Apparently their follow-up album got caught in some sort of release limbo, thus the massive L.A. Symphony take a break from their vast individual solo releases to throw out a quick 9 song EP in the form of the cutely titled and packaged (in a baggie with a baloney sandwich on the cover) Baloney. Conceptually, they stay focused on the up-rock with strongly solid production, simple, hardly complicated and easy to pump. Vocally, Pigeon John remains the most recognizable due to exterior collaborations and a finely tuned voice, so discerning from whom else is rapping might be difficult (note: on the next album put names to all those faces in the liner notes), but nonetheless while they’re all similar stylistically the Symph undoubtedly work well with one another from track to track, except for the cat at the beginning of “You” who might want to avoid rapping like that in front of the Project Blowed.

“Haters”, “Maintain” and “Crush(ed)”, all innocent and enjoyable to delve into but as the titles so blatantly state, that’s what they’re all about. Topics burned to the ground more than a lot of times which make for bland territory to travel, yet thankfully slick production keep these considerably covered concepts afloat.

Still though – don’t make a habit out of it, or at least come up with some more creative titling. But the guys have character and fun which both relate well to their listeners. While they don’t break massive ground and with 10 rappers and a different producer on every song, the vibe comes and goes rapidly, but all in all, the LA Symphony have heart and it shows.