In 2003, Louis Logic stepped onto the scene with his critically acclaimed debut, Sin-A-Matic. The album introduced the self-proclaimed “drunken dragon” to the world, with his own brand of off-the-wall, sometimes crass rhyme-styles and a penchant for heavily descriptive visual lyrics, hence the title. With his follow-up LP, Misery Loves Comedy, Lou has since parted ways with his former Demigodz crew, and this time around has chosen to work exclusively with producer JJ Brown, who crafted some of the tracks from his indie classic debut.

     You can expect to find more of the same types of songs on Misery Loves Comedy as you did on Sin-A-Matic. Sprinkled in between his usual punch-rhyme filled rants and movies for the blind, Louis follows a pretty straight-forward formula of first coming off like a completely insensitive asshole and then making up for it with thoughtfulness, and the contradicting it all with even stranger, more obsessive relationship perspectives.

     Naturally, before delving into the deeper subject material, Lou defines himself on tracks like “New Leaf” and “Captain Lou El Wino”, both of which profess his love for hip-hop music and his alcoholic asshole tendencies, over classically trained hip-hop production by JJ Brown. After several “rewind that!” moments, you’ll find him approaching more substantial topics, such as on “The Line”, where he obsesses over his best friend’s girl, vowing never to break their trust. Again on “Lust For Beginners”, where he adopts an overly animated game-show host like quality in his delivery, perversely hitting you with left and right nasty puns (whether you like it or not).

      This stuff is decent, but he doesn’t really catch your attention until midway through the album with “All Girls Cheat”, a characteristically obsessive diatribe about unfaithful women, followed by “The Withdrawal Method”, which more or less covers some of the same ground. But the crown jewel of the album comes in the form of “A Perfect Circle”, an almost “Stan”-like narrative, brilliantly penned and drenched in irony. He follows up with the incredible “Classy McNasty”, where he adopts a new rhyme style inspired by JJ Brown’s jazzy loops, once again impressing with breathless flow and tons of quotables. The same can be said for the self-depreciating, darkly mono  “Up To No Good”, which gives another look into his multi-faceted personality.

      Misery Loves Comedy is a good follow-up to Sin-A-Matic, with minor strokes of brilliance here and there, but it’s not without it’s faults. Lou has a hate-it-or-love it sing-songy style about his delivery that will split fans between those who see it as musically brilliant or just plain overkill. Not to mention, the wall-to-wall production of J.J. Brown lacks the diversity of the last LP’s team of producers. At the same time, Lou’s constant shifting of styles seems like he is definitely trying to change things up to keep things interesting, but at times the sound of the record begins to drown in monotony. These alternate styles and different perspectives are the album’s saving graces.  

   But not at all to rain tragedy on Lou’s Comedy. This is a solidly crafted LP, which shows that both Lou and J.J. are talented artists with potential to grow, but you almost want him to reinvent the wheel next time around, going in a totally different direction, without more songs about relationships or dirty sex. What else can come from the mind of Louis Logic? We’re excited to see what he has in store for us next.