{"id":3599,"date":"2013-04-20T19:29:08","date_gmt":"2013-04-20T23:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=3599"},"modified":"2013-04-20T19:30:44","modified_gmt":"2013-04-20T23:30:44","slug":"milo-otis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2013\/04\/20\/milo-otis\/","title":{"rendered":"Milo & Otis"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Finals begin to roll around, the necessity for pleasant studying music grows exponentially. Fortunately, the funky soul duo \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Milo & Otis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from Chicago supplies the perfect 11-track tape for note-taking and flashcard-making. Technically, they released their debut piece The Joy<\/em> almost a year ago; however, following their stop in Ann Arbor last weekend during their Spring 2013 tour, I am just hopping on their soul-train now. Milo & Otis (adorably named after the Japanese movie about the best friendship of a cat and dog) consist of Owen Hill and Jamila Woods. Hill produces, composes and engineers the beats, while Woods writes the lyrics and soothes everyone with her magical voice. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the recipe: Otis lays down the track and Milo builds a mountain of entertainment on it.<\/p>\n

When listening to the entire album for the first few times, the tracks will inevitably blend together into a somewhat indistinguishable buzz of mellow, electronic soul music. Which is not an established genre of music, making the pair all the more unique. Otis uses a wide variety of horns, electronic amplification, keyboard and drums to assemble the various beats, however they all have a similar tone and pitch. The only major tempo fluctuations occur in the songs, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Black Sheep\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which speeds up the usual pace, and \u00e2\u20ac\u01531108 Troy Davis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which slows things down a bit. The album also adds variety with its featuring artists, including most notably Chance The Rapper, (another Chicago native gaining fame by the day) Nico Segal and Enrico X. The guest artists are critical to the album\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success because they provide a needed and wonderful compliment to Woods\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 voice. Not that she needs any substitution, (I could listen to her for days straight with no break) but as the pair obviously has some Hip Hop influence, more than one MC is needed on an album.<\/p>\n

As you spend more time listening, certain tracks stand out. The album begins with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Stop Now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the second-most defining song of the album. Woods starts with the quote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Your life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work begins when your great joy meets the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great hunger\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a line that sets the impression and purpose of the entire work. The Joy<\/em>, unsurprisingly, encourages the pursuit of passion, and the value of chasing dreams. She preaches, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who says everybody gotta know what they meant to do in this world\/All I know is what I got in my head, I guess I might as well start there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d This mentality is continued across the next ten songs. My favorite track, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ars Poetica,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d finishes with Woods passionately repeating, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Give me something to believe in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The song \u00e2\u20ac\u01531108 Troy Davis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d also stands out, as it is easily the most moving and personal moment. Woods reminisces on the day Troy Davis was killed, singing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I dreamed he was a bird, I told him: they cage our kind, baby so fly away.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The album finishes with the song titled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Joy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which, as songs go, is practically perfect. It seems impossible not to relate to the lyrics, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look at your life, look at the joy you give. Look at the world, look at what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left to live.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It is that optimism, that personal reflection that sets this band apart. In the midst of the current pop music frenzy, Milo and Otis manage to produce an entirely genuine, artistic creation that boasts impeccable, soulful vocals, a groovy, unique sound and a delightful attitude. They simply are a joy.<\/p>\n

Listen to “The Joy<\/a>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Finals begin to roll around, the necessity for pleasant studying music grows exponentially. Fortunately, the funky soul duo \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Milo & Otis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from Chicago supplies the perfect 11-track tape for note-taking and flashcard-making. Technically, they released their debut piece The Joy almost a year ago; however, following their stop in Ann Arbor last weekend during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3601,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions\/3601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}