Longtime friends and collaborators
Open Mike Eagle,
Video Dave, and
Still Rift held songwriting sessions during COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, which led to the formation of the group
Previous Industries. The trio's debut album,
Service Merchandise, reflects on growing up in the 1980s and '90s, and everything that was a part of their lives during their formative years: commercials, cartoons, cereals, video games like Tekken and Street Fighter, alternative rock bands, and businesses that no longer exist. The album and its songs are all named after defunct retail chains, prompted by
Eagle's collection of old magazines and catalogs, and the memories that flooded back as the trio pored through them. Mainly produced by
Child Actor with a few beats supplied by
Quelle Chris and
Smoke Bonito,
Service Merchandise is filled with slow, detached rhythms that sound like they're being played from melting cassettes, while the rhymes are casual yet tightly wound, occasionally getting more aggressive when it feels like the rappers have unlocked some core memories. They wistfully recall trying out new video games on Christmas mornings during "Babbages," and remember wishing they could afford everything in the Sears catalog on "Roebuck." They effortlessly trade off rapid verses during the brief but potent "Braids," and "Dominick's" is more exciting and vibrant all around, with dense, psychedelic beats and fired-up lyrics.
Service Merchandise has a strangely out-of-time feel, as it lyrically dwells on a certain time period but doesn't try to re-create the sound of that era of hip-hop. The group's music undeniably comes from a weathered perspective, but it feels comfortable and believable, and it's not so burdened by nostalgia that it ends up being a hokey attempt to relive the past. It's nothing more than three middle-aged guys bonding over childhood memories, and doing so in a highly skilled and creative way. ~ Paul Simpson
