by Dan O

Art can lose itself in the generation of nuance and subtlety. It’s a natural tendency to keep adding layers. The audience and critics might find those layers and salute your artistic intelligence. Those additional layers give more to chew on for repeated listens. BATTERY is a beautiful counterargument. Scratch that. It’s the opening statement for the other side of the debate. An overwhelming tribute to the power of kinetic energy. Declaring everything on every second of every song you put out. Doing it this way has connected this album to fans in a way that is wholly unique.

I don’t want to give the wrong impression. Sko as lead MC is not lacking in any sort of introspection or analysis, he spends a lot of time making sure that he is not misunderstood. On the title track (and opener) he says “Legacies fade like echoes, better let go” after he says “I still got a couple ‘F_ THE COPS’ in me!” Even something like “F_flowers when I leave give me trees while I breathe” is a real salient commentary on the notion of legacy. BATTERY exists now. It asks for great sex, weed, drums, all right now. We aren’t waiting anymore.

Shah’s production is just not to be denied. I dare you to put Master of Self on in your car and turn it up. It will overwhelm you. Ramen is my jam, the horn is noisy and off kilter but it’s a song that stabs you and burbles with bass. The whole time Sko remains conversational and raw with an ill blue collar hook “Everybody wants to be a star, I’m tryin’ to be solid. We all love steak but thank god for ramen.”

No one here is playing with you or your time. That’s why the beat doesn’t drop in until 42 seconds into Yolanda Vega. Sko needs all the space to say “I am collateral damage from a sh_t marriage and severe a$$ whoopings, could have been a miscarriage. Why would I spit average? When I got weight on my mind like an ex addict.” It’s a beautiful moment for Sko who is matter of fact with supreme command in his voice as he bluntly addresses what takes years of therapy to deal with…and maintains the energy, keeps to the punch lines. These songs are doing a lot of work and all of them would destroy live. F.T.S. is the epitome. A song making fun of everything from celebrity news to the price of eggs made for a crowd to fist pump and repeat. That song is a big buy-in-point. It shows that they feel your pain as a waiter who got a crappy tip or someone getting reassigned the worst shift.

In less than thirty-seven minutes they connect themselves to the listener tightly. The emphasis in Sko’s delivery the ferocity of his punchlines would link you to the definition of battery meaning to beat you up. I link the album more to the primary definition given on the bandcamp page (A device containing an electric cell storing energy that can be converted into electrical power). BATTERY is for us. It charges us up when our cells get low. It recharges us with energy while remaining responsible enough to never betray its values, to remain fly, artistic and ethical…while cursing out anyone who isn’t. As Sko says “When you feel like this even insults are flattering. (Vision Board)”