E.S.G. - Sailin' Da South (1995)

Sailin' da South is a potent combination of audio and visual evocation. E.S.G. does violence but not like he does pseudo pop smoothness, the smoothness dulling the left side of the brain and putting the listener in this weird happy state where thoughts are replaced by a sentimental collage. Between the surrealist Pen & Pixel art (not that familiar digital manipulation wish fulfillment, Sailin' da South is too literal) and actually totally real but disarmingly g-pop sounds, what I see and hear is daytime TV, Vice City/circa 2003 carefree-ness, straight to VHS, Music to Driveby sunshine nihilism, more recent developments in d south revisionism, and the start and end of the Super Monkey Ball Aztec level in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Gs being pop, 3 of its tracks appeared on Ocean of Funk already, but here they're given an even poppier context to, again, disarm the listener because what actually takes place is songs of violence, paranoia, syrup, corrupt cops, and southern pride, all to be released and enjoyed by the outside world and not the incarcerated E.S.G. So real made pop that's actually real. Repeated listens won't benefit the listener in terms of like uncovering any secrets or patterns, but Sailin' da South is an incredibly smooth, enjoyable listening experience well worth returning to.

A-

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