Logan Micheals' "Lo-Fi Logan Review

You can listen to Paul Throson’s interview with Logan Michaels on our Patreon.

Two weeks ago, ‘the Heartbreak Kid’ Logan Micheals dropped his 3rd mixtape titled “Lo-Fi Logan.” As you may expect, the sound of this project is right in the title. Logan Micheals arranges fifteen lofty, smooth riding instrumentals that encapsulates the nearly forty minutes in run time. Logan Micheals uses a blend of melodies and slow-paced, yet content-rich bars, over the course of these tracks with a wide array of subject matter. Best known for his hip-hop work, the Heartbreak Kid has a larger body of work in music including guitar and piano experience. There’s two types of Logan Micheals you could see when you watch him live, either the guitar slanging, western rocking Logan Micheals, or the mixtape hip-hopper Logan Micheals, and sometimes maybe a little of both. The good number of these tracks on “Lo-fi Logan,” would not only translate well into Logan Micheals’ guitar performances, they might even sound better. Sometimes, in my opinion, a good acoustic rendition of a song provides us with a different perspective that might change it for the better. I’ll take note of those tracks once we land there.
The first three tracks give a pertinent example of the variety you can find in “Lo-Fi Logan.” The first track “Somewhere for me” is a textbook example of an intro to a mixtape, the classic sound of a tape being inserted into a tape deck is the first thing you hear on the project, followed by Logan giving a light, melodic vocal performance to ease you into the tape. “YouTube Beats” diverts from the looking-forward view the first track has and brings it back. This second track provokes a feeling of nostalgia as Logan and Matt Nunya share their fond memories of aimlessly finding bars inside of random beats on youtube. This song is relatable to most rappers, cause like Mick Jenkins said, “I still fuck with type-beats off Youtube.” Rounding off the first part of the mixtape is, “Millennial Man,” a melancholic story about the title character which uncovers the trials and errors by/given to, our generation. Now that the millennial generation is grown and have the time to look back, Logan Micheals paints a quintessential portrait of your everyday ‘Millenial Man’. The first line of the track acts as a thesis for the rest of the song, and a strong one at that:

“He was born and raised/
In a transitional phase/
Into a digital word/
Cut off his spiritual ways”

The fourth track, “Guiding Light,” acts as a bridge to the second, more poignant part of the mixtape. Following the sun bleached smooth ride of “Guiding Light” is the somber, yet sweet sound of “Running in Place.” The Heartbreak Kid breaks your heart by assembling a ballad of apathy and hopelessness with a touch of sadness. The most poignant and hardest-hitting line resides in this track as Logan Micheals recites:

“I don’t want to be the ace that was lost in shuffle/
I’ve been running in place, and been calling it hustle.”

“Madness” comes in at my favorite track of the mixtape. This easy-riding East Coast bop hosts a slick and fun performance from Logan Micheals and B&E’s Zaximus Giga Prime. Both Logan and Zaxi share their slow descent into madness staring at the clock. Zaximus gives us one of my favorite features I’ve heard this year. A prime excerpt to pull from Zaxi’s verse would be:

“Sometimes: I calm down when I write some/
But only if my left lobe will talk to the right one.”

“Lions Park” and “Cabin Trippin” are simply the two peas; seemingly in their feel-good mood they put you in. “Lions Park” is about Logan taking a good trip to the same park he’s been to before, but for the first time again. The trip throws some spice into Logan Micheals’ inspiration. “Cabin Trippin” is the catchy summer time ballad as Logan shares the fond memories of up north cabin trips. “Cabin Trippin’” is the top example of a song that would be seamlessly converted into a great acoustic rendition. With the feel-good subject matter and an acoustic guitar sample, this would fit right in an acoustic set.
“Sudden Epiphany” acts a philosophical segue to the last leg of the album. “Deep End” is a coming of age song about Logan's fear of swimming and overcoming that as a metaphor-laced message to take risks and embrace taking chances. “MJF” has a basement-creepin’ beat that Logan gives an uninhibited performance in his bars such as:

“You could suck a dick,
Cause I know that you’ll blow it.”

And:

“This is no holds barred,
But no bars held.”

“Unattainable” is a sultry, sunken song of Logan’s seemingly endless wait for that certain someone. “Let it Burn,” is Logan’s two cents and his experience pertaining to the anarchy and injustice that happened this summer.
“Repeat” is the track the Heartbreak Kid takes his bow out and ejects the tape deck. With a short and sweet beat along with a short and sweet verse that rounds out the mixtape and, at the same time subtly explains the genesis of Logan Micheals inspiration to start writing raps.
During live performances, Logan Micheal’s can come with a variety of different sounding sets. He Most certainly took that aspect and transposed it into this mixtape as these fifteen tracks provided a little bit of everything in its run time.

Check out “Lo-Fi Logan” and more of Logan Micheals’ music on his Bandcamp:

<a href="https://loganmichaels.bandcamp.com/album/lo-fi-logan">Lo-Fi Logan by Logan Michaels</a>

(Melodic Noise) How are you today?"
(Logan Micheals) Doing Alright man, surviving. Taking it one day at a time!

(MN) Let’s get into your name(s) and origin story. The Heartbreak Kid, Bob Dylan of Hip-Hop. I read your bio.
(LM) Oh this man has done his research! *laughs*
The Heartbreak Kid is actually Shawn Micheals. He was my favorite wrestler growing up. I first went under the name Lil Giant when I doing more parody music. But when I got to college, I used music to vent or use it for therapeutic outlet, so I needed a different name. Micheal is my middle name. And at the time there were rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott who had their first/middle names. I added the “s” from my last name to make It Logan Micheals. It also gives it a Shawn Micheals vibe too.

(MN) Did you start rapping first or did you start playing piano/guitar?
(LM) My grandma give me this tiny portable piano when I was ten. I tried to match hip hop songs I found. My friend had this rusty ass piano just sitting in the basement. So I tried to play hip hop songs on like, “Laffy Taffy” and “Snap yo Fingers.” College came and my major was mass media. I needed a minor. I wanted to learn a lifeskill for my minor. I couldn’t think of anything I want to learn besides music. That’s when I picked up guitar and starting learn the more technical side of playing piano.

(MN) So. you’re from Maple Lake, not a big town. Do you ever express to your classmates you wanted to be a rapper? How’d it go?
(LM) Not well. *laughs*
It’s funny, when I was on Sota Sound the other week, and PJ does this hard listen song. And it was not a good song. And before I was about ream it, I thought: This is what kids thought I was at the time, without listening to my music. That’s how they perceived me right away. I kept it fun and light hearted and didn’t try to take myself too seriously at first. But I I also didn’t want to be looked at as a joke. My class only had 70 kids in it so it was pretty easy to hand out CD’s. It wasn’t until we all moved away from each other to realize that this [my music] is progressively getting better.

(MN) Do you usually do your mixing/mastering on your projects?
(LM) Yeah, but with this last tape, I just did the vocals. I just need to hone in and focus more on that and had the mastering done to take pressure off that side of the project. I was really into Lo-FI this year and I had 40 or so beats on a playlist and narrowed down to 15 I actually wrote songs for. It was ultimately to get back into writing.

(MN) What do you want listeners to take away from Lo-Fi Logan?
(LM) I just hope that they feel something, especially songs like “Running in Place.” I hope people feel what I’m trying to portray especially in the ups and downs of this year.

(MN) What’s your favorite song on the tape?
(LM) I’d say “Running in Place.” That one gets me every time. I also catch myself listen to “Unattainable.” It’s like like a 1:37 so I keep running it back. It has a double meaning. If you look at the lyrics, it’s not only about a woman I’m waiting for, It’s also about trying to grasp for things in life that are out of reach.

(MN) Who are your influences?
(LM) Probably my favorite local artist of all time is Eyedea. I got on him super late, he had already passed. But when I started listening, I was like, “He was from here?” He just seemed like a great intellectual mind. He’s my favorite local artist of all time, but like, I love Nur-D, man. Just seeing him grow and so rapidly, he’ll go on to bigger and better things. That dude has super star quality.

(MN) Craziest show moment?
(LM) The craziest experience was playing at Soundset, as a part of Shut up and Rap. I campaigned my ass off to make sure that became reality. Performance wise, it wasn’t my best, but the fact that it was Soundset was the best experience for me.

(MN) Let’s talk about your podcasts.
(LM) I do the “Third Fall” Podcast. I do it with Kyle “Half Pint” Adams. We mostly talk about wrestling. That was how I started podcasting. The other one is the “Totally Potpurri Podcast.” That one is where Matt Nunya and I just talk about anything. We don’t have very many bullet points, and we just see how it spirals and see how it goes. The reason I called it “Totally Potpurri” cause i just wanted it to be about anything.

(MN) What was your favorite venue to play at?
(LM) It’s a toss up between Can Can Wonderland and 7th St. Can Can has my favorite aesthetic. 7th St. is a little iconic, its’s not quite 1st Ave, but I love the intimacy of it. It feels like 40 people fill the room. 7th St. was the second time I performed live with a guitar. First time was at Solsta Records. I’m so glad I did, because now I’m so much more confident playing guitar live.

(MN) Favorite place to grab food or drink in TC?
(LM) I have to say, for beer, Modist Brewing. That’s what got me into IPA’s. I used to like sour beer when I work at the Red Cow in St. Paul. For food… I haven’t gotten to a restaurant in forever… I just love pizza, so anywhere with pizza.

(MN) Dream Tour Mates?
(LM) I’d bring Nur-D for sure. I’d bring Matt Nunya, man. He was one of the first Hip- Hop artist I met at the Fifth Element open mic when I moved here. Uncle T would be a close 3rd. Love Uncle T.

(MN) Let’s say you can bring four. Who’s the last slot?
(LM) MINNESOTA COLD!!
(MN) *laughs* I’ll take it.

(MN) Any plans for future endeavors?
(LM) I’m doing a release party at Part Wolf on November 7th. I’m going to be doing a live stream show with B&E and Parallax on the 13th of November. My Grandpa just bought me a looper peddle for my guitar,
I’ve been messing around with that. And that’ll come into play when I start working on my “Heartbreak Kid” project.

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Review and Interview by: Paul Thorson, Hip-Hop Writer @PaulyT03
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, Owner @PlaylistTC