The Grouch and Eligh in Iowa City 3/10

The+Grouch+and+Eligh+press+photo

credit Leo Docuyanan

The Grouch and Eligh press photo

Celeste Welshhons

Rappers The Grouch & Eligh will perform on Monday at the Blue Moose Tap House in Iowa City accompanied by Madchild, Pigeon John, and DJ Fresh.

Eligh became interested in music while in middle school. At this young age he had already decided that music was his passion.

“It started for me in junior high just doing it for fun, and it never stopped. I never had another job…,” Eligh said.

Eligh met The Grouch in the bay area at a mutual friend’s house party. They have done four albums together so far including their new triple album, “The Tortoise and the Crow.”

“He and I have been working together for a long time, and we each have our own solo careers. We work all over the place, but we always end up coming back together,” said Eligh.

“The Tortoise and the Crow” came out on Feb. 18. The album is unusual in the fact that it is three albums in one.

“This album has a G&E collaborative album, and one solo album each. It has never quite been done before,” said Eligh.

 “Nomads” is the title of Eligh’s solo album within “The Tortoise and the Crow.”

“It kind of follows the structure of one of my older albums called “Enigma” where (there are) ten songs, but also six instrumentals,” said Eligh. “Once you push play on my disc, it doesn’t stop. There’s no fading in and out of songs, it’s like one big journey.”

Right now, “Nomads” is only available with “The Tortoise and the Crow.” It is possible that in the future the albums could come out separately in the digital format.

For their show in Iowa City, fans should expect a blend of solo material from the two artists as well as some of their collaborative work.

“We’re doing a bunch of new songs, we do old songs, we do older songs. We have Grouch songs, Eligh solo songs, and a bunch of G&E material, so it’s all mixed up,” said Eligh.

Fans should also expect a special appearance by a long-time collaborator of the duo at some point during the show, as well as a roller coaster of a performance.

 “We have a special little section where we bring somebody up and it’s a really fun part of the show,” said Eligh. “There are lots of peaks and valleys in our show; we take you real high, then bring you back low, and bring you back up again.”  

Eligh is in the process of releasing another album with collaborator DNA. The title is “80 Hrtz.”

“I have another album that is being mixed right now, and it’s with my friend DNA out of the Bay area. It’s all heavy bass trap music, it’s really kind of darker and choppy,” said Eligh. “It’s something completely different than what I just put out with Grouch.”

Even with two albums coming out in 2014, Eligh is not wasting any time taking the next step in his career.

“I am looking forward to starting the next phase of my career which is scoring film,” said Eligh. “I might win an Oscar before I win a Grammy.”