Review: The Koreatown Oddity - Little Dominiques Nosebleed (2020)

A weird and challenging trip, this album manages to remain worthwhile and fun the whole time.

“Little Dominiques Nosebleed“ is an experimental Hip-Hop album with an underground sound aesthetic, combined with spoken word parts and skits that partially sound like excerpts from an avantgarde theatre.

And Dominique Purdy is in the midst of all that, partly stumbling over chaotic and noisy instrumentals, partly rapping laid-back over warm jazzy beats. The different songs are transitioning into each other, held together by a hand full of recurring motives and hook lines.

Lyrically he is dealing with car crashes he experienced in his childhood, the effects they had on his life as well as other stories from his past. And he is also reflecting on his very own view of the life he is living nowadays.

In doing so, he sounds cynical and melancholic at times, but also liberated and enlightened. The different emotions are held together by his honest charisma and humor. The narrative is marked by a worldly-wise distance but also surprises with richness of detail. Uncommon but effective storytelling.

The songs on this album are varied, this project can be unsettling, funny and catchy at the same time. But it does not appear random or mixed up at all.

Easily one of the best Hip-Hop albums of 2020 and one of the coolest and most sophisticated projects of the year.