Faimkills – Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Being single in the modern age has become quite a complex ordeal. While many modern singletons shift from the traditional monogamous structure of a relationship to experimenting with polyamory, adopting dating partners or Tinder swinging, those eager for ‘the right one’ kind of love may have difficulty adjusting emotionally. Comes, Faimkills, fluid in and inspired by love, dating, crushing, sex, and break ups. As a millennial bachelor, Adam Martinez conjures the beat of such complexity in his latest release.

From the bedsheet bumps and grind of Riverside, California’s underground hip-hop, Martinez presents his 7th coming release ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’. The CashOnly mixed and mastered EP is a misfit self release exploiting the sad boy rap-volution, pulling women out of a film type into a cinematic narrative. Utilizing unforgotten tracks of late 90’s and 2000’s, Faimkills chops and screws a taste of nostalgia and indie, in a seamless weave of modern beats about heartbreak and love shakes, while adding a pinch of social commentary. However, unlike Drake and The Weeknd, whose music glorifies men in the sad and good times of stripper culture and helpless women, Adam holds his heart and words on another girl.

For the unfamiliar, a ‘manic pixie dream girl’ is an eccentric, artsy, ‘follow me if you dare but don’t get too close’ fem stress who usually leads her sad boy protagonist through wild adventures often ending in heartbreak. Examples of such character are Zoey Dechanel as Summer in 500 Days of Summer, Claire Danes as Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and Kirsten Dunst as Claire in Elizabethtown. MPDG was coined by film critic Nathan Rabin, as a, “..male fantasy: of being saved from depression and ennui by a fantasy woman who sweeps in like a glittery breeze to save you from yourself, then disappears once her work is done.” [http://www.salon.com/2014/07/15/im_sorry_for_coining_the_phrase_manic_pixie_dream_girl/]

Ennobling the free thinking, independent, artistic woman, Faimkills shifts the rap narrative  of objectifying women to subjectifying their essence and quirks. Utilizing hit’s such as “Anniversary” by Tony Toni Tone in his appropriately 90’s named starting track “She’s All That”, “Me Vs.Maradona Vs. Elvis” by Brand New for his ending track “Black Dove” and of course Beach House samples, paying homage to the ultimate Manic Pixie Dream Woman, in his song “Victoria Legrand.”

Top recommended tracks include “Clementine” a song on a feminist film major, in a world of hip hop focused on the degradation of women for masculine empowerment. Adam turns the tables calling out her oppositions, demonstrating how that turns him on. With lyrical references to Drake but samples from “Time Will Tell” by Blood Orange, Martinez echoes the present with a personal voice.

“Baggage Claim” cuts and edits “Nothing Better” by Postal Service while deconstructing the patterns of break up, making lyrical reference to pisces dream girl Lykke Li and even beating a little trapping.

Finally, “Hollywood Forever and Never” the video track of the album uses “Find a Way” by Dwele to resounds a fresh jive, bouncing like a convertible car ride breezing down Hollywood Blvd, to the cemetery on a whimsical spirit felt day-time date.

There’s a level of commitment required by an artist who has chosen hip hop as his genre. It is a commitment to the previous standards which often may perceive as subjective, but this is returned by a note of authenticity.  With a Masters in English and MFA in creative writing, songwriter, rapper and poet Adam Martinez demonstrates his craft colliding the worlds of film and music in ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl.’ Deconstructing the rapping over beats about a girl facet, Martinez uses unconventional samples, vears from the masongenistic, glorifying a more cultural girl. Creating an innovative version of hip hop, the album works as a statement of change and modern transition in love and music. Relaying a backlash of beat mix culture, Faimkills’, alternative style creates a new space for women in the hip-hop narrative, and place for indie music in the hip-hop sound.

 http://faimkills.bandcamp.com/album/manic-pixie-dreams