EUGENIUS – FINAL FORM

Independence is important. This is something that becomes more and more relevant in various ways. Artists have the freedom to conjure up innumerable releases with the freedom of not having to answer to anyone. But it can also be a complication filled with stumbling blocks. It’s easy to share something with the world at the last possible moment although faced with the drawback of publicity. Yes, those are two different things.

The Cincy emcee/musician Eugenius – known to friends and family as Phillip Smith- released Crisis in 2022, “an album that’s challenging through its massive exploratory sounds.” Since then it seems he’s released a couple more albums as well as a few singles. Fast-forward to 2025 and we now have Final Form, his latest release and it doesn’t seem like he misses a beat, although again, this isn’t what you might be used to listening to. While Eugenius’ is obviously rooted in Hip-Hop, he does continue with an Avant Garde approach with his music. But there’s much more to it than that. The atmospheric “Numb” opens the album and the space around Eugenius’ words eventually becomes dense as his rhymes and vocals revolve around isolation and solitude. Musically there’s a slight juxtaposition but with a synergy that makes it work well together as guitars & drums explode three-quarters of the way through. He doesn’t wallow in his own desperate emotions though and it shows in both “Final Form I: Grow Teeth” and “Final Form II: Bite Back.” The former’s approach sounds more like acceptance of what’s around him while the latter, well, that’s a visceral attack and he’s not falling back. “Bite Back,” is raw, filled with distortion around overdriven drums at times as Eugenius lets you know “I might bite bitch!”

Eugenius isn’t a one-trick pony, far removed from it actually, sometimes with venomous  intensity like on “Parasighting.” If you test him, it might not be to your own liking, because he’ll be on the attack. One different thing, that’s his ability to shift form with the music around him. “Gloom Cult,” a mixture of experimental, free jazz movements, and funky rhythms set the pace for his quick-tongued verbiage. There’s hardly a moment here to catch his breath but if it were any other way it may not work. This is clear insanity through intensity. “Everything In Flux” may confuse you with its 24-second piano intro before the odd-beat breaks in along with his vocals, falling into art-rap territory while “Puzzle And Frame” moves like a nursery rhyme for an insane asylum with an alluring backdrop. His wording seems to move all over the place but with clear direction but it’s when he hits the melody at the end to close it out with his singing that all the pieces of the puzzle seem to fall into place.

The thing here about Eugenius though is he can fall in line within multiple genres, although these days they don’t seem to matter anymore. “Sidelined” is a thick pop song with weird vocal intonations at times that completely work within the context of the song itself. The drum machine loops and electronics keep the additional instruments on their proverbial feet, and Eugenius wears his heart on literal sleeve through comparison of the success of others, matching them with his own failures. That’s followed directly by “Stretches Of Nothing,” an industrial pop jam that hits hard and direct while “Future In Wake” has Eugenius spreading his wings, counting his “mistakes” sounding somewhat self-deprecating but continually looking towards the horizon.

There’s something to be said about honesty and with Final Form that’s what we get a lot of. Throughout the album it seems Eugenius is willing to share his frustrations, and his losses while moving forward and never slowing down. We can all appreciate that with the finesse he fills every song with. Success may come slowly for him but the creativity flows with ease.

DAMON LOCKS – LIST OF DEMANDS

Am I biased? Without a doubt. I feel I needed to preface this saying that directly, because there are some things, some artists, that will always be able to skip to the front of the line. Some would never offer that to the general public but here, sometimes no fucks are given. While I could understand if it were untalented shmucks always gave credence to but no, the space is normally reserved for those on the other side of that spectrum.

List Of Demands (International Anthem) is the long-awaited solo debut for Damon Locks, best known for his work with Black Monument Ensemble, New Future City Radio, The Eternals, and more. Music is his passion, his way to manipulate and form his sound improvisations into something people can understand and possibly relate to. For his new album, the focus on cultural abstractions is enticing. While the album might be sample-heavy, Locks’ electronic manipulation can never be replicated. His style is all his own and here he’s able to offer an organic feel to the songs compiled here With the help of a few friends throughout, his vision seems to be complete. Both “Reversed” and “Reversed Pt. 2 (Something To Love)” bookend the release, soulful samples on repeat lifting spirits with hypnotic effect. It sets the tone, and possibly pace, of the album with Locks’ words wrapping around most of the tracks here, “Reversed” filled with samples lingering around the civil rights era While “Reversed Pt. 2” is layered with a guitar droning with a few notes. “Distance” though, now that’s where listeners are completely(!) reeled in with layers of his thoughtful prose, defining the title and how it relates to our own lives within its proximity, compounding it within the culture of our lives and how we’re here through the actions of the past. It makes all the sense in the world and his statements in prose is powerful. Guitars squeal around samples as it draws to an end and you may never want it to come to a close. Locks gets the assistance from a few super friends, embellishing on his songs, his structures with their talent. Multi-instrumentalist DJ Major Taylor – known to friends and family as Ralph Darden (Franklin, Jai Alai Savant) handling drums on “Isn’t It Beautiful,” which scurries majestically around floating strings and an assortment of instrumentation & samples. The juxtaposition of a couple of movements here does seem to work, flowing and ebbing with ease. While nothing seems is literally “easy,” Locks does make it seem that way.

“High Priestess,” featuring Krista Franklin delivering poetry in motion, is…natural. With birds singing happily in its backdrop before distressed voice samples enter the mix. This is stormy but then the thunder ends. “Meteors Of Fear,” opens with Major Taylor on turntables cutting up samples of Locks’ own voice. It’s difficult to contain the dramatism throughout within the musicality of it all, the track just bounces off the walls as soon as you hit that play button. The rhythms throughout aren’t forces but they are definitive and purposeful. The title track is tribal in essence, and it’s where the past meets the future. The future is where Locks lives regardless. Now “Click,” this one is misleading. It begins as if moving in one direction before quickly slinking into another. Locks seems to include historical events within his prose coupled with the feelings of what many go through.

When looking at his works, Damon Locks’ musical evolution is always varied and ascending. With List Of Demands, there are no mincing words here because this is clearly his most realized work to date.