Kata Rokkar Kata Rokkar – A Bay Area based blog about music, life and stuff by Shawn Robbins.

Cage Unleashed!

Music

05/20/2009

4 ▼

Well I’ve been waiting for him to emerge with a bang and this is about it. A free EP, a creepy video (notice EL-P and Aesop Rock?), a slew of tour dates, and a pre-order of the new album, Depart From Me. Can you say awesome?

After a handful of listens of new EP, it’s clear why this is free. Now don’t let that scare you off, it’s got plenty of amazing areas, plus it’s free so what do you have to lose? Anyway, the opening track and current single, I Never Knew You creeps along and hits it’s mark with Cage’s usual dark style. Plus the track is produced to perfection by EL-P Hatebreed guitarist Sean Martin, who I believe produced the whole album as well as this EP. Follow The Bleeder is where he loses me. Now, Cage has been called an ‘emo-rapper’ ever since his last album, Hell’s Winter. I can’t agree with that claim, at least not until now with this song. Bordering on (shutters) rap-emo-core, the song better not be a hint at this new ‘direction’ he’s taking, cause I am not on board. Tongue In A Sharks Mouth is pretty good but doesn’t boast that typical EL-P production I love from my favorite Cage tracks. His style isn’t compromised in this song and he seems comfortable despite the dull beat he’s handed. Yet another poor produced track, Hell Oh sounds like your buddy who works at Chili’s that approaches you saying, “Yo man check out this sick song I made about my girl. You know the one I fuckin’ love but hate?” Can you tell this has happen to me before? Its The 80s Again is actually pretty fun despite the (sigh) shitty production. A heavier beat and more complexity would make this track amazing…oh yeah and take out the screaming, it sounds dumb. We’ll see what happens. I am still looking forward to Depart From Me, after listening to I Never Knew You and last month’s Nothing Left to Say. So hopefully this isn’t a peek into what the album will sound like and less like a collection of scraped demos (crosses fingers).

Edit: It turns out the track “Nothing Left To Say” was produced by EL-P, which is not on this EP. While my views on the lack of attention to detail and screaming doesn’t change, I do apologize for any misinformation.

Catch Cage on tour here…

Jul 2 2009 8:00P
Southpaw
Brooklyn, New York

Jul 3 2009 8:00P
Southpaw
Brooklyn, New York

Jul 4 2009 8:00P
El Mocambo
Toronto, Ontario

Jul 5 2009 8:00P
Grog Shop
Cleveland, Ohio

Jul 7 2009 8:00P
Reggies
Chicago, Illinois

Jul 8 2009 8:00P
Triple Rock
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Jul 10 2009 8:00P
Marquis
Denver, Colorado

Jul 11 2009 8:00P
Urban Lounge
Salt Lake City, Utah

Jul 13 2009 8:00P
Nectars
Seattle, Washington

Jul 14 2009 8:00P
Richards
Vancouver, British Columbia

Jul 15 2009 8:00P
Hawthorne
Portland, Oregon

Jul 17 2009 8:00P
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco, California

Jul 18 2009 8:00P
El Rey Theater
Los Angeles, California

Jul 20 2009 8:00P
Belly Up
San Diego, California

Jul 21 2009 8:00P
Chasers
Phoenix, Arizona

Jul 22 2009 8:00P
Launchpad
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Jul 24 2009 8:00P
Haileys
Dallas, Texas

Jul 25 2009 8:00P
Emo’s
Austin, Texas

Jul 26 2009 8:00P
Parish at House of Blues
New Orleans, Louisiana

Jul 27 2009 8:00P
Masquerade
Atlanta, Georgia

Jul 28 2009 8:00P
Local 506
Carboro, North Carolina

Jul 29 2009 8:00P
DC 9
WASHINGTON DC

Jul 30 2009 8:00P
First Unitarian Church
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jul 31 2009 8:00P
Harpers
Boston, Massachusetts

Aug 1 2009 8:00P
Living Room
Providence, Rhode Island

Click to Download Cage – I Never Knew You

Click to Download Cage – Follow The Bleeder

Click to Download Cage – Tongue In A Sharks Mouth

Click to Download Cage – Hell Oh

Click to Download Cage – Its The 80s Again

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  • Abi

    Fuck.

    He needs to start that tour a week earliear, just for me :)

  • http://katarokkar.cribble.net kata.rokkar

    HAHA! That he does.

  • chris

    THIS IS FOR WHOEVER WROTE THIS ARTICLE:

    yo dude im sorry but u got ALL of ur facts wrong.
    INKY is produced by f. shean martin who produces all of DFM besides 2 tracks, Nothing Let to Say, and Eating It’s way out of me.
    If u didnt like the EP, then dont bother listening to DFM because u wont like it. u obviously have horrible taste in music as both the production and the huge range of styles Cage displays on the EP alone is absolutely outstanding.
    so get ur info b4 u go write an article. peace.

  • http://katarokkar.cribble.net kata.rokkar

    fixed. I got my tracks mixed up.

    However, my opinion still stands. While it was kind of difficult to understand what you wrote, I don’t see all these ‘styles’ of music he’s incorporating. You mean rock, scream-o, rap-core, pop, etc? All those things? I’m not impressed. This doesn’t mean I have horrible taste in music, only that it’s different from yours. Kind of a subjective thing we’re discussing here. It’s only my opinion.

    As for DFM. I still want to hear it, but if this is a preview into that, I will be disappointed. That’s okay by me; there have been plenty of good records out this year anyway. I understand what he’s trying to do, but he (or you for that matter) can’t blame me for not enjoying this.

    buh bye