Text by Anna Zanes Photography by Alex Hodor-Lee Posted May 19, 2021 Louie Pastel and Felix reveal the emotional depths of their caustic alt-rap songs on ‘BOY ANONYMOUS’ Each day I receive about 50 emails which suggest I check out a new artist, album, or single. I do my best to follow the suggestion, though it’s hard to hold on to everything, to truly engage and get excited amidst the sheer amount of content. But with Paris Texas, I held on. The email came with an oddly ambiguous press release, lacking in a traditional bio, leaving the cinematic aesthetics in their cover art and an accompanying short film to shoulder the narrative responsibility. Then came the work itself. These two young men, coming out of Compton and South Central respectively, had created a sound which, for a second, paralyzed me. Just when I thought, as I often do—to a fault—that culture had met the end of uniqueness, driven by derivatives, Paris Texas proved me wrong. Ever humble and challenging, as I quickly learned Louie Pastel and Felix—the pseudonyms the group’s two members go by—to be, they politely suggested maybe I just didn’t know enough about music to claim their work…
Read More
LA rap duo Paris Texas on success, pseudonyms, and the enduring appeal of Tumblr
