“This ‘taster’ EP is to help prepare you nice folks for the release of the forthcoming album”, read the sleevenotes. Taster EP? There are eleven tracks. What’s your definition of a full-length project, Pico, the bleeding Ring cycle? This may not be an EP in length, but it is in scope, as the tracks are mostly collections of doodles, concepts and ideas stretched too far – which is not to say that ideas are bad, but this feels far more like a private demo, not a finished release; or perhaps we should see it in the hip hop tradition of a mixtape, something between a demo, an album and an annoying advert.
There are two approaches on this record. The first is a sampladelic selection of semi-ironic instrumentals, mixing louche hip hop beats with easy listening: no prizes for guessing which vintage TV theme ‘Hipkirk & Hopkirk (Deceased)’ sticks some drippy beats behind, and ‘Let’s Get Together’ uses samples from ‘Wishin’ & Hopin’’ and –zounds! – the funky drummer break. Listening to these tracks is like sitting on a lumpy beanbag in a student flat smoking a woefully rolled joint. In 1995. Retro trip hop stylings, perhaps, but really not so much a journey into sound as a dawdle round the bus stop of cliché.
So, Pico isn’t much of a producer, but thankfully the other element of this record is some strong rapping. ‘What Do You Know?’ has a gorgeous cheeky flow that recalls the Native Tongues movement (although the organ motif’s enormous resemblance to De La Soul’s ‘Potholes In My Lawn’ possibly has something to do with it). A more obvious influence is early Eminem (you know, when he was slick and funny and not embarrassing us all with protracted neurotic therapy sessions like an unfunny Woody Allen on Oprah Winfrey). ‘The New Breed’ has a vocal that bounces along like a rubber rabbit, and ‘The DIY Method’ tells the tale of a hard-working rap mastermind rising up the ranks that isn’t a million miles from ‘Lose Yourself’ – even going so far as to use the phrase “back to the lab”. These are definitely Pico’s best lyrics, too, telling of “A big mouth/ It was something else, it was enormous/ Could swallow alcohol, a dictionary and thesaurus”.
“I can’t believe what just came out of your mouth” claim The Next Big Thing on the back cover – but we’d like to have been shocked or surprised just once. ‘What Do You Know?’ likens his music to his “diary”, and alleges that Walter Pico is an “alter ego”, yet we get no insights into the artist and there are no real glimpses of some Slim Shady rap persona to entertain, disgust and challenge. All we get is some drab backing and some good rapping. Of course, good rapping is something to be celebrated in Oxford, as it doesn’t come round very often, but until he stretches himself Pico isn’t doing much worthy of his talents.
Whether or not you choose to file this record as an EP or an LP, you can file it under “Highly Promising”…but you’ll never listen to it again.