The Uncluded

Having already tested the water with collaborations on each other's recent solo albums, rapper/producer Aesop Rock and anti-folk singer Kimya Dawson (the Moldy Peaches) have decided to take their musical experiment further as a duo. Aside from the drums on debut single "Delicate Cycle," which were handled by Yo La Tengo's James McNew, Aesop and Kimya wrote, performed and recorded the entire album in a variety of locations, and it shows. A few songs sound professional studio quality, but many have a lo-fi, bedroom studio feel that suits the Uncluded's ego-free combination of Kimya's quirky singing and simple lyrics, Aesop's dense raps, their strange instrumentation and their melancholy lyrics about loss, from the story of a child grieving the death of its mother on folksy "Earthquake" to the crash of Swissair Flight 111 off the shore of Halifax, NS on the funky "TV on 10." The two also upend expectations, with Aesop adding harmonies on the chorus of "Organs" and Kimya rapping surprisingly well on album-closing club-banger "Tits Up." Also, the groovy, up-tempo "The Aquariam" transforms "please don't tap on the glass" into a catchy hook, while the rhythm section on the acoustic "Alligator" is a Ping-Pong ball. It's evident that the two were having a good time recording Hokey Fright, and though the album isn't always successful, it's encouraging to see creative individuals ignore genre boundaries in order to bridge gaps.