Album Review: Black Astronaut Records – ai12die

Charles Luck’s Black Astronaut Records assembles a crack team of experts, human or otherwise, on new mixtape, ai12die.

Not only is ai12die the title of the mixtape, it’s also the name of the central character, who Luck has described as “a sentient musical AI, and he is suicidal because everyone hates him because he is the best rapper alive.”

I can’t definitively say that the central conceit of the album is humorous or not, because even at its more pop-facing, the album takes itself seriously when it comes to the words and music. The lyrics, full of braggadocio one moment and expressing uncertainty and existential angst the next, make it clear that, as much as it’s about artificial intelligence, the fifteen songs on ai12die are overflowing with human emotion.

Joining Luck and the titular ai12die on vocals is Gina Da Lesbian, and it’s hard to spot where AI was involved in the album. It’s not an AI album, but one where AI was used to fit with the message of the lyrics, and hearing a human being spit bars against a series of zeros and ones made to sound like flesh and blood isn’t as disconcerting as I expected.

Luck has a knack for a melody, and how to draw from genres as diverse as hyperpop, Scandipop, indie-folk, and good old-fashioned rock and roll to find loops and beats that work best with the vocals. There’s a lot of humour in the lyrics and performances, and pathos and longing too, and it is making that work, making you connect with each character on each song, that is where ai12die is at its most human.

ai12die can be heard on SoundCloud – to learn more about the album and Charles Luck, make your way to Black Astronaut Records’ Instagram page.