*AUSTIN CHRONICLE REVIEW, NOVEMBER 16, 2007, BY THOMAS FAWCETT*
A Tale of Two MIDIs is a minimalist manifesto created by newcomer Penname alone in his room with a MIDI keyboard and microphone ("Fuck your street cred; I'm making a whole record on the end of my queen bed"). The independent release is headphone heaven for the Def Jux and Diplo crowd. On "Rims," Penname drops a scathing indictment of commercial hip-hop over a bananas banjo-laden beat, and blues guitars are flipped beyond recognition on "Man With a Machine (Alan Lomax)" as he spits, "While others rhyme about busting stomach caps, I'm a throw Leadbelly in my battle raps." Heady rhymes about The Charlie Rose Show and Jorge Luis Borges won't earn Penname any Clear Channel spins, but this DIY release is ripe for college-radio rotation. Best of all, it's a free download at www.pennamemusic.com.
Pennames got height like I run through the entire color spectrum of trim on a Saturday night. A renaissance man indeed hardwired for proliferation of straight seed to every race, religion, and creed. Jack of all trades, master of none, when I break out the flyin knee cats balls disappear like bats in the sun. -Child, Copyright Blanco Nariz Reckuds 2008
So you must have been in Chicago because I was at a bar called Monsignor Murphy's on Broadway and Wellington and randomly found your c.d. and now I can't listen to anything else and am afraid I might burn a hole in the Penname spot on my ipod.
