Music, Print, Reviews March 29, 2013

Review: Epoch When – “GRIM”

by John Hann

epoch whenEpoch When is a lyricist and producer out of Fort Collins who has been growing a fan base across Colorado. Over the past year, Epoch When’s first album GRIM, released on November 15th, 2012, has been a great success for the new artist. Epoch When (Alex Koutsoukos) has played venues in Denver and northern Colorado, building up his reputation in the hip-hop scene. Though he has been writing rap for three years, he’s been producing and mastering beats since 2009. Koutsoukos says he “didn’t plan on becoming a producer,” however one of his friends introduced him to the Icon Collective staff and they hit it off. The music production school in Glendale, California gave Koutsoukos a scholarship to attend their program because of his strong passion for making music. He never thought he would be at a production school but found himself in a fantastic program that taught him not only the skills he needed to produce but also how to develop his own unique musical style.

In March 2012, Epoch When started on his journey to complete GRIM, which he fully produced, recorded, and mastered by himself. The project has been helping the new artist get his start as a producer and lyricist in Colorado’s growing hip-hop scene. Stand-out tracks on the album include “As Long As,” “Feature Presentation,” “Crowds,” and “No Hablo.” The album also features rappers such as ROOKE5, David Stone from HR People, and Brady James, who all make appearances on “Feature Presentation.” Epoch When has a unique, sarcastic, punch-line filled style of rap that shows his clever lyricism and determined attitude.

Epoch When demonstrates his multilingual talent with his track “No Hablo,” written completely in Spanish. When asked about the track, he said he is not a big fan of “ego tripping tracks,” but “No Hablo” was definitely that track for this album, so he decided to take it up a level and do it in Spanish. The rapper said that the track was difficult because “I’m not 100% fluent in Spanish,” but the track came out better than he expected, making it both impressive and unique. Epoch When explained that the inspiration for the track came from friends he knew that were immigrants, who worked hard, and still got ridiculed by the American public on a daily basis. Koutsoukos said he “was sick of people talking shit about immigrants” and wanted to “show the point of view of how hard being an immigrant is in America.”

GRIM has become a one-of-a-kind album for the up-and-coming rapper and producer from Fort Collins. Although Epoch When currently does not have any upcoming concerts booked, he plans to get some lined up in Denver over the next couple months. He is, however, already working on a second album he hopes to release at the end of May 2013 called Spirit of the Stairway, in reference to a French saying from Chuck Palahniuk’s book Haunted. Epoch When feels his style and talent in making music have grown a lot and he is looking forward to dropping another album to show how his rap has changed since releasing GRIM. Check out Epoch When on Facebook for up coming events and updates and listen to GRIM online at EpochWhen.BandCamp.com.

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