Chester Watson * Past Cloaks LP [Gold Andromeda Cloud]

"Past Cloaks" is the classic debut compilation from Chester Watson. A bonfire that was sparked at age 15, when he released “Phantom,” an instant generational anthem that has been streamed over ten million times. Created with cheap equipment, powerful weed, and a restless mind, those 19 narcotic hexes led Complex to call him "one of the best new musicians." In a rave review, Pitchfork hailed him as “a Florida teenager who sits so comfortably and skillfully amongst his influences that he already feels like their peer." Pigeons and Planes named him one of "Best 20 artists under 20." Vice hailed his "eloquent diction, arcane vocabulary and seemingly effortless ability to stack internal and end rhymes.

This is the work of a master of dusted and damaged psychedelic music, ideal for imprecations and illicit behavior, baleful hymns and bleak parables. This is rap for warm-hearted skeptics and seekers, smokers and sippers. Watson re-imagines himself as a cursed black Pharaoh covered in golden scarabs, an enigma with wings, suffused with Eastern philosophy, skateboards, and spitting raps as hot as Guatemalan springs. A new anti-hero with venom, the ballet-dancing beast hallucinated on ayahuasca or just too much liquor. As Watson said himself, “the best villain since Mad-V.”