Noah23

Artful as always, Noah23's weirdest album yet finds the gifted MC singing more than ever, but any cheeriness is tempered by the gritty beats and dark soundscapes. With his rapid-fire flow and penchant for witty, unpredictable rhymes, Noah has swirled within psychedelia before, spitting out all the pop culture he's absorbed in a dizzying torrent of "what was that?" But his humour and sense of fun have always been tempered by pain and struggle, with hardships simmering just beneath a protective hip-hop force field. When he sings the hooks on love songs like "Bright Green Laces" or "Fry Cook on Venus," he's opening himself up to the world in unprecedented ways. There's a vulnerability to "Intangible Heart Crescendo" and "Nuts" (featuring Land of Talk's Liz Powell) that actually enhances his rep as a streetwise hustler, because it showcases Noah23's depth, talent and purity like nothing he's ever released.