MINNESOTA COLD "LYNDALE" ALBUM PREVIEW

Cohesive but still full of variety, Minnesota Cold’s “Lyndale” perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to live on the infamous street. Blistering through ten tracks in under twenty minutes, “Lyndale” features eight different producers, a fact that could lead to the album feeling disjointed actually adds to each track feeling unique, but apart of a whole. According to Minnesota Cold the album’s songs don’t seem to have any over arching theme tying them all together, but when I viewed it as a whole the album feels like a day that could be spent in the Twin Cities. Starting off with “Mourning,” and it’s play on waking up, the production by NTRLY gets moving like most of us in the morning, slow and a with a disorienting grogginess. A couple of my favorite lines come from the next few tracks “Got more fans than I got friends” from “Tenure” and “Sharper rhymes than a wet rock” from “Px3/HiiiAgain.” To me all the tracks before “Rev,” the seventh track, feel like going through the motions of an average day, then after it the rest of the album feels like a shift to a night out. “Simple” deals with self-reflection and looking back on the day and getting ready to go out for the night. “Ripe” feels hazy with the production being tense and a little jarring. Sampling what sounds like crashes and thing being broken, the production conjures what it’s like to travel through Uptown or Downtown at night. “NYE on Lake St.” is the last track and my favorite on the album. Based on a true night out, it gives you exactly what the title suggests, New Year’s Eve on Lake Street. From not being allowed into a club because of their boots to looking for the best drink specials to ring in the New Year, the song is a trip with friends looking for a good time.Minnesota Cold raps over background conversations, bowling pins being knocked over, and a chill piano and drum beat to give the production a feeling of walking through crowds and stopping at bars. You can decide for your self if “Lyndale” accurately describes your Twin Cities’ experience on Tuesday, July 9th.

(Melodic Noise) How's your day going?
(Minnesota Cold) Good, spent most of the day working on beats and bumping that new Madlib album.

(MN) Artist’s name?
(MC) Minnesota Cold or MC for short

(MN) Members?
(MC) Shon Jarmon & Paul Thorson (He/Him). Both do the rapping and recording, Shon does the production/mixing.

(MN) What is your origin story?
(MC) We grew up together and shared a love for hip hop. We started freestyling in garages and that led to recording lil songs on my phone. We never stopped and here we are.

(MN) Genre?
(MC) Hip-Hop

(MN) Label?
(MC) None

(MN) What is the story behind the album title?
(MC) Lyndale is our albums name. We moved to Minneapolis into a house on Lyndale ave. last summer and immediately started working on what would become this album. The music here is all inspired by the city and the changes we’ve gone thru this past year, so naming it Lyndale was just a way to tie the music to the place it was created.

(MN) Lyrically what stands out on the album?
(MC) Our songs cover a wide range of topics. The opener song “Mourning” is kind of a reflection on life & death and the pace we set for ourselves. While “Px3/Hiiiagain” is more of straight braggadocios on some bangin beats. A lot of Lyndale is about reflection, where we were at and where we are now is a lot to process and I feel that comes through in the lyrics. This album if somewhat of a mission statement on what we wanna make going forward. It’s our 4th full release and I think we’re starting to find our footing.

(MN) What was the inspiration behind the album?
(MC) Minneapolis & Madlib

(MN) What do you hope people take away from the album?
(MC) Hopefully some songs they like. We put a lot of time and work into this project. I think some of our best verses and song structures are on here. And there’s a lil bit for everyone on the production side, we had 8 different producers across the album. Hopefully you’ll find some songs you can ride around to.

(MN) Is there something that connects the songs together?
(MC) The album isn’t very connected lyrically. We tend to make songs like vignettes, each song works on it’s own as a contained story. But over the course of the year that we spent making the album, a lot of techniques we were exploring and sounds we were experimenting with bleed together. Especially on these tracks creating a unique spot in our discography.

(MN) Are you locals or transplants?
(MC) Both born in Minnesota. Moved to Minneapolis last summer.

(MN) Who are some of your influences?
(MC) Atmosphere, Prince, P.O.S., Prof

(MN) Who are some of your favorite current Twin Cities artists?
(MC - Shon) Nur-D kills it every single time I see him. CMJ just dropped an album that I’ve really been diggin. Mijo is super duper dope too.

(MN) What is your favorite venue to play and see shows in Twin Cities?
(MC - Paul) Would love to play at 7th St. and First Ave. one day. That spot is a Minneapolis landmark and it would be a lifelong goal to play there. Plus you can hear the music clearly wherever you go in First Ave. which is crazy. Another dope spot for a show is Can Can Wonderland. Our homies Uncle T and CMJ put on a show every third Saturday of the month called “Local Dope Shit” and it’s always a great time popping out there every month.

(MN) What can fans expect when they come to your show?
(MC - Shon) Something genuine. I’ll prolly fuck up a line or two but no one will know, it’s always a good time playing live. We try to play new stuff all the time so no show’s the same.

(MN) Do you have a favorite/crazy memory of playing a show?
(MC - Paul) We were playing a show in St. Cloud for this local rapper. Dude was salty cause we had a bigger crowd so, during our set, he came up and grabbed the third mic and shouted, “Ya’ll should come to the full show next time.” And this was in a middle of a song. I remember having to explain to him that we can’t control who comes when, all while doing Shon’s ad-libs and getting ready for my verse.

(MN) Who are your dream tourmates?
(MC) Would love to tour with Atmosphere. Just to be under their wing for a tour would be very beneficial. They’re veterans at touring so you can probably learn a lot from them. Prof too, he throws the craziest shows it would sick to see how he does in other parts of the country. If we were putting on our own tour though, we’d probably hit up the homie !ntell!gent Design from Mankato. Hit up some local cats and hit the road from there.

(MN) Do you have other hobbies?
(MC) Cookin’

(MN) What do you like about living in the Twin Cities?
(MC) Just being here. There’s so many things to do. All these events and shows around here are within 10 mins. We used to have to drive around over in hour to kick in the TC for a little. Being able to be apart of all dope stuff happening around here is really cool.

(MN) Is there anything that sets the Twin Cities scene apart from places you've toured?
(MC) The Hip- hop community is alive and well here. You can network so much at shows around the Twin Cities. People go to these shows, not only to check out the artists, but also to find new people to work with. Everyone is so hungry here and wants to keep pushing their art further. Working with other people is a crucial step in that happening.

(MN) What is your favorite places to grab food or drink in the Twin Cities?
(MC - Shon) Luu’s Sandwiches on Central.
(MC - Paul) Gotta give bigs up to Pimento on Nicollet. That Jerk chicken is something else.

(MN) Do you have day jobs?
(MC) Cookin’ in the winter, something outside in the summer.

(MN) What are your plans for the future?
(MC) Tour. Definitely tour.

Review and Interview by: Andrew Perrizo
Edited by: G Blu