Because country and soul and related genres are the ones generally deemed to be the most “authentic”, you don’t expect the same degree of playfulness as you get in pop or rock. But here’s MC Taylor, who records and performs as Hiss Golden Messenger and sometimes goes by the name of Jai Lil “Slim” Diamond, offering a sense of someone slipping in and out of disguise. The fact that he’s not just a musician but also a college lecturer specialising in folklore and what he calls “expressive vernacular culture”, as well as an editor of a music curriculum for Quincy Jones and a frequent blogger suggests he is someone at one remove from the music he makes – if not an actual, y’know, dilettante.
—Paul Lester, The Guardian
HGM operates under the aegis of M.C. Taylor, born in Southern California 1975. Lived in San Francisco 1998—2007, now resides in Durham, North Carolina. Favorite quotes: “This is no dress rehearsal, we are professionals, & this is the big time” and “Lot’s wife turned a pillar of salt.” Most recent release is Poor Moon, released by Paradise of Bachelors in November 2011, due for reissue on Tompkins Square in April 2012. Almost never plays in the United States, performs more frequently in the United Kingdom.