(Orienteer) Rapper Open Mike Eagle shares a new music video for album standout track "my co-worker Clark Kent's secret black box". Directed by Stoney Sharp, embraces the surreality of the song and expands on the immersive fictional cable channel concept of his critically acclaimed new album Neighborhood Gods Unlimited released via his own label, Auto Reverse Records.
The album received praise upon release from the likes of Bandcamp, Paste and Pitchfork, which awarded the album Best New Music and described Mike as "a sly, adaptive songwriter" whose "Blowed chops are smuggled inside irresistible melodies and a voice that has grown more emotive and elastic over the course of his career."
The video's release finds Mike a majority of the way through his headline North American tour, which featured special guests Cavalier and Rhys Langston. Mike is also announcing additional headlining tour dates, including a special hometown show at the Hammer Museum as part of the Hammer Summer Concert series on August 19th and a handful of dates in October, with shows being added in Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Yucca Valley and Phoenix.
Along with his headline dates, OME will also play shows of Clipping on August 15th and 16th, and in support of Phantogram from August 31st to September 15th.
Beyond his career as a musician, Mike has developed a number of television projects including his Comedy Central show The New Negroes. Speaking about that process, Mike reflects "One project I always come back to is a concept called Dark Comedy Television. It's a show about a cable network that can only afford to be on the air for an hour a week so it has to fit its entire slate of programs in that hour." Inspired by dramas like Get Out or Sorry to Bother You, which are stories that engage in big conversations around the trauma of marginalized peoples, and later by the surrealism of Boots Riley's I'm A Virgo, Mike began to develop Neighborhood Gods Unlimited.
Mike continues, "The trauma at the center of 'Neighborhood Gods Unlimited' is mine. I was shattered as a young person and I spent the majority of my life not knowing it. In my ignorance I would go on to shatter myself even further because it was all I knew. This is a story about how people who are trying to find themselves get confused when they encounter things that remind them of themselves." In light of the harsh realities that new series often face in the television industry, Mike decided to transform his concept into music, partly as a cathartic process. As Mike says, "It felt good to make and sometimes TV forces you to abandon things you've put your heart into. If that had happened with a project around this particular subject matter, it would have been bad for my mental health."
The ensuing album contains an opening theme, flashbacks, a climax and even some commercials.
Headlining
8/13 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
8/14 - South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase
8/19 - Los Angeles, CA @ Hammer Museum
Opening for Clipping
8/15 - Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club
8/16 - Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
Opening for Phantogram
8/31 - Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore
9/3 - Rochester, NY @ Anthology
9/4 - Albany, NY @ Empire Live
9/5 - Montreal, QC @ Theatre Beanfield
9/8 Portland, ME @ State Theater
9/10 Norwalk, CT @ District Music Hall
9/11 Allentown, PA @ Archer Music Hall
9/12 Huntington, NY @ The Paramount
9/15 Richmond, VA @ The National
Headlining
10/15 - Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
10/16 - Miami, FL @ Gramps
10/18 - Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
10/30 - Yucca Valley, CA @ Mojave Gold
10/31 - Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
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