middle finger – and some microtuning added for good measure – to the media and its ‘selective’ attitude towards serious matters concerning the election.
At this point, the archival speeches used on this album were delivered during an American War and, in the case of Roosevelt, before a World War. On the penultimate track “Locke, Paine, and Rousseau Weep: Hobbes Just Shakes His Head” – the title of which references French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, author of “The Social Contract”, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, and English-born, American Founding Fathers Thomas Paine and John Locke – opens with the inaugural address from John F. Kennedy, delivered roughly two years before his assassination. The clip, which consists of the last section of that speech, ends with arguably its biggest takeaway: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”.
Compared to what we’ve heard before on the album, the strings on this track sounds significantly somber. And on the subject of “The Social Contract” (“only the general will of the people has the right to legislate, for only under the general will can the people be said to obey only themselves and hence be free”), he states on the first verse that if it fails, the “only option lies anarchy or suicide”. And here is where the powder keg finally explodes and America is at war (“sister against brother”, “lover against lover”). During the song’s haunting final seconds, C.W. slows down his strumming, sings in an almost exasperated manner “Our history will be nothing!”, pauses for a bit and concludes with “Burning… it… down”.
Like “The Gerontocracy”, the album closer “Bloody Potomac Stomp” doesn’t start with a speech, but it does end with one. Before that speech, we’re treated to an instrumental – just as dark and bleak as the music which preceded it – that might as well be used as background music to a movie scene where this civil war (hence the title and C.W.’s “dire warning”) is seconds away from starting. The speech itself is the inaugural address from Dwight D. Eisenhower (the echo chamber effect of the recording makes this track sound even more ominous), and the excerpt used is the first part of this speech, where he delivers this prayer:
Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment my future associates in the executive branch of government join me in beseeching that Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens everywhere.
Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall be for all the people regardless of station, race, or calling. May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those who, under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing political faiths; so that all may work for the good of our beloved country and Thy glory. Amen.
Where this album truly shines is how it encapsulates the fear of the inevitable and logical outcome of the presidential election laid out by C.W., replacing its far-fetched first impression with concrete evidence based on American history. And as someone who wasn’t entirely invested in the Trump v Biden rematch, I now find myself genuinely concerned with its resolution and expected reverberations on the world itself (see Roosevelt’s “The Freedom of Fear”). From a thematic and tonal perspective, this record is indeed a “difficult” record to sit through, but given its subject material, that’s to be expected. And yet C.W. keeps things engaging with his lyrical and instrumental performances, and leaves the floor open to much-needed discussion thanks to his references to historical facts from the past and present. As his first true political album, “American Republic in Crisis” is a bold addition to his already-versatile discography. Will there be another? I guess we’ll see as the road to November 5th winds down. And speaking of November 5th, while the abovementioned Gunpowder Plot verse may pop up in the discourse surrounding the election, I do hope Eisenhower’s prayer is brought up as well.
OVERALL RATING: 8 out of 10
Now available on Bandcamp
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