by Dustin
8/10
It has been an abysmal month as far as producing new content on Extraordinary Nobodies. Between everybody here drowning under a mountain of work, school, illness, life, more illness, and general procrastination, April has been… underwhelming. This review, for example, was supposed to be released nearly a month ago. Then a bunch of things happen, and instead, it is coming out now. In the middle of April. Yes.
Moving on.
Spocka Summa was introduced to us by Michael at FilthyBroke Recordings. And for that alone we have to say thank you to Michael, because holy shit, this guy is a creative force to keep an eye on. Following a conceptual theme (more on this later), The Progression 001 is an immense listen packed into a short and sweet extended play. It’s even available for free streaming on his SoundCloud. We had no idea what to expect with this record, as (unfortunately) Spocka wasn’t a household name for our writing staff yet. Now he is, and here is a little bit on why he caught our attention.
First and foremost, Spocka Summa himself on The Progression 001 is a very interesting emcee. He’s got a natural charisma about him that really helps carry his delivery. From a technical standpoint he may not be the flashiest, but his lyrics are solid (and more importantly they stick closely to the concept of the EP, big ups for that) and he has some vocal flair. His storytelling abilities far exceed that of many underground emcees. Honestly, it is hard to analyze his performance on The Progression 001 without spoiling bits and pieces of the story being created. To keep it short, sweet, and spoiler free. He did well. Very, very well.
We’re not going to quote lyrics either, because that would be spoilers. Listen to the damn EP, ya’ bums. It’s not long, and it’s worth it!
The production on this EP is really consistently sturdy. There isn’t anything overly experimental or ambitious, but the beats are very nice. The Last Child (who produced the entirety of The Progression 001) has a sound that blends eastern sounding boom-bap with the west’s lighter sounding beat scene, creating a vibe that nearly anyone could vibe with. The amount of variation in the instrumentation was actually quite surprising for such a short extended play. For example, “001” sounds like something straight from the alt-Los Angeles scene, and then “What the Hell” plays like a soundtrack to a Spiderman boss level on the PlayStation 2 (in the best way imaginable). Despite this wide range of sounds and artistic influences, the production works well together and suits the concept of the project nicely; moreover, the range of flavors help create an incredibly engaging listening environment on The Progression 001.
It’s also notable how the EP progresses sonically throughout its duration. The instrumentation (and in turn, rapping) is much lighter and happier at the beginning. By the end, it has twisted itself into a darker, heavier piece of music. This was a lovely addition to the changing mood, and really helped to drive home the storytelling. The decision to stick with one producer for every song was quite smart.
This EP is additionally coupled with a comic book released on Spocka’s website. The book is only a few pages long at the present, but is an interesting and ambitious DIY effort to extend the story in his music. Similar to much of The Progression 001, it is topically focused on breaking away from technological dependence and the dangers of placing too much trust in multiple forms of media. These concepts are presented in a very interesting futuristic dystopian setting. The visual art is not “professional” levels of perfect, but it’s relatively solid, visually appealing, and quite endearing to see someone attempting to turn their music into a comic.
Plus, if you think about it, hip-hop and comic books have been intertwined forever. From MF DOOM’s levels of comic villain nerdiness to the marvel comic hip-hop cover variants. This is a classic pairing, and Spocka Summa has continued to push that envelope forward.
Overall, The Progression 001 is a very cool EP and the prospect of it feeding into further releases in the future is quite promising. Much like Blueprint’s Vigilante Genesis extended play from last year, the short-format works marvelously for serialized stories. Taking that idea and merging it with a comic book added a little creative flair that helps set this apart from its contemporaries. The Progression 001 is well worth a listen, especially if you enjoy dystopian themed music.
Extraordinary Nobodies 