AEON GREY - MARIONETTEWORKBENCH / THE PAPER CUTS - LOST CAUSE

The old rap/hip-hop rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast is officially dead. Why? Because the Midwest has been responsible for some of the most groundbreaking hip-hop and rap in years. Proof of that can be seen in Minnesota\'s Atmosphere, or even the up-and-coming scene here in Milwaukee. And now you can add the state of Iowa to that list.
Yes, Iowa. But try not to bring up the fact that aeon grey (no, his name is not capitalized) is from Iowa around the man himself, because he\'s not a huge fan of his surroundings. And if you listen to his newest offering, marionetteworkbench, you\'ll hear exactly why.
The disc is deep and brooding, reminiscent in spots of work from Aesop Rock\'s Bazooka Tooth. Dark and moody bass lines thud along while aeon drops lyrics about his rage against corporate America. He raps about what he knows: being a starving artist hell-bent on creating his work at no matter what cost. And he handles it all-- the anger, frustration, disappointment, and sadness-- with a skilled musical hand.
And as if marionetteworkbench weren\'t enough to keep grey busy, he also recently released Lost Cause with fellow Iowan wordsmith, Angle. This duo, known as The Paper Cuts, pick up where marionetteworkbench left off.
Lost Cause has all the darkness and emotion grey\'s album is jammed full of. But the production on Lost Cause feels even more thorough than the prior disc. That\'s not to say grey\'s solo disc is lacking, but rather The Paper Cuts have put together an unbreakable brick shithouse of an album.
You may recognize Angle from a feature he did on the Tack Fu disc. Just as he did on that disc, Angle weaves words with ease and clarity, letting us all in on his thoughts and beliefs. He is a perfect match to grey\'s style, and the two work off each other as if they were the same person in parts.
The fourth track, \"Spirits/utopia\", is an amazing track about being beat down, but fighting to keep your spirits up. By far, it\'s my favorite track on the disc, and it\'s a great example of how eerily perfect these two work together.
So the East and West Coast better get used to being in second and third place, because if people like aeon grey and Angle keep pushing the sound of hip-hop along the evolutionary path, the Midwest may very well stake its claim as the birthplace of the new sound.