Conscious Astro Releases Wine and Circus
Macon native turned Athenian Conscious Astro released his project Wine and Circus earlier this week on all platforms, a collaborative effort with producer C. Durango.
You’ll find some other well known names from the Athens hip hop scene on this project as well. Featured artists Louie Larceny and Zac Chase mesh nicely with Wine and Circus’ general lo-fi feel. Although this is a Conscious Astro release, he notes how influential C. Durango’s role was in creating the project.
“He’s the mastermind; he’s the genius. I’m just there to assist. Going forward, anything that has both of us featured on a song lyrical wise we’re actually going to do that through a new group we’re going to start,” said Conscious.
Having released the Alpha Astro EP with Alpha Baty and Same Mistakes with Lucid Indian (now in Wisconsin), this is the first professional debut for Conscious Astro as an artist. The final product itself is truly a reflection of the person behind the mic. Drawing inspiration from the current state of the world, his message is very socially and politically charged.
“I never really put out a project that was just my ideas, like I don’t care what people think it’s just my lyricism, just these stories that I have, my ideas about mental health, the government, society as a whole, the economic structure that we have. So I finally just said whatever. I started writing “The Loop,” that’s just a song about mental health in America and how terrible it is, and then I paired up with C. He kind of got a feel for what kind of sound I wanted, and that allowed me to be more free so I didn’t have to be like oh this person made this beat and now I have to write my lyrics to it,” said Conscious.
C. Durango’s roots as a producer are in 80’s synth inspired music and mostly fit the down tempo electronic genre. Occasionally making hip hop beats, he got more into it after meeting Conscious.
“We met through a mutual friend. He was like yeah come to the studio. He used to live out in Loganville, so I’d have to drive an hour every Sunday to go work on the project,” said Conscious.
“On a goat farm,” added C. Durango. “Every Sunday we’d just all day make music.”
“So that’s where the project came from. Now he lives in Athens, and that’s where Loud Logic really got a re-up,” said Conscious.
Loud Logic Studios is a brand that’s transformed over the years from being heavily graf-related to a clothing company to funding artists and shows while keeping all of those elements in its identity. At the core, it has roots in graffiti and the idea of putting your name up. LoudLogicStudios.com is now live with their digital store, soon to include a lot more clothing and even bean bag chairs.
“One of my homies I used to tag with, we always loved making clothes. We got a blank sweatshirt, and I bought him some fabric markers and I was like we need a cool name for a clothing company and we’re gonna put it on this and I’ll wear it. We came up with Loud Logic, and he threw it up on the shirt and I still have that shirt. It’s just the idea that if something is so logical that you should just do it then it should be loud as shit. It’s in your face. That’s how our music is, ideas that should be apparent to everyone else. So I kind of took that and built a label around it, put my own stuff out through Loud Logic to make it like a record label and clothing company. When I moved up here, it was just me doing it, and I morphed it into just helping out other artists and just help out with shows, like make sure there’s funding for it,” said Conscious.
Along with looking out for more Loud Logic merch, Conscious Astro and C. Durango will also be releasing several singles in the next month or two. As for Wine and Circus, Conscious wants a tangible product available for this project, mostly to showcase the hand-done cover art by Macon artist Thomas Heald. In the meantime, stream it on all platforms!
Be sure to follow Conscious Astro on Instagram, C. Durango on Instagram, and Loud Logic Studios on Facebook and Instagram! (Conscious Astro linktree here)