by Mark "MAC" Chapman

You know it must be hard for artists to release their first commercial EP. Thoughts of ifthey put enough work into the album, leading them to always go back and try to fix things thatmay not even be broken. Thoughts that they may not “size up” to artists who influenced andinspired to make the album in the first place leading them to have thoughts of inadequacy andmay even lead them to not even release the album at all. They may even have thoughts of theirfirst album being torn apart by first-time, amateur, high-and-mighty, college student musiccritics, who don’t even have a major in music who think they even know it all. ...Actually, theymay not think at all about that last part, but my point still stands. Releasing your “first'' actualalbum can be stressful, but if you want to pursue a career in music, you will have to do it sooneror later. This leads us to KennyHoopla and his first LP, “How Will I Rest in Peace If I’m Buriedby the Highway//”. A very interesting name. Certainly doesn’t roll off the tongue very well. “Sodo you not like the name?” Of course, I like the name, I actually prefer names with long titles,it’s a whole lot better than just calling your songs or albums, “Fire”, “Remorse”, or “Love”.What’s next, calling your album “Hornswoggle”? If I had it my way all albums would besentences, like “Yea, I would like to order a number 1 dry, hold the onions and pickles, whatabout this weather we’ve been having lately?”, but I digress, where was I? “KennyHoopla.” Ohright, this is my review of KennyHoopla “How will I rest in Peace If I’m Buried by theHighway//”. Any questions before I begin? “What’s with the // in all of his song and albumtitles?” Good question reader, that I made up in my head when I started writing this review. Wellaccording to KennyHoopla himself, he stated in an interview that it’s “his own exclamationmark”, something positive, to keep moving forward, and something that he has been doing sincehe was young. Any more questions “why do you type like people are asking questions?”...Quietyou.

If I had to give a quick review of an album; which I don’t but that’s how I want thisreview structure to go; it would be this. The album is good, like really good, 10/10, best thingsince sliced bread, like so good that you need to stop doing whatever you’re doing and listen tothis album. I don’t care if you’re walking, sleeping, or performing open heart surgery on the manwho will cure cancer. LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM RIGHT NOW! ...Sorry lost my composurethere. To me, this is one of the best compilations of music I have ever listened to, with each songhitting a different type of tone in me that I didn’t even know I had, which I may need to go getchecked out, cause that could be an early sign of me actually finally having some kind of closurein my life. “Thinkingoutloud//” begins with a mystic beginning then launches into a fury of beatsthat doesn’t let up til the end of the song, where the piano will finish out, much like a fat mansprinting for the last hamburger before falling on his face. “Sore Loser//” has a powerful releaseof a song that I found makes me want to listen to the song over and over again, at least that’swhat I think is causing it and not the fact there is nothing else to listen to. “The world is flat andthis is the edge//” has a moshpit of instruments playing together that seems to work despite the fact it shouldn’t. The song itself seems like a mixture of rap and alternative, with the two styles changing by the line. Again this shouldn’t work but Kennyhoopla pulls it off really well. And all of this doesn’t come close to his two biggest songs from the album “How will I rest in Peace If I’m Buried by the Highway//”; the song that introduced me to Kennyhoopla; and “Plastic Door//” the song that kept me to stay. I literally can not describe these songs to the best of my abilities, these are a must-read for anyone into the alternative scene. Kennyhoopla knocked it outta thepark with these two pieces. I can’t recommend them enough, you need to listen to both of thesesongs if you haven’t already. “Plastic Door//” is literally the best thing since sliced bread, wait Ialready used that one, best thing than sliced sliced bread. I don’t think that works.

Now there are problems with this album of course, but what album doesn’t haveproblems? Or you could be Kayne West and have all the problems. The big problem I have is onesong “Dust//”. “Dust//” is the album's slower piece, offering a look into a painful state of affairsfor Kennyhoopla himself. The problem I have with this song is that it is just the song itself.Somehow this song doesn’t grip me, which is weird because it has everything I love in a song,echo/glitch vocals, screeching sound effects, and the ability to tell the artist is giving his all in thelyrics, but for some reason, this song just doesn’t work for me. “Man you must really not like thissong” Oh no I love this song, but compared to everything else on this album, this song is justmiles below everything. Now I would pick this song over anything else any day of the week,especially a new Drake song (2015 and beyond) but a weak song can still bring an album downon its enjoyment and I find myself skipping this song every now and so. However, this complaintis only the size of a pebble compared to the mountain which is the positive of this album.

In conclusion, I would give this album a 10/10, I would give it an 11/10 if I could but“Dust//” brings it down that one score, but don’t let that discourage you from checking out thisalbum, as I firmly believe this is one of the best albums ever, and I feel like we look back on thisalbum when KennyHoopla becomes world renown for his talents. Any more questions? “Are yougoing to get better at writing reviews?” COME HERE YOU!

Thinkingoutloud// - 8/10How Will I rest in Peace if I’m Buried by a Highway// - 11/10Plastic door// - 15/10Dust// - 6/10Sore Loser// - 9/10The World is Flat and this is the Edge// - 9/10

Want to hear more of my subpar jokes, come join me and my show, MAC, at 1 pm on Thursdays.