By ROB DUGUAY

Over the course of an artist’s career, sometimes it’s a wise move to switch things up a bit. In order for this to happen, the creative canvas is wiped clean with new possibilities being brought to the forefront. For the Coventry native Mike Jencks, he recently decided to do this with his prolific hip hop outlet that goes by the name of ToadStool. The result is the “Smother” EP that came out back on February 16 and it shows a new side of his musical scope. There’s a ‘90s era electronica vibe that’s conveyed through the beats while the lyrics come across in distorted fashion.

Even though the record is relatively quick with most of the tracks running under two minutes, there is a substantial quality that’s present. This is due to Jencks’ willingness to challenge himself during the songwriting and recording process while doing different things in order to form fresh and vibrant ideas.

“‘Smother’ was an attempt to kinda delve into something I wasn’t comfortable in, while also discarding some bad habits that may have formed with me feeling a bit stagnant,” He says about the new EP. “I had a couple very drum and bass heavy, throbbing tracks that didn’t have any vocals. [Then] I started making more instrumentals to mirror those while also challenging myself to write in a style that I hadn’t yet really ventured in. In all honesty, this is probably the most selfish I’ve ever been with a project; solely making this for myself and not even knowing where I was heading during the course of actually creating it. Truly, I just let things fall and this is what became of it.”

“Buddwyer” kicks things off with a noisy bass beat while setting the tone for the entire EP. My favorite track has to be “Altered Alters”, there’s some serious Death Grips vibes going on with the beats and rhythms counteracting each other in intense fashion. “Pound Of Flesh’’ has a rapid structure while the elements move along at a fast pace until a nice breakdown comes in after the halfway point. Another similar example of this is “Square Clock” while “Shibari” concludes it all by pumping up the volume and energy up to new heights. It also can’t be overlooked that there are two cool instrumentals titled “Godsmother” and “Water 2 Wine” serving as interludes between the songs.

Jencks has released so many recordings under the ToadStool moniker that I’ve honestly lost count, but this is probably the most inventive thing he’s ever done as a musician. He has another record coming out on April 12th titled “Swampcrawlr”, so be on the lookout for that too. To give “Smother” a listen along with everything else Jencks has released, log on to his Bandcamp page at xxxtoadstoolxxx.bandcamp.com. If you’re looking for something that’s different and stands out from other hip hop records, then I highly recommend checking this out. I also highly recommend keeping tabs on what Jencks has going on in the future because he’s doing awesome things.