The Laptop [EP]

MC Lars

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 27, 2004)
• Original Release Date: July 27, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: EP
• Label: Sidecho Records
• ASIN: B0002IQL62
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,769 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Stuff Magazine review 7.04

incredible mix of tracks that are tremendously catchy and bound to appeal to everyone

About the Artist

Science Experiment: Take a kid. Give him one of those brains that takes everything in and processes at speeds higher than you or I care to deal with. Give him The Performance Gene. Just as he enters his teens, stick him in the middle of the mid-90's new wave of punk rawk (Green Day, Rancid, Offspring), then quickly dose him with classic rap artists (Run DMC, Public Enemy). Let him mull it over for a few years in a punk band. Then give him a rap show on a college radio station, allowing him access to some of the greatest hip-hop vinyl ever to have existed. Quickly feed him a computer that makes music, put it all in a beeker and stir vigorously. After a few small explosions you will have created...

MC Lars makes post-punk laptop rap. It's not a category exactly, but he's working on that. Musically, his songs come from computer driven beats, samples and a small pile of instruments that sit next to his dorm room bed. His homespun recording sessions tend to run late into the night, annoying his studious neighbors at Stanford University. Not many people know what is really going on in there... it's for the better that they do not.

The Laptop EP, a selection of songs that appropriately showcase Lars' mental muscles for the first time. Subject selection ranges from the outright autobiographical ("Straight Outta Stockholm") to a smirky interpretation of England from the American Student persective ("UK Visa Versa"). "Mr Raven", one early standout track which samples a Brand New song, came about completely by accident. "I had been reading Poe and listening to Brand New and had this revelation that the four bars of that song fit this meter of Poe's. It was a song I had to write because the pieces fit well together - I couldn't help myself."

Sampling Brand New fired another spark in the cells of MC Lars' cranium, and "Signing Emo" tells the tale of how the music industry can lose touch with 'the kids', hopping from bandwagon to the next and failing to keep up with the fast moving but organic underground. Critique of the music industry and youth culture doesn't stop there, with "iGeneration" both a nod and stab at fast-tracked technology. "There are songs that sum up the generations of the 60's, the 90's grunge kid... I wanted to be the first to write one for the Internet Generation. I wanted to talk about how all of this fusion of information has led to a world view where it's normal that you can download the complete works of Shakespeare or a periodic table on your cell phone in two seconds."

Lars' focus now turns from recording to touring, bringing his music to salivating kids who are looking for a new orator to make sense of there over stimulated, cut and pasted edit of pop culture. MC Lars is the first creation of fast technology. He's the, 'I've seen it, I've downloaded it, now I'm going to make my own' kid. His new software The Laptop EP is packed with both cultural reference and originality with nods to philosophy school, old skool and nu-skool. In short, there's a hook for anyone who's a rebel in any class. This is one Science Experiment which gives a result everyone shall be aware of.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marty...We've Got a Hit!, August 2, 2004

By	MrPants (from the tree house I made in my parent's back yard) - See all my reviews

OK, you've got to be wondering: who exactly is MC Lars? Well MC Lars is definitley one of the freshest new artists you're going to hear this year. In fact, he's Hurricane Fresh. Using beats he made on his laptop and various instruments he had lying around, MC Lars has crafted one of the most clever and original recordings I've heard in a long time. He drops more pop culture references than a month of VH1's "Best Week Ever" and anyone who can incorporate Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" with the Brand New song "Okay I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't" is nothing short of a genius. The rhymes on every song are extremely tight and there is nothing elementary about anything here. Lars has what most MCs out there now lack: brains. You'll listen to some lines over and over just to grasp the full hilarity of them. The highlight for me is the sublime "Signing Emo" which chronicles the rise and fall of fictional emo band Hearts That Hate, complete with a chorus by said band that is rife with more emo cliches than the entire Drive-Thru Records catalog. I almost split a gut the first time I heard it. Trust me on this, if you enjoy anything about music and can appreciate a rhyme of any kind you will not be dissapointed. The only downside here is that there are only seven songs, but since there is no filler, it's worth the price.
Who's house? Raven's House!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING!!!, April 14, 2005

By	pat - See all my reviews

MC Lars does it again. This CD includes the great remake of the poem The Raven, his style of Hip-Hop and Rock will surely make him one of the bestselling artists out there. The CD also includes hits such as "iGeneration" and "Signing Emo".

This CD will defenetly be worth the money.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS CD ROCKS! BUY IT NOW!, August 29, 2004

By	Shanikwa "Kerrin" (USA) - See all my reviews

I absolutely love this cd! This first time i heard signing emo on the radio i had to find out the name of the band! It's so affordable too! I suggest this cd to anyone and everyone!