Despot & RATATAT Producer E*VAX Unleash Triumphant Return-to-Form, "House of Bricks" (We're All Excited "Debut?")
"Local man who never does anything quietly releases single on a Sunday afternoon," @despotroast half-jokingly Tweeted this past Sunday afternoon, but truth is: 33-year-old rhyming Queens native Alec Reinstein was initially signed to El-P's now-dissolved label Def Jux from 2004-10 and has been actively working, scrapping, and repeatedly re-working his "debut" album, either titled We're All Excited, Hooray for Me, or Jerry, ever since to no avail. Despot has almost made an intern "career" out of recording nearly flawless guest verses for his friends, having recorded with everyone from Vampire Weekend to Meyhem Lauren. His latest single, "House of Bricks," which totals just about less than five overall releases, was produced by RATATAT multi-instrumentalist Evan "E*VAX" Mast and seems to date back to about August 2012 in it's earliest incarnation; Despot performed the track, then titled "House Made of Bricks," live in-studio on Seattle's own 90.3 KEXP along with sharp-tongued buddies Mr. Muthaf*ckin' eXquire, Killer Mike & El-P. Thankfully, it's since morphed into something a little less brooding "Come with Me"-esque and arguably more Boom-Bap-infused, RATATAT-leaning Electro/Psych-Rock hybrid jam.
21 Jump Street actor and apparent Hip-Hop aficionado @JonahHill even Tweeted, "the homie @despotroast released a new single and it's [fire]! Produced by the other homie E*vax from RATATAT" upon "House of Bricks"' sudden weekend release, which has since been Retweeted by Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig, frequent collaborators RATATAT, True Panther Sounds, Heems, and ILOVEMAKONNEN. "Jerry is the name of the pretty much full-album I just finished with RATATAT last June. Evan [Mast] from RATATAT was forcing me to make an album so he was like, "How about I make a beat on the bus everyday and you write a song to it," Despot candidly revealed to Street Carnage way back in 2009, on one of at least three albums he's completed and scrapped. "I have finally reached the point where an album just needs to happen as soon as possible. I'm tired of talking when the album will come out because I don't know when it will come out," he continued. However, it's been some six years now, and Despot's proper "debut" album still has yet to fully materialize. And even with the wide-release of "House of Bricks," there's still no sure-fire signs we're any closer to actually hearing Jerry, We're All Excited, Hooray for Me, or Despot's very own Hip-Hop Chinese Democracy (ha).