All-around Breakdown: Juan Cosby Breaks Down New Album Quantum Foam (Grasshopper Juice Records)
Juan Cosby is an American producer and multi-instrumentalist. A member of Cincinnati-based Counterfeit Money Machine, Juan released his first solo album, Inhospitable Planet, in 2017, which was described as "a dazzling exploration of Progressive Hip-Hop." Cosby is the founder and owner of Grasshopper Juice Records, the mastermind behind annual Overcast Hip-Hop Festival, and runs his own blog, amazingly titled PIZZA RAPS. Juan Cosby has previously worked with the likes of ialive, Spoken Nerd, ceschi, Happy Tooth & Dug, Onry Ozzborn, OneWerd, AP Counterfeit (Counterfeit Money Machine,) Blueprint, Dope KNife, and Mega Ran. Cosby recently self-released his third proper solo/producer album, dubbed a "Psychadelic Rap LP," Quantum Foam, on Grasshopper Juice Records. It's a fun listen, glitchy, spaced out, and slightly reminiscent of Bright Eyes or a Hip-Hop version of The Postal Service's Give Up.
Not entirely unlike his past releases, Juan Cosby has recruited an all-star cast of characters here to help him effectively bring his vision for Quantum Foam to life, this including, but not limited to, Spoken Nerd, sole, Margaret Darling (The Seedy Seeds,) Happy Tooth, Dope KNife, Chris Conde, Dan Barger AKA Danbient. We've been messaging back-and-forth with Juan for the past few months ever since our MC DOOM-centric Shadows of Tomorrow MF DOOM tribute feature penned by Cosby himself and Spoken Nerd. Juan Cosby was kind enough to participate within our track-by-track breakdown column, All-around Breakdown, in which he goes through Quantum Foam track-by-track. It's all down below and Juan Cosby's Quantum Foam is now available on Grasshopper Juice Records. Check out the latest episode of Donuts n. Akahol, Funny Cookies, down below to learn more about Juan Cosby, Quantum Foam, Overcast Hip-Hop Festival, his Dan Baker-directed "Golden" music video, Bandcamp Fridays... Sir Paul McCartney, and Hugh Grant.
1. "I picked this as my opener because it included every aspect of sound design that is used throughout Quantum Foam: synthesizers, mandocaster, drum machines, acoustic drums, and horns (vocals being the exception to the rule.) Dan Barger, who played sax, (Danbient) was a major factor on all the pivotal songs from this album; it only made sense to open Quantum Foam with an instrumental in which he shines so brightly."
2. "Continuing about Dan Barger with the sax... he wrote original parts for this one that pushed the song beyond what I had first imagined. When I dropped his parts into this song, I realized we were forging a very special relationship."
3. "Oftentimes, when a vocalist sends me their recorded tracks for a song, they send me 20 layers and tell me "to use my best judgement" on what makes the cut, as far as inclusion in the final version of the song. I begin "soloing" or playing through each individual track and start piecing together the very best of the best vocal parts. However, on this song, there was nothing that felt scrap-able. I became determined to make all these tracks work together, no exceptions. I used several EQ's, reverbs, and panning techniques to maintain clarity of the individual vocal tracks. I'm so happy with how it turned out. Reminds of something off of Björk's Medulla."
4. "Margaret has one of my all-time favorite voices. The Seedy Seeds are, maybe, the greatest band in Cincinnati music history. She started hinting around at a potential collaboration, so I put together a couple songs with her inclusion in mind. I wanted to write a song that gave the impression of being 4/4, but was, actually, 3/4. I was happy it came together naturally, in a way that isn't too confusing or distracting."
5. "My favorite Farout songs have singing parts in them. In an effort to channel his melodic energy, I gave him an instrumental with a pronounced chord progression. His performance was incredible. It was so good that, according to Farout, "Eyenine practically forced his way onto the song and wrote his lyrics overnight." Farout & Eyenine are incredible people, friends, and artists and I plan to make a lot more music with them in the future."
6. "Somewhere along the process of making my full-length collaboration with Spoken Nerd (Grapes coming Summer 2021,) we arrived at the idea that we were going to make a song together with sole. We decided the song would appear on my album, and not his, because Spoken Nerd's albums are Clean (FUN FACT!) They picked this beat out of the bunch I, initially, sent. Spoken Nerd came up with the idea to write a song about trust. These are two of my all-time favorite lyricists. I'm really grateful that I get to make art with them."
7. "Happy Tooth has the natural ability to rap melodically. I love how he's speaking upon things that are very relatable to struggling independent and D.I.Y. artists. He'll laugh when he reads this, but there is almost a Bob Seger-like soulful and emotive quality to his voice. His partner-in-Rap, Dug (Happy Tooth & Dug) reached out and told me this is his favorite solo Happy Tooth song to-date. Colin [Ward] (Happy Tooth) comes from a musically-talented family, including his late father, John Ward. John had a special song-crafting talent; a trait that carries on within Colin. Here's a link to John Ward's album, for those who want to explore further."
8. "I am a big fan of AP's abilities. His vocabulary and quick-wit are, often, overshadowed by his impressive delivery and because of that, he has the scope of an artist that will be appreciated for years beyond his body of work. I love his lyrics on this song and I can't wait for everyone to hear our next Counterfeit Money Machine album."
9. "Similar to "Stray," this song would've stood on its own as an under two-minute jam. I wanted to add Eyenine to the mix for a couple reasons: one, the subject matter was worthy of elaboration. Also, I had been looking for an opportunity to put them on a song together since their Rap battle at Overcast 2019. Oddly enough, the music for this song was inspired by ceschi Ramos' acoustic cover-ish of Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time." I decided to use that same song's chord progression as the foundation for the beat and it came together better than I expected. Someone asked me why this song has eight seconds of silence in the beginning. They thought, maybe, it was an accident. To me, it was crucial to the dynamics of the song, as well as the flow of the album."
10. "Chris Conde is an artist that I have admired from the moment I first heard them a few years ago. Their delivery is polished and their lyrics are powerful. Our collaboration was inspired by Conde's song, "Apathy & Rage," that featured an odd-metered beat that the legendary Venetian Snares had produced. I had been looking for the right beat to match their technical abilities and when this one came to fruition, I sent it Conde's way. Within the hour, [they] sent back this incredibly uplifting performance for the song. I love the positive message in their lyrics. [Jaki] Howser (MADQUEEN) gave me some much-needed drums for the end of this song. I love the way that part eases the album's transition from a medley of raps back into a series of instrumental jams."
11. "The initial sound design for "Orchiiids" came together very quickly, but Nick Baverman added some percussion a few months later and that took the song to another level, of course. I was surprised with how well the mandocaster part meshed in the second verse. Turned out to be one of my favorite songs on the album."
12. "This is one of the last songs I finished. Mostly, because I wrestled between either adding vocals or keeping it as an instrumental song. Once I replaced the synth melody with the mandocaster sound, I felt like it was ready to go. I, especially, love the work Chris Barlow did with bass parts on this one."
13. "'Mata Hari" is a pretty straight-forward Synthwave-inspired song with Margaret taking the lead. Nick Baverman played drums. There are several vocal and synth melodies at play. I had a ton of fun mixing parts and experimenting with the structure."
14. "The last song on a full-length album is such a critical moment. Sometimes, it's hard to decide what to put last because you want it to be one of the best songs, but you are afraid impatient listeners might not make it far enough through the album to hear it. In developing the song order for this album, this instrumental made the perfect closer for a couple reasons: the 7/8 (with alternating 4/4) timing made it, potentially, the least digestible song of the bunch, so burying it at [Track] #14 made sense from that standpoint. Yet, the song is, also, dramatic, layered, and dynamic enough to fill the climactic role I was looking for."