By Mayo Sueta
suetamay@grinnell.edu
This Friday, April 20, Rory Ferreira, also known as Milo, will perform at Gardner Lounge.
Milo is a 24 year-old rapper currently based in Portland, Maine. He has also lived in Chicago, Los Angeles and Milwaukee, and has multiple alter egos, including Scallops Hotel, under which he released two of his albums.
According to a 2017 article from Rolling Stone, he has a significant online following, and “his projects, which he often releases as limited-edition cassette tapes via his Ruby Yacht imprint, regularly trade for hundreds of dollars online.”
In the same article, Milo talks about being an indie rapper, and not relying on anyone but himself to make it in the music industry.
“I tend to be a little more dedicated than most indie rappers. There’s a lot of indie rappers out here that are still operating under this model of, you know, ‘If I rap clever enough on this song, somebody’s gonna reach out, they’re gonna give me an offer that will change my life.’ I don’t buy into that anymore. I’m not looking for anyone to reach out to me. I’m on my own out here, and I prefer it that way,” he said.
He has released five albums: “A Toothpaste Suburb” in 2014, “Plain Speaking” and “So the Flies Don’t Come” in 2015, “Too Much of Life is Mood” in 2016 and “Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!” in 2017 — as well as multiple mixtapes, EPs and singles.
His albums have received positive ratings by Pitchfork and have gained him loyal fans. Pitchfork calls his debut album “refreshing,” and “So the Flies Don’t Come” is described as being “his most fascinating work to date, filling weird, side-winding productions that deflate and wheeze with tumbling lyricism delivered in near spoken word cadences.” In his latest album “Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!,” Milo “crafts richly layered rap songs using outmoded tools like sample-based beats, dense wordplay and unapologetically nerdy references.”
Doors will open at 9 p.m. — this is one not to miss.