Open your third eye through the journey of Thraxx King's latest album, Project 72.
Streaming on all platforms. Cover art designed by Maps Glover.
Psychedelic drugs such as LSD, mushrooms, MDMA, Peyote, and more have long been associated with music. A$AP Rocky and Skepta--tweaking out in a London studio--concocted their hit single "Praise the Lord" while Flacko's psychedelic professor friend was on-hand to monitor the pair's progression through the trip. And then there was Ken Kessey's famed Acid Tests in the 1960s, basically full-blown parties bumping music and strobe lights, challenging people not to freak out. Pushing your mind to such depths or heights becomes all the more impactful when its done to an equally as skewed soundtrack.
One night last November, Thraxx King experienced a "very powerful trip" that he says manifested important realizations. The cover art of Project 72, designed by frequent collaborator Maps Glover, alludes to the magnitude of Thraxx's psychedelic awakening. Pictured in the foreground with a drooping dreadlock, the Maryland-based rapper is being pulled through, in, and out of these different portals and dimensions. The time travel and reality warping seem to have driven him mad as he stares at the listener googly-eyed. There's no telling what this figure is hallucinating.
Cover art for singles "Anarchy" and "Talking About Nuclear War" by Glover.
If Glover drew Thraxx mid-trip, then the songs of Project 72 are grounded in the consciousness he attained post-trip. "I learned a lot from it and had to create something," he said over DM.
While tracks two and three ("Distortion" and "Moon") were already composed before the Maryland rapper's mind-altering trip, much of the project was conceived during the aftermath. He places himself in this contagious pocket of songs such as "Motion," "Won't Lose," and "Lesson Learned," where bass-heavy 808s drive the listener into a head-banging trance as he raps, "Timing is of the essence. Follow that frequency. Boost up that energy. It starts with self, nobody else," in the latter track.
Thraxx King is far from the kid who's introduction to music was drumming in church, as he recalled on Late Bloom Radio several months ago. Although his music still maintains crisp, percussive elements like rudiments on a snare. Thraxx hopes to soon produce accompanying visuals to continue the strong engagement with his album. Available on Tidal, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and any other streaming platform, Project 72 is firm ground on which Thraxx King can elevate his music career.