Cage, Sadistik

The tortured and visceral lyrics of underground rapper Cage (Chris Palko) come from a life of pain, paranoia, hard drugs, and hard living. His father was busted for selling and using heroin, going as far as to have the young Cage tighten the tourniquet around his arm. A standoff with the state police after threatening his family with a shotgun. While in high school, Cage went home to a physically abusive stepfather. Drugs became a serious problem for the teen, leading to expulsion from school, getting kicked out of the house, and various arrests for various crimes. Facing serious jail time, Cage's mother convinced the judge to send her son to a mental institution instead of jail. Sentenced to 18 months in the Stony Lodge Psychiatric Hospital, his depression deepened and suicide attempts led to solitary confinement. It was there that Cage had nothing to do but write his thoughts on paper.

Released from "the Lodge" and confident with his writing skills, Cage began practicing his rap and eventually cut a demo. Appearances on DJ Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia's legendary N.Y.C. radio show got his name out and lead to friendships with the KMD crew, the late Subroc, Pharoahe Monch, and producer El-P Cage recorded three successful underground 12"s for the Bobbito's Fondel Em label , including the revered "Agent Orange." He then formed the Smut Peddlers with Mr. Eon and producer Mighty Mi. The group was signed to the hot underground label Rawkus in 2001 and released the album Porn Again that same year.

Going solo again, Cage signed with the Eastern Conference label and released his full-length solo debut. The album was well received by critics and underground hip-hop fans. A year later he formed the superstar group the Weathermen with Camu Tao, El-P, Aesop Rock, Yak Ballz, Tame One, Breeze, and Vast Aire. Cage decided he needed to be more open in his writing and stop playing a character. While his new writing style was no less blunt or shocking, it was more genuine, something longtime friend and associate El-P noticed and began to champion. Cage and El-P began work on his next album, enlisting the help of RJD2, Camu Tao, DJ Shadow, Jello Biafra, and Yo La Tengo member James McNew. The album, Hell's Winter, was released by Definitive Jux in 2005. The occasionally bracing Depart from Me, an album with an even nastier sonic disposition, followed nearly four years later.
The Pacific Northwest offers pine-lined mountain ridges, picturesque lakes and some of the most serene, uncorrupted beauty that one is likely to find in America. It also offers the ominous grey skies that pervade Seattle and often seep into the pores of its inhabitants. Cody Foster, the artist better known as Sadistik, calls Seattle home and knows the natural splendor as well as he knows the seasonal affective disorder that can carry on long past winter.

From his earliest recordings, Sadistik has used the vocal booth to create emotive etchings of thoughts that pound so furiously on his frontal lobe that they can't help but make their way out of his mouth. His 2008 debut The Balancing Act, produced by Emancipator, showcased a hopeless romantic setting fires in a cold world through tracks such as "Ashes to Ashley" (featuring Mac Lethal) and "Searching For Some Beautiful". Two collaborative efforts would follow in the form of The Art Of Dying, produced by Kid Called Computer, and 2011's explosive Prey For Paralysis record alongside Kristoff Krane and Graham O'Brien.

The elusive beautiful that Sadistik sought on his debut album The Balancing Act is captured sonically on Flowers For My Father and garnished with an array of styles he has experimented with over the past few years. Here we have an emcee unafraid to expose the brooding that robs him of sleep through songs diagramming self-destructive tendencies and the sad sweetness of lovers lost. Such intrepid introspection has seldom been seen since Sage Francis, an artist with whom Sadistik has collaborated, released Personal Journals over a decade ago. A child of the backpack heyday, Sadistik learned from the best the scene had to offer, from the aforementioned Sage and Mac Lethal to the late, great Eyedea. You can hear Eyedea's indelible influence on urgent confessionals such as "Melancholia" and the Cage-assisted "Russian Roulette". That which Eyedea left behind in this world resonates deeply within Sadistik, as he keeps his friend's message of hope and love in the face of adversity alive, and pays touching tribute on "Micheal".

Flowers For My Father, which features guest shots from Astronautalis, Ceschi and Child Actor, marks Sadistik's first solo long player since The Balancing Act and charts his growth in spades. The spoken word close of intro track "Petrichor" foreshadows the open book to come: "I want nothing more than to tear every piece of my flesh off one by one to show you what's been hiding underneath".

Evolving his style to a more synthesized rendition of a signature cinematic Seattle sound, the new album displays a distinct juxtaposition of Sadistik's complex, vulnerable writing with textured, ambient production handled by the likes of Blue Sky Black Death and Kno of CunninLynguists. The result is his most mature and revealing project to date, with lush soundscapes lifting Sadistik's verses from a vast darkness.

Shortly after the release of The Balancing Act, Sadistik's father tragically passed. Never one to shy away from heavy topics or keep his personal life personal, Sadistik wrote Flowers for his late father, choosing to treat each song as an update of what has happened in his life since. This is reflected in writing that delves into depression, heartbreak, optimism and the struggle to make sense of the ever-shifting pieces in the world around him.