Those Who Can't, Critique

Alex/Atlanta

[chesterfieldstings]

Hot Thoughts - “This is America”

Childish Gambino - “This is America”

“This is America” is the sensational new song and music video from Childish Gambino and it is a perfect example of symbolism done absolutely right. In fact, to merely dive into a detailed analyzation of what this means or what that means is completely doing it a disservice. To feel the impulse to dissect a symbolic piece of art the way one would hop onto reddit threads after leaving a screening of, let’s say a David Lynch film, has become almost instinctual. However, I find that with “This is America” that impulse becomes reductive to the songs message. What you see is what you get and what you hear is exactly what you’re supposed to.

When action picks up in the video it’s shot with an extremely tight depth of field. The camera claustrophobically follows the flashy dance moves of Donald Glover and company while violent and religious images are chaotically choreographed across the intensely white-lit warehouse. At a couple significant points in the video the violence is dealt with in shockingly upfront ways. It’s harrowing and challenging images that linger long after the next YouTube video queues to play.

The music brilliantly juxtaposes African rhythm and gospel against modern overblown trap and Gambino’s deceptively simplistic rhyme scheme and lyrics. To say the lyrics are too simple is to miss the point entirely. What good would a fire 16 bar verse have provided that countless in the decades of hip-hop haven’t already. Gambino chooses to speak in what has now become a universal language of pop music while still managing to speak on the societal divides that will continue to plague us. This is stunningly accomplished allegorical filmmaking. This is unique and potent musical song craft. This is America and Donald Glover has his finger on its fucking pulse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY

[chesterfieldstings]

The Garden - Mirror Might Steal Your Charm - Review

The Garden Mirror Might Steal Your Charm Epitaph Records

It’s no secret fellas. Rock music is going through some growing pains right now. The landscape is changing and it’s been happening for a while. With hip hop and trap being the current zeitgeist and industry constantly catering to more electronic centric acts it’s not hard to see why. Rock fans don’t particularly help the situation either. With their puritanical nature and unwillingness to compromise it’s sort of tough to see where one of the biggest genres ever will end up in the future. The Garden, however is a punk band, not completely in the traditional sense given their influence and aesthetics but absolutely in how much they simply don’t give a fuck. Mirror Might Steal Your Charm is the 5th release from twin brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears aka The Garden and it’s easily their best yet. Packed with sardonic humor, an uncompromisingly idiosyncratic style and a dizzying array of influences, textures and motifs they have crafted one of the most unpredictable punk rock records of the decade.

It should be said early however that this album is absolutely not going to be for everyone. The vocals, are delivered in a consistently sarcastic inflection sometimes rapped, sometimes shouted, sometimes bellowed with bratty energy that draws out every syllable. The songs themselves have a hectic unpredictable nature to them that take multiple listens to commit to memory. There’s techno break beats, show tunes diversions, a healthy dose of hip hop, indie rock. The Garden have never shied away from throwing in everything but the kitchen sink in their music but this time around all of those elements are blended together more seamlessly than ever.

“Stallion” does a great job of establishing the tone for the record, being a completely unstable opening track that alternates between beach rock and hardcore punk impeccably. It also introduces the albums recurring motif of nearly every song having two contrasting components fighting each other for lead melody. With a few exceptions such as the touching closer track, this is a trick The Garden uses a lot and to good effect. “Shameless Shadow” has a rockabilly-esque saunter that transitions in between a show tunes theme worthy of a pair of jazz hands. A similarly jazzy groove is effectively used on the late album track “Stylish Spit”. The inexplicable mid album cut “ :( “ is one of the weirdest and wildest tracks with it’s choppy synth-led pounce and a hilarious skit where a man gets shot through a phone call with a ray gun.

As freakish as most of this is there are some very clear points of inspiration The Garden blends into what they call *Vada Vada. Devo is a pretty obvious one, modern electronic music is a pretty big one as well. Late 90’s techno and break beat appear on a few cuts like the speedy “A Message for Myself”. “Who am I Going to Share All this Wine With” is almost a dead ringer for an Iceage instrumental circa You’re Nothing era. Hardcore punk flashes in and out of these tracks and on one cut, namely “Make a Wish”, they give their take on, dare I say, trap music. The kick drum hits you right into the heart while Wyatt’s voice raps out nearly incoherent lyrics about drunken wizards whispering in your ear.

The Garden could easily be written off as a gimmick band and I get that a lot of people are going to see this album as another entry in their pantheon nonsensical albums. However, the critics saying this are somewhat right. Some of this content doesn’t make sense but maybe it doesn’t need to. “Make a Wish” seems to comment on the idea of needing songs to make sense. “Call the Dogs Out”, the albums fantastic lead single, delves into the idea of having your own little safe space to be creative and unique. Declaratively saying if someone shows up uninvited you can ‘let the dogs out’ and tell them to beat it. “A Message For Myself” ends with the succinct monologue saying that everyone is equal and nothing you do makes any more or less human than anybody else. In spite of the nonsensical nature of the music the general theme seems to be that you can do whatever you want, fuck it. You have one life to live and be as weird as you feel like you need to be. It’s a simple message but it’s something that can be sadly forgotten amongst the rat race.

Mirror Might Steal Your Charm is an album that checks all the boxes. This is a record that is wild, creative, well written and has an undeniable pulse to it that is severely lacking in modern rock music. Although, there are a few stylistic choices that go slightly awry. The insistence on using synthetic horns can be pretty overbearing and often makes the album veer into overly chintzy territory. Namely on the track “Banana Peel” where the horns that drive the melody obnoxiously honk and plod throughout the duration of the cut. The lyrics are cute however, that is if you’re as much of a sucker for food metaphors as I am. The closer “No Destination” wraps things up on an touching note. The Garden’s take on the old adage of “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey” comes across surprisingly elegantly. Perhaps there is no destination in life, perhaps there doesn’t have to be. As long as you’re enjoying your time on this earth then no one can take that away from you. Mirror Might Steal Your Charm is a love letter to the freakier side of life it’s fun, charming, grotesque, cute, obnoxious, and psychotic all at the same time. More often than not, it’s also brilliant.

9.2/10

Top Tier: “Make a Wish”, “Call the Dogs Out”, “ :( “, “Who am I Going to Share All this Wine With”, “No Destination”, “Stylish Spit”, “Good News”, “Voodoo Luck”

Meh Tier: “Banana Peel”

If you liked this, give one of these a shot!

Guerilla Toss - GT Ultra Ariel Pink - Pom Pom Zach Hill - FACE TAT JPEGMAFIA - Veteran

Aight love yall, have a nice day

*Vada Vada - taken from The Garden’s official website:

“They created the term, "Vada Vada" in 2011 to represent their music and other creations. Vada Vada is a term that represents total freedom of expression without boundaries or guidelines of any sort.”

[chesterfieldstings]

Tekashi 6ix9ine - Day 69 - Review

Tekashi 6ix9ine Day 6ix9ine

In October 2015, Hernandez (6ix9ine) pled guilty to one felony count of Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance. Charges were brought against Hernandez after a February 2015 incident where he had sexual contact with a 13-year-old minor and later distributed videos of the incident online.[12] Three of these videos are described in the criminal complaint against Hernandez. In one of the videos, "the child engages in oral sexual intercourse with the separately charged defendant Taquan Anderson, while the defendant, Daniel Hernandez, stands behind the child making a thrusting motion with his pelvis and smacking her on her buttocks. The child is nude in the video.”[13] While Hernandez claimed to be seventeen at the time of the incident, the birth date listed in the complaint against him and in Hernandez's statement to the police shows he was eighteen at the time.[14] Prior to his sexual misconduct charges, Hernandez served jail time as a minor for assault and the sale of heroin.[10]

Don't listen to this disgusting piece of human garbage and don't make him famous/10

🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮

[chesterfieldstings]

Vinyl update.

You know I had to buy Twin Fantasy. Sounds great on vinyl, cool simple gatefold. I really love the front cover, it’s such a cute and iconic image that represents the themes of the album so well for such a simple little image. There’s also a little poetic blurb on the inside that reads 

These words will still be true

When you are broken-

These words are still true

When you get nothing

Unrelated, I also bought my favorite King Gizzard album and look at that green splatter, fucking beautiful. That album has been out since 2016 so not really new to report there but it’s a fucking awesome album, listen to it if you haven’t.

[chesterfieldstings]

Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) - Review

Car Seat Headrest Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) Matador Records

Will Toledo was for a long time the sole member of the Seattle based diy-indie rock act Car Seat Headrest. A music project once so doggedly lo-fi it was dubbed after Will’s affinity for recording vocal sessions sitting in a car in empty parking lots using only a laptop speaker. A good bit has changed since then. After numerous successes on the Bandcamp platform Will would go on to secure a deal with Matador records and Car Seat Headrest’s 2016 release, Teens of Denial, would go on to be my personal favorite album of that year with a perfect 10/10 score. However, Will and the Car Seat Headrest moniker, have made themselves a name long before my dumbass started fawning over them. Will has now been given complete freedom to do as he wishes on his label and hitting us with a surprise left hook Will has chosen to perfect the record that birthed him an indie-rock icon, 2010’s Twin Fantasy.

Twin Fantasy can aptly be described as a cult classic. It was an emotionally raw, tangled and messy album that is stylistically matched with the abrasively lo-fi clutter of it’s recording. Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) is a complete overhaul of the original 2010 recording replete with his full band, fancy microphones, added instrumentation, studio equipment and professional mixing/mastering. There’s certainly a few lyrical detours, uses of different monologues, and an overall sense of completion in the album’s story arc that differs from the original but the songs and structures, for the most part, are left completely in tact. It’s a smart move on his part. This rework manages to pan out exceedingly well because of it’s adherence to the fantastic source material. This album plays it safe but in the best way possible. I could really only see fans really jumping ship on this reissue if the only reason they cared for Car Seat Headrest in the first place is due to the lo-fi aesthetic. I, however, find that to be a somewhat shallow reason to follow an artist, but to each their own.

Regardless of the updated, polished sheen of this record, Twin Fantasy remains a tangled emotional mess of an album. In comparison to the pointed 20-something anxiety of Teens of Denial, Twin Fantasy is a loose concept album about teenage love, sexual confusion, regret, compassion, anger, identity, sex, regret, drugs and there’s also a strange motif about dogs that I haven’t quite figured out yet. It is a lot to take in, a lot to dissect and think about, with much of being so personal to Will it might never really be completely understood. Inversely, when it isn’t being heady and self-referential this album can be charming, obvious and quaint even. There are frenzied 13 minute long stream-of-consciousness diatribes as well as sweet, to-the-point little motifs like “Stop smoking, we love you” or “you and me wont be alone no more, don’t worry”. The latter of those, off of the fan favorite “Sober to Death”, switches jerkingly between time signatures while Will longingly wails out the words with a passionate fervor.

There’s also several curious theme about twins, brothers, lovers and things that connect people like hugs or perhaps cursive handwriting as mentioned on the dance-punk anthem “Nervous Young Inhumans”. The two longest tracks that bookend the album act as twin songs to each other, exemplifying this twin/brother/sister theme of the album. The first of which coming after the epic yet sober power-pop intro “My Boy” is titled “Beach Life in Death”. This multi-faceted monolith switches from a garage rock chain of confessionals, to a heart wrenchingly heavy and dreamlike midsection, then back into a rough and ragged beach rock explosion. It’s beautiful, just as messy and visceral as a song about finding your first love should be. The feelings expressed here are chaotic, spastic as Will details this compulsiveness and erratic although still jubilant inner monologue. It’s twin song is “Famous Prophets” toward the end of the record, contrarily it is a classy and measured send off to these feelings and possibly to the person directly. It’s 16 minutes long and doesn’t waste a second, the final phase of this track being possibly the most heartbreaking moments on the record.

In spite of all the heartache there are several charming and catchy moments offered up in the midsection of this record. The adorably cheeky and self-aware love song “Cute Thing” is indie rock at it’s finest. As is the sublimely groovy track “Bodys” with it’s slick programmed drums that blast throughout it’s duration. Both of these tracks showcase Will’s talent for building satisfying crescendo’s and singalong tunes able to move a crowd into tears or even a mosh pit. “Sober to Death” and “High to Death”, also two brother songs to each other, function as being two of the saddest as well. One demonstrating how misery loves company and the other about how compassion does too. Whether you’re down and out, lost in love, or just really lonely, physical human connection is one of the most important and under appreciated facets of life. The refrain of “Keep smoking, I love you” on “High to Death” will likely always water my eyes. Early in the album Will is worried for this person’s well being because he loves them so much and by the end of everything they’ve been through he just wants them to be happy. Keep smoking, stop smoking, doesn’t matter at this point, do what makes you happy.

The albums eponymous closing track is a unique take on the ephemeral nature of expressing feelings through music. The fantasy is over. The two people still yearn for each other but in a muted way. No romance, no sex just the stark reality of the situation. However, Will isn’t alone this time. He has the experience, as well as this great album to show for it. Whatever happened, it happened, it is what it is and it’s all just lyrics now, do with this information what you will. For me it’s another fantastic and strikingly relatable record from Will Toledo that I’m glad has gotten this a well deserved revision. Twin Fantasy has stood the test of time for very good reason. Sure some of the monologues might be a bit tedious, but they don’t really bog down the record and often times they offer a lot of interesting context to the tangle of emotions on display. As the album ends and repeated mantra of “When I come back you’ll still be here” comes in it becomes unclear whether he’s referring to the subject of the album, the emotional trauma at the subject of his songs or perhaps even the audience itself. I can say confidently though if it’s the latter of those options, he is absolutely correct.

9.0/10

Top Tier: “Beach Life in Death”, “Sober to Death”, “High to Death”, “Famous Prophets (Stars)”, “Nervous Young Inhumans”, “Bodys”, “Twin Fantasy (Those Boys)”

Meh Tier: uhhhh… shitttt… If I had to pick I guess probably the closing monologue of “Nervous Young Inhumans” or “My Boy” but I like “My Boy” a lot so I guess the first choice.

If this interests you check some of these out:

Sun Kil Moon - Benji

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial

Mitski - Bury Me at Makeout Creek

Alex G - DSU

Here’s a link to my last Car Seat Headrest review if you wanna check that out:

http://chesterfieldstings.tumblr.com/post/145275393540/car-seat-headrest-teens-of-denial-last-year-lo-fi#notes

Kay, have a nice day.

[poopsieedaisyy]

Follow @chesterfieldstings he’s fucking amazing

[chesterfieldstings]

Wow thanks, Looks like I should post more!!

[chesterfieldstings]

are u @momo_fosho ?

No, that’s my girlfriend 😏

[chesterfieldstings]

Jeff Rosenstock - Post - Review

Jeff Rosenstock Post-  Polyvinyl Records

The year is 2016. It’s one month before the election of Donald Trump and Jeff Rosenstock, the Long Island based punk rock renegade, is about to release one of the most essential punk albums of the decade. The record entitled WORRY, the follow up to Jeff’s sleeper hit We Cool which was released the year prior. On WORRY Jeff displayed deft talent for encapsulating the cultural paranoia and anxiety of the incoming future, as well as weaving in sardonic unease within his own personal life. By stringing together songs with colliding Abbey Road-esque structures, utilizing a dizzying array of different genres, moods, themes Jeff and his band found a way to achieve solidarity with his similarly disillusioned audience. Post- is a very natural successor to WORRY in terms of mood, subject matter and style. However, not always in substance.

Post- finds Jeff touching on similar subjects as WORRY with a similar amount of pathos. “USA” bursts the door open with Jeff’s uniquely passionate bleat of adjectives describing his maladjustment. “Dumbfounded, downtrodden and dejected/Crestfallen, grief-stricken and exhausted”. It’s energetic, it’s anguished and towards the middle of it’s daunting 7.30 minute runtime it becomes dreamlike and serene. The repeated mantra of being “tired and bored” is palpable and soothing, building to a fine triumphant chorus even if it does take a while to get there.

“Yr Throat” is a fantastic song with a soaring and uplifting breakdown. The lyrics detail personal inabilities to communicate and juxtaposes them with political statements about holding people responsible for the their words. The track makes sly digs at politics that go over very well. “All This Useless Energy” strikes a similar tone with it’s mix of politics and personal problems and offers another passionate chorus. While “Powerlessness” follows suit and becomes emblematic of this exact problem. Begging the question of how can you solve the worlds problem when you can’t even solve you’re own?

The middle of the album begins to drift from post-election grief and into tracks with seemingly much lower stakes. “TV Stars” is a slow paced misstep that takes shots at celebrity culture in an somewhat uncreative way. “Melba” keeps up with the catchiness of the best of Jeff’s work but the message feels like too much familiar territory to really be electrifying.  “Beating My Head Against the Wall” also feels slightly underwritten and simply doesn’t add up to a lot. We know Jeff has a lot to say and he usually says it very well. It’s disappointing he misses the opportunity here.

“9/10” is the second to last track on the record and ranks as one of his best ballads. Jeff’s vocal melody, featuring best friend Laura Stevenson on the chorus, really pulls at the heart strings. The album ends with “Let Them Win” an 11 minute track that definitely does not justify it’s run time. Which is regrettable considering Jeff’s last record featured a second half which could be listened to as a long 20 minute song. The message frankly isn’t all that significant either. Which sucks. Jeff is an extremely topical and creative voice in punk rock and I feel he has more nuanced things to say about the war of ideas going on in this country other than “We’re not gonna let them win, Oh no, They’re not gonna win”.

All in all Post- is a fitting entry to Jeff Rosenstock’s catalogue. It has plenty of great moments unfortunately it also has some of the most lackluster ones Jeff has recorded so far. I suppose it is nice to get a look inside Jeff’s head post-election and it’s always nice getting a feeling of solidarity from one of the sharpest voices out there. I just feel like we could have been given something great as opposed to something good. Then again, I would vote on something decent over nothing at all and you have to pick your battles real wisely now a days.

#Rosenstock2020

6.9/10

Top Tier: “Yr Throat”, “9/10”, “Powerlessness”, “All This Useless Energy”

Meh Tier: “TV Stars”

If this interests you maybe try one of these out!

Reinventing Axl Rose - Against Me!

Greatest Hits - Remo Drive

Painted Shut - Hop Along

WORRY. - Jeff Rosenstock

See ya…

[chesterfieldstings]

this has been sitting in a pages file on my computer since this album came out, lol

Mac Demarco This Old Dog

8.3/10

Top Tier: “One More Love Song”, “On the Level”, “For the First Time”, “My Old Man”, “Moonlight on the River”, “Watching Him Fade Away”

Low Tier: “Baby You’re Out”, “Sister”

Mac’s latest effort is easily his most cohesive yet as well as his most patient listen. Mac sounds more reflective than ever and often times down-right sad. This record serves asa step into the future for Mac stylistically and lyrically, however I don’t see this album being too much of a stretch for fans of Two and Salad Days. This record has all the charm, aesthetics and melodic memorability of his previous releases but with the added twist of showing Mac out of his emotional closet and often times very vulnerable.

Mac touches on themes of aging, manhood, the relationship he had with his father and the sting of passing time and he does all this with surprising dexterity. He cleverly weaves these sad and sometimes bitter lyrical moments in between his unique, glazed over sound and covers them with typically warm choruses. Musically he even tries to deviate from his old formula quite a bit, mostly build upon the formula he began toying with on 2015’s Another One. He refrains from using too many chorus pedals, embraces synths, acoustic guitars and drum machines and makes everything feel fresh and coherent in a way he hasn’t fully been able to do yet.

Not to say their isn’t a couple outliers. A handful of these songs sound a bit unfinished and a couple others don’t quite have the melodic swell to justify their placement on the track list, but fortunately these moments are few and far between. I’ve always considered Mac to be my favorite “7/10 artist” and I was fine with that. His music is viscerally enjoyable, relaxing, and extremely easy to listen too. Upon first listen I was a bit disappointed in this record being significantly more patient but it ultimately becomes the albums biggest strength. The moody moments like “This Old Dog” enhance the romantic ones like “For the First Time” or “One More Love Song”. It’s great to hear Mac try out all these different sounds and enhancing his own well established one in the process. I’ve been a fan of Mac for a while and I’m happy to here him take his white-guy-with-a-guitar aesthetic into something more thoughtful. This Old Dog is great.

CHECK IT OUT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxaKVeiBiOE

[chesterfieldstings]

IT’S THE HALFWAY POINT OF THE YEAR!!!!!

In no particular order here’s my favorite albums of this year so far.

BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMZZUyos1kI

Sun Kil Moon - Common as Light and Love are Red Valleys of Blood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBioSCbcL-s

Kendrick Lamar - Damn

http://www.onthecomeuptv.com/kendricklamardamn/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLZRYQMLDW4

Remo Drive - Greatest Hits

http://www.onthecomeuptv.com/remodrivegreatesthits/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kaMiIaT-sg

Power Trip - Nightmare Logic

http://chesterfieldstings.tumblr.com/post/157884192075/power-trip-nightmare-logic-power-trip-if-it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOWf8uqGf8A

Girlpool - Powerplant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PRIyi8OIgI

Mac Demarco - This Old Dog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxaKVeiBiOE

Joey Badass - All Amerikkan Badass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLnA25dVzrQ

Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHpV08wI-bw

Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2R2Ck8qKWM

http://www.onthecomeuptv.com/mounteerieacrowlookedatme/

Xiu Xiu - Forget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH9PKIZEoqU

http://chesterfieldstings.tumblr.com/post/158076296440/xiu-xiu-forget-review

SZA - CTRL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHXfCOjb3fk

Full of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70wvCM-XpAU

[chesterfieldstings]

Lil Yachty - Teenage Emotions - Review

Lil Yachty Teenage Emotions

2016 was the year that Lil Yachty ruined rap music. At only 19 years old Miles McCollum and his two alter egos—Lil Yachty and Lil Boat—using only the assistance of one mixtape and a Sprite commercial decimated an entire genre of music. Lil Yachty’s mixtape Lil Boat garnered an uncommon amount of attention for such an upstart artist. Surpassing the popularity of his fellow rap deconstructionists by a decent margin with hypnotically smoothing trap-lullaby hits like “One Night” and “Minnesota”.

Needless to say this is no small feat for a young man with crab legs on his head. In fact it’s absolutely not true. Still, this rhetoric seems to prosper as I’m certain it will now more than ever that Mr. Boat has a major label debut titled Teenage Emotions. With Teenage Emotions Yachty has the chance to prove to the world that he’s trying to stick around more than just one night. Overly hyped debuts such as this one can be tough. This release should undoubtedly be the cause for every blogging detractor subscribed to Boom Bap Nation to cross their fingers, hold their breath and say twelve Hail Mary’s ensuring that he fails miserably. Thus sending all his fans to their local vinyl bin to buy refurbished copies of Illmatic.

However, I’m not that cynical. I don’t want anyone to fail, that’s just mean. Lil Yachty is a young guy and his life has been put under an intense microscope since his rise to stardom. His music and persona has highlighted a noticeable disconnect in young and old music listeners. It seems to me they’re both just sorely misunderstanding each other. On one hand we have an older generation upset at how their culture has aged and on the other we have a group of kids that just like having fun.

Lil Yachty’s music can easily be described as vapid, tasteless, obnoxious and to a large group of people, garbage. To an extent, yeah, it is a lot of those things. It’s also kind of charming though. Unlike his contemporaries that are thrown under the same unfair umbrella term of ‘mumble rap’ Lil Yachty has charisma to spare and a sense of humor that’s unmatched. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and that’s a really under appreciated characteristic. It doesn’t hardly make for intelligently captivating music but it doesn’t have too. The concept of ‘lullaby trap’ is hilarious and enjoyable in a lofty, turn-off-your-brain sort of way. Yet, with Teenage Emotions standing at nearly 70 minutes long Lil Yachty might be challenging us to turn off our brains a bit too much. This album is unnecessarily long, sprawling, redundant and taxing.

Teenage Emotions opens in a similar fashion as the Lil Boat mixtape, with the introduction of his two alter egos. We have the overly auto-tuned singer Lil Yachty who is basically the equivalent of a Lil B tweet coming to life; very positive and supportive. Then we have Lil Boat, who is nasty, sexual and violent and he’s basically the excuse that Yachty uses to spit lyrics that hold absolutely no water. This first track is called “Like a Star” and it’s actually pretty sweet. It has some ugly auto tune and some typically clunky rhymes but the production this time around is God like. In fact this entire album has a very crisp, base-y production that absolutely slaps. Yachty sounds genuinely endearing on this and plenty other moments on the album, such as the closer, which is a sweet love song to his mom. He makes it clear that he’s happy and thankful for his position and that’s cool and all but more often than not it makes for some pretty unlistenable moments. The best of which being this intro and the worst being the off-tempo mess “Bring it Back”.

The Lil Boat persona gets his turn on the second track and he dominates the majority of the beginning of the record. We hear Boat put his awkward flow over an awkward groove on “DN Freestyle”, become a fourth member of Migos on “Peek-A-Boo”, bring some energetic braggadocio on the fantastically disgusting “Dirty Mouth”, and leaves us on the obnoxious bass driven “Harley”. Shockingly though, while these songs wont be enough to turn the ears of any detractors, none of these tracks are that bad until the other side of the coin comes into dismantle the album for the nearly the entire remaining fifty minutes.

“All Around Me” is a horribly produced song with a melody that only someone like Soulja Boy would ever get on and it has possibly the worst verse YG has ever put on a track. “Better” gives off a putrid, island-y Jason Mraz vibe. “Moments in Time”, “Lady in Yellow”, “Say My Name” and plenty other songs after this point are disturbingly underwritten and melodically deficient. There’s two R&B features that go over well until Yachty squelches them. Such is the case on the odd Tegan and Sara interpolation “Running With a Ghost”. Then there’s “Forever Young” featuring Diplo that actually might be the best structured song on the album until Yachty hilariously flubs the jubilant chorus with his typically awkward and unromantic crooning. “X-Men”, however, is a banger and would’ve made a nice addition to a less bloated album.

This is a sprawling, sluggish, self-indulgent trudge through one of the shallowest minds in hip hop right now. If there’s one thing this album has in common with the emotional state of a teenager it’s inconsistency. Teenage Emotions simply does not live up to it’s title, nor it’s all inclusive album cover. The hedonism and petulance are enjoyable at only the most cursory level in the smallest of doses. The most frequent observations made are that Lil Yachty appreciates his mom, and that he has within him a litany of creative ways to make ‘pussies’ wet. After that I suppose the most earnest moment is Yachty admitting he had sex with his God sister featuring a distressing line that rhymes “sucked me like an insect” with “I guess that’s incest”.

Even with a small spoonful of highlights, this album is a chore. Making this review I feel like I’m 15, and I’m grounded, and I have to keep listening to this album as punishment for stealing my dad’s debit card. As much as I like defending Lil Yachty, especially his wholesome public persona, this is album is a reminder of why people are so skeptical of him in the first place. The amateur charm he brings with him simply doesn’t stay charming for 21 songs.

Still, he does have youth on his side. Perhaps he simply hasn’t gone through enough in life to craft an album of significant depth with varied song topics, and he does still have a lot going for him. He’s ambitious, funny, and retains a modicum of creativity. He also has managed to keep his finger on the pulse of his huge, juvenile audience. My only hope is that he can connect with this demographic on a meaningful level. There is plenty of emotional teenagers out there and they deserve music that will engage them. Being a teenager is tough and perhaps when Lil Yachty grows into a Big Yachter he can calm those stormy seas. For now, Teenage Emotions serves only as an emotionless wreck.

3.0/10

Top Tier: “Dirty Mouth”, “Like a Star”, “X-Men”, “Peek A Boo”, “Harley”

Joe Budden's Wrath Tier: “Bring it Back”, “All Around Me”, “Better”, “Lady in Yellow”, “No More”

(Shouts out to my girl Emma for making the cover of this, she’s the green haired girl, and she’s cool. Congrats Emma!)

[chesterfieldstings]

Full of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy - Review

Full of Hell Trumpeting Ecstasy

Full of Hell (or Heck, if you don’t like cursing) is a four-piece band that makes some heavy music, yet slapping any sort of genre label (insert X-core here) onto them would be doing their music a disservice. Since 2009, these east coast dudes have been doing serious heavy lifting in pretty much every extreme genre you can think of right now, from the excellent grindcore/powerviolence essentialism of their earliest two albums, to the avant, sludge-terror of their collaborations with The Body and Merzbow. Full of Hell has morphed from the new school champions of powerviolence to an unstable, toxic chameleon of noise, which isn’t just impressive, but also necessary given the typically-rigid confines of genre that a grindcore band faces.

Trumpeting Ecstasy finds the band gliding out of what’s easily the most esoteric point of their career. Last year, the boys were chilling in the studio with The Body for a record that plumbed the depths of noise and despair: One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache. They toured in support of the anniversary of Sepultura’s classic Roots album, inflicting their signature brand of pain onto the unsuspecting, old-head metal audiences. Now they’re back in their element for what’s easily the most cacophonous, ear-splitting, and completely unsettling listen of 2017.

As its album cover would suggest, Trumpeting Ecstasy is Full of Hell’s 23 minute takedown of religion, which sounds a bit pedestrian given that religion is a remarkably easy target for metal acts to take down. Thankfully, Full of Hell finds themselves on the cutting edge once again, despite the familiar subject matter. The lyrics, while mostly indecipherable through the frightening, shrill shrieks and low growls, are impressively poetic; they contain a level of esotericism uncommon in such a piss-and-vinegar genre of music. This, combined with the menacing clamor of the instrumentals, makes this record as riveting as a great, cosmic-horror novel.

“Deluminate” kicks open the album with its one minute, death-metal rush of hyperactive cymbal crashes and tremolo-picked guitar riffs before growling its way into “Branches of Yew.” This track displays Full of Hell’s intent for the record a little more clearly. “Branches” fantastically incorporates the ear-piercing, tortured shrieks of lead singer Dylan Walker, causing the bass riff to stop and start accordingly. The listener is constantly jerked around as if strapped to a faulty carnival ride with a grindcore band playing in the background. Dylan’s vocals are only getting more and more unique as Full of Hell matures. Following up is “Bound Sphinx,” bringing the band back to their hardcore-punk shit and hitting us with the album’s first moment of catharsis; at barely three minutes into the album, this release is much needed. The depraved, sickening blasts of noise do make their music quite enjoyable, however, the sludgy moments of abreaction are the truest cause of throwing fists through walls.

“The Cosmic Vein” keeps with the Lovecraft-ian horror theme, and somehow incorporates an awesome tapping solo. “Crawling Back to God” amps up the horrific feeling with its incredible guitar leads and unmatched drumming technicality, finding the band once again in headbanger mode. “Crawling Back to God” in many ways is the antithesis of the record. It’s not just an angry finger pointed at religious organizations, but a rapturous feeling of decimation. This album is the equivalent of fighting every boss in the Dark Souls universe at once with no shield and a broken dagger as a weapon.

“Gnawed Flesh” reignites the band’s sludge-metal spark while “Ashen Mesh” is a downright disgusting, guttural beatdown. “At the Cauldron’s Bottom” ends the album on a droning note before evaporating. Then, there’s one final standout. The second to last track is easily one of the most idiosyncratic track Full of Hell has ever released. The album’s title track is an industrial gothic churn that features sadcore singer Nicole Dollanganger throughout the majority of the track. Her angelic, yet childlike voice is eerie, cultish and evocative, enabling the band to ensnare the listener into an unsuspecting beatdown. I hope to hear more of this sound in the future because there’s little to nothing that sounds like this song.

Trumpeting Ecstasy succeeds in being the apocalyptic statement it wants to be without falling into any preset trappings of theme or genre. Full of Hell cleverly laces it’s album with head bangers that play out nicely with the moments of sheer-noise terror. Full of Hell’s niche might still be too bloody and ridiculous for some of the most ardent metal listeners. They possess the skill to experiment with the grindcore formula, a formula that has already been perfected. There may be times where the band causes too much cacophony and not quite enough reprise, but nonetheless, it’s a testament to their talent with how well they weave between hideous noise and head bashing breakdowns. Most impressively, they effortlessly pull it all together. Sometimes, there’s a dash of black-metal, a pinch of powerviolence, and perhaps a smidge of Jane Doe-era Converge to spice it up, but no part of this record sounds like Converge, Nails, Charles Bronson, Code Orange, The Body or any of those dudes. It sounds like these dudes, Full of Hell, and seeing their sound so fully realized is a pretty sick reason to blow that ecstasy trumpet and bring on the end times.

8.2/10

Ecstasy Tier: “Crawling Back to God”, “Bound Sphinx”, “Branches of Yew”, “The Cosmic Vein”, “Bound Sphinx”, “Trumpeting Ecstasy”, “Gnawed Flesh”, “Ashen Mesh”, “At the Cauldron’s Bottom”

Ashen Tier: “Deluminate”

[chesterfieldstings]

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. - Review

Kendrick Lamar DAMN.

Kendrick Lamar is a 29 year old Compton, California native and unstoppable musical force. Since his impressive debut album Section.80, Kendrick Lamar has been setting not only the hip hop world ablaze, but the entire musical spectrum as well. Following up Section.80 with the exhilarating, conceptual rap opera Good Kid, M.A.A.D City Kendrick Lamar became a household name and crafted what some consider to be a modern classic. Broadening his horizons further, Kendrick went on to craft an album that is absolutely a modern day classic with the poetic, spiritual, genre bending masterpiece called To Pimp a Butterfly, an album so soaked with genius that even it’s B-Sides culminated into the fantastic Untitled Unmastered released last year.

If you’re unfamiliar with Kendrick Lamar, I really hope it’s not cold beneath that rock you live under because the universal acclaim and appeal to his music thankfully isn’t the product of overhype. This is a true artist, a hip hop virtuoso able to blend heady poetry and conceptuality with sincere unambiguity. Mixing that in with God tier production, carefully chosen features, and a unique, yet ever shifting eclectic style unmatched in modern hip hop, and Kendrick has rightfully earned his early spot in the G.O.A.T. arguments we here today. Now it’s 2017 and we have DAMN., Kendrick Lamar’s fourth studio album, yet another testament to the unbridled power of rap music.

Given Kendrick’s previous two releases between the straightforward storytelling of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and the cryptic poeticism of To Pimp a Butterfly, it was difficult to tell where Kenny was going to head next. DAMN., in some respect, meets us halfway with many of the songs here being open to interpretation, which is somewhat a blessing and a curse. The track list consists of one-word, all-caps song titles that seem to detail the topic of the song. “BLOOD.” opens with Kendrick telling a short story of his death, murdered by an old blind woman. “LOVE.” ft Zacari is a beautiful and frank love song. “GOD.” repeats the mantra of “this is what God feels like.” “FEEL.” has Kendrick repeating several lines about, well, how he feels. Etc, etc.

As uncomplicated as it may seem, DAMN. becomes intriguing when you take into consideration Kendrick might not be pointing his fingers in the direction it obviously seems he is aiming them at, for instance, the radio-friendly “LOYALTY.” featuring Rihanna. Some may view this track as loyalty to a lover, family, friends, or perhaps god, and all of these are plausible, however, given the Jay Z quote amidst the chorus “It’s a secret society, all we ask is trust,” I have my reservations. Kendrick is loyal to the game, to hip hop, and to his community; this has been exemplified from the faux Tupac interview which Kendrick masterfully weaved into the closer of To Pimp a Butterfly. “LOYALTY.” could likely be seen as a song about the burdens of loyalty, as well as its virtues.

This begs the question: how cryptic is this album really? Given the sound, emotions and textures of this album, it doesn’t seem all that complex, but considering Kendrick’s unique approach to identity, much of it is skewed. Throughout his career, it’s been hard to tell when we’re hearing the real Kendrick or a character/caricature used to epitomize the statements made in his music. “DNA.,” for example, is a song that literally made me fall out of my fucking seat upon first listen. It seems to describe the relationship to irrational thought/behavior and biology. Then, Kendrick does something really interesting by inserting clips of Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera saying that hip hop has done more to damage black youth than racism, which is obviously a preposterous statement, but it’s strategically utilized by Kendrick to sound menacing. The uneducated statement comes across as even more harmful and violent than the manic lyrics Kendrick delivers during the track’s second half after the incredible, brain-melting beat switch.

Is this simply a collection of songs that dive deeper into the psyche of its narrator, or is this something a bit more conceptual? Could it somehow be both simultaneously? Ultimately, I find DAMN. to be a rap album about rap itself; it’s about the redemptive power and influence on culture at large. “DNA.” is completely indicative of this. The fiery, piss-and-vinegar anguish is a total repudiation of hip hop’s detractors, a song that takes laser focused aim onto the people that just don’t get it. It’s a song for the people who say “Why do they cuss so much? Why do they say the N word? Why is it violent? BLUE LIVES MATTER!” “DNA.” and the rest of DAMN. is the appropriate, fuck off response to the uninitiated. Kendrick Lamar isn’t here to mince words. The lyrics are violent, sexual and depressing because he’s telling it how it is. He and other rappers make this music to detail the world through their own eyes. It’s hip hop that ultimately saves Kendrick’s life, which can be heard in the harrowing finale “DUCKWORTH.” Over the most direct, boom-bap beat of the album, Kendrick tells the fascinating story of how his father was nearly murdered by Top Dawg Entertainment founder years before Kendrick Lamar was signed by Top Dawg Entertainment. He wraps up the album with the riveting, final lines before looping the album back into itself and restarting the story from the beginning.

“Whoever thought the greatest rapper would be from coincidence?

Because if Anthony killed Ducky

Top Dawg could be servin' life

While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight”

DAMN. makes for another gripping album in Kendrick’s discography. From the stellar production to Kendrick’s focused lyrics and song topics, DAMN. does a fantastic job of bridging the gap between the jazzy, R&B-tinged To Pimp a Butterfly and the grimy, street-life storytelling of Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. The lead single “HUMBLE.” is a terrific banger that stands on it’s own as a single while taking on new life in the context of the album. Coming immediately after “PRIDE.,” which features some of Kendrick’s best singing and an almost Tame Impala inspired chorus, it’s apparent the plea for humility isn’t directed towards you, but towards Kendrick himself.

Unfortunately, I can’t help but feel like this brings up one of the album’s biggest flaws, or possibly it’s biggest strength, depending on how you look at it. So much here is open to interpretation it’s almost impenetrable. Kendrick’s Kanye-like God complex bring in the album’s weakest track by far: the glitzy, repetitive “GOD.” Then, there’s the strange Judaism allusions that are referenced a handful of times. Either way you look, it’s hard not to find it all a little fascinating. Kendrick’s talents for lyrics and beat selection are on full display, and his multiple personality and vocal stylings play an integral part of the messages he conveys, even if these messages are a bit muddy. I mean, it’s hard not respect a dude that made fucking Bono actually sound cool on the multi-faceted, barn-burner “XXX.”

DAMN.’s album art shows Kendrick peering into your eyes. He’s intimidating. His stare is disrespectful. His demeanor is haggard. This album lives up to that evil gaze. Still, it’s hard to tell if that’s really the message he’s trying to convey. Despite the brashness of “DNA.” and the intoxicating debauchery of “LUST.,” there’s also tinder moments such as “LOVE.” Even when he has to beat someone’s ass he makes it “look sexy” as he sings on “ELEMENT.,” another standout. This album does find Kendrick in his element, and his element is on shaky ground. He’s got a lot on his mind: God, Trump anxiety, and a determined, yet compromised allegiance to all things hip hop, which he beautifully recites on the cloud-rap inspired “FEEL.” For Kendrick, hip hop isn’t just a trendy style of music that has dominated the mainstream; it’s not enough that it’s influenced media, fashion, culture and even changed the goddamn dictionary. Hip Hop has genuinely saved his life and this is him extending his olive branch. Let’s pray for him… or pray to him, because it’s kind of hard to tell.

8.8/10

God Tier: “DNA.”, “ELEMENT.”, “FEEL.”, “LOYALTY.”, “PRIDE.”, “HUMBLE.”, “LOVE.”, “XXX”, “FEAR.”, “DUCKWORTH.”

Damn… Tier: “GOD.”

[chesterfieldstings]

Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me - Review

Mount Eerie A Crow Looked At Me

Death is everywhere. You can glance in any direction and see wood, meat and plants that were once living things. For Phil Elverum, the singer/songwriter recording under the moniker of Mount Eerie, he sees the ashes of his wife, Genevieve Castree, the recently deceased mother to his young daughter. Countless forms of poetry, music, and literature have addressed and expounded upon the topic of death; sometimes it is manipulative, and other times it’s plaintive art, desperately trying to make sense of life’s preposterous and pervasive cruelty. A heft of this artwork has proven to be very worthwhile, yet little to none of it can precisely convey the true, emptiness real death, and the impact-fulness of rolling over to that side of the bed in the middle of the night that formerly radiated human warmth. Enter, Phil, and God bless him. His new record is titled A Crow Looked At Me and for some it will be the saddest listen they might ever endure but for Phil this is the painfully fresh document of an event that has changed his life forever.

Dating back to the 90’s with the essential, experimental indie-rock band, The Microphones, Phil has dabbled in the topic of death, as well as themes of life and nature. As a fairly recent convert to his music and idiosyncratic style, I can’t claim to be a historian on his work and personal life, but it is rather apparent he is hermetic, introverted and throughout his career has been gushing with creativity. A Crow Looked At Me documents where creativity and comfort meet harsh reality. This is where art becomes meaningless and ephemeral, and isn’t it ironic- To make an album, a piece of art, about how art doesn’t help. The emotions that music can evoke are fleeting and the sting of real life depression and loss lingers long after a record is recorded.

A Crow Looked At Me is truly unlike any album on the subject. The music, like other Mount Eerie recordings, is very bare, mostly consisting of acoustic guitar, piano, tiny puttering drum machines and Phil’s voice graphically detailing the time, place, and naturalistic imagery surrounding his wife’s passing. Every line in every song brings another layer of uncomfortable visuals. Unlike the frightening mix of acceptance and distress featured on David Bowie’s Blackstar or the triumphant, harrowing memoirs detailed on Touche Amore’s record Stage Four, this album hasn’t come to terms with anything. It’s very fresh and present, often sounding like it was written hours, maybe minutes after Genevieve’s passing. I would be very wary to recommend this album to anyone dealing with grief because takes place so early in the grief cycle. The emotions and so raw, stark, and the lyrics are blunt, longing and quietly tortured while brimming with detail.  In fact the entire album was recorded in the very room Genevieve died in, carrying with it the crackles, hums, and natural sounds of being isolated in an empty room with just an acoustic guitar.

The honesty on this album is devastating, with each line rolling out out of Phil’s mouth gently as tears flowing down your face . The intense levels of pain and numbness that Phil guides the listener into makes this one of the most arduous albums I’ve experienced in recent memory, which is also what makes it so incredibly genius. The way Phil forces you into his world is unshakeable, making it a work that many might respect, but will undoubtedly be reluctant to return to. This is a wholly uninviting listen, even more unnerving considering how crystal clear Phil’s words are. He demands your attention to notice the inevitable desolation of death.

In my lifetime, I’ve experienced two major deaths. They happened simultaneously in a car accident. It shook my entire community and shifted my perspective on life. That was roughly seven years ago. At the time, I was writing songs often. The death of my friends was not a muse I kind of intended it could be. When I went to reach a pen to attribute meaning to the tragedy, my hands went limp. There was nothing adequate I could say, I just really missed them, and I still do. On “Emptiness, Pt. 2,” Phil recites one of my favorite lyrics: “conceptual emptiness is cool to talk about, before I knew my way around these hospitals”. He’s right. Death, afterlife, and the idea of nothingness is idle talk until it personally makes its presence known to you. “Death is real” is the opening line of the album and repeated motif throughout. Such a universally accepted statement, yet so easily forgotten.

A Crow Looked At Me strings together beautiful moments, despite its unnervingly bare instrumentation. The haunting guitar melody on “Ravens” is one of the most mesmeric and unsettling moments put to music. When Phil cleans his wife’s room for the final time in “Toothbrush/Trash” its haunting music picks up slightly with a soft drum machine matching the tempo of his descriptions at the end. “Soria Moria” gathers in the only audible electric guitar in the album as Phil tells the origin story of their relationship; using this guitar, he matches its brash distortion with his frantic emotional state. These spare, human moments feel so tangible in spite of it’s narrative being told in such hollow spaces; fleshed out through memories, dreams and naturalistic imagery. Ravens, flies and dirt play the role of life always flourishing, despite the unimaginable defeat that it faces and ultimately overcomes. At one point Phil sees a fly as his wife before he lets it out of a window to be set free. While scattering her ashes into a sunset he declares she is not the ashes, she is the sunset.

The final track, “Crow,” makes a point to audibly have Phil leave the room after his final lines. There is no catharsis, no reprise and little to demand for an immediate return. Death is sound, the crows are sound, and the nightmares are corporeal until the moment of awakening, and this is Phil Elverum’s reality. Few pieces of art have used death in such a genuine fashion as this has. Death is not for singing or inspiring. It is a callous, unreasonable and inequitable fact of life that doesn’t make much sense; Phil makes this painfully evident on every lyric he delivers. The suffering of cleaning up the remains of a once living person and having to continue with the daily minutiae of life is a burden inflicted by nature’s cruelty. A burden that Phil repudiates on the remarkable “Forest Fire”. Phil, who has always held nature in particularly high regard, now seeing his lifelong fascination and respect for these forests turned on it’s side as he quietly disagrees with Genevieve’s fate.

“You do belong here, I reject nature, I disagree”

This is a heart-rending album about an agonizing topic and for what it’s worth I really hope that Phil and his daughter will be okay. A Crow Looked At Me is a masterpiece, so much so that it’s nearly unlistenable. By no means will anyone be cruising in a car and playing this on their way to work. There’s nothing to look forward to, only the dyer, desperate plead to look back. Hopefully by keeping that chasm open, the memories you carry will somehow fill that void. In time these memories won’t include dead body tissues, jaundiced skin, and the routes around hospitals. Mount Eerie has crafted a masterwork out of the unassailable feeling of loss; and Genevieve would be extremely proud of what Phil has created in her honor.

10/10

Top Tier: EVERY TRACK MADE ME CRY. ALL ARE GOOD. NO BAD, NO MID, NO BOOBOO. LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM, BUT LIKE IF I HAD TO PICK SOME ‘FAVORITES,’ AND I USE THAT TERM LOOSELY BECAUSE IT’S ALL SO FUCKING GODDAMN GOOD, IT WOULD BE: “Ravens”, “Real Death”, “Seaweed”, “My Chasm”, “Soria Moria”, “Real Death”, “Ravens”, “When I Take Out the Garbage At Night”, “Forest Fire”, “Ravens”, “Swims”, “Real Death” and probably also “Ravens”

Authors Note: Buy this. In a recent interview, it was proposed to Phil that the possibility of recording and selling this album could be exploitative. Originally, this was not intended to be released for mass consumption, and given its context, that is not surprising. However, he confessed that he would like to provide the best possible future for his daughter that is now motherless. Purchasing this and other Mount Eerie work could make a difference in a child’s life, which is yet another way this album seems to transcend music as we know it. This is literally life and death stuff here. In his own words, Phil says that that the universe did him very wrong and he plans on getting back at it, let’s help him.

Listen to the interview here: http://kuow.org/post/young-mom-dies-her-husband-writes-album-and-their-child-asks-where-s-mama

Wow, I gave a 10/10, How bout that.

Have a great day guys. Hug someone you love.

[dregsofpluto]

“The bones of man. The brittle remnants of cosmic torment that once made him wonder if matter was Lucifer upward groping back to his God. And yet now, he knew better.”

[dregsofpluto]

Preorder Trumpeting Ecstasy on bandcamp to get instant downloads of both ‘Deluminate’ and ‘Crawling Back to God’ www.profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com

[chesterfieldstings]

Bruhs

This is one of the sickest songs I’ve heard this year.

Also Full of Heck are really cool dudes, met Dylan in Atlanta and he gave me that good high five.

[chesterfieldstings]

Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live 2wice - Review

Freddie Gibbs You Only Live 2wice

Freddie Gibbs is no stranger to trouble. Throughout his prolific career he’s been graphically detailing the harsh realities of drug abuse, drug dealing and the down and dirtiness of the trap lifestyle. 2014’s Piñata, an unlikely collaboration between Gibbs and producer extraordinaire Madlib was my favorite release of that year. The unique marriage of avant-garde sampling techniques and lyrics about dirty, grimy street life made for an album that I found irresistible to play any time I hopped in a car. He followed this up with 2015’s Shadow of a Doubt, not near as groundbreaking but another solid release. Before Piñata however, I had yet to see the potential in Freddie Gibbs but Freddie and Madlib forcefully opened my eyes Clockwork Orange style and I haven’t seen him the same since.

Fast forward a bit and he still has trouble still on his mind. This time around it’s a different kind of trouble. As recent as last year the Gary, Indiana MC was acquitted of an alleged rape that occurred in Austria during his European tour. The allegations were proven to be false in court and Freddie was free to return to the states and be reacquainted with his family. Freddie went quick to work on releasing music. The music in question being this album You Only Live 2wice and he’s not one to mince words exemplified from this album’s first single “Crushed Glass”. On this and several other cuts here the ever so blunt rapper churns out detailed and touching reminiscences on his time wrongly incarcerated. On the final track “Homecoming” he depressively recalls how he couldn’t even read anything in cell he stayed in due to all the books being in German.

When Gibbs isn’t detailing the hysteria of the situation he found himself in last year he sticks to his familiar territory, drugs, drug dealing, drug abuse and the cold reality of street life. However, the juxtaposition between these themes is often a little too tonally jarring to be compelling. While the BadBadNotGood/Kaytranada produced track “Alexys” provides one of the most sensational beats the lyrics tend to run off course as Freddie crams as many words as possible in an attempt to find a hook that just isn’t there. The female vocals that anchor the chorus of “Crushed Glass” go into similar territory, something about this hook just isn’t as hard hitting or mystical as it aspires to be. Poor breath control and disappointing hooks is kind of a trademark of this release. Consistently Freddie seems to be rapping in almost diary entry style, he gets everything off his chest over a boom-bap beat and moves on to the next chip on his shoulder; then he firmly slices it off with samurai precision.

“Alexys”, “Crushed Glass”, and the epic opener “20 Karat Jesus” with it’s gospel infused, Kanye West style beat switch in the middle are the biggest highlights here. When Freddie falls out of his comfort zone is when things get kind of dicey. “Andrea” is another very personal cut with a relatable and passionately sung hook that builds nicely into the next song “Phone Lit”. Unfortunately this beautifully executed transition is all for not considering how goofy the following track is. Lyrically it almost sounds like something Young Thug would’ve passed on, it’s very repetitive, monotonous and the odd patios singing makes for a track destined for the recycle bin.

Despite the flaws You Only Live 2wice it’s still an admirable outing considering Freddie’s debacle could’ve ruined any lesser artist’s career. By forcing himself out of obscurity and painting a blunt and ugly picture of isolation and depression mixed with his trademark rapping style and thuggish lyrical themes You Only Live 2wice makes for a singular effort in his career. While it might have been more worthwhile for him to release a less rushed effort the rap world should be thankful for this release and for the return of one of the nastiest and most honest rappers working today. Let’s just hope he can stay out of trouble until that next release gets dropped.

6.3/10

Top Tier: “Alexys”, “Crushed Glass”, “20 Karat Jesus”, “Andrea”

Trash Tier: “Phone Lit”

[chesterfieldstings]

Charli XCX - Number One Angel - Review

Charli XCX Number One Angel

Last year, Ms Charlotte Emma Aitchison, better known by her stage name Charli XCX, dropped a nifty, little ep. Vroom Vroom was a collaboration between her and Sophie, eccentric music producer of the PC Music label. As far as unlikely collaborations go, the ep was a success. Vroom Vroom perked my ears up to the possibility of Charli XCX becoming a new and exciting voice in left field pop music. Following up is Number One Angel, a mixtape that moderately succeeds in hitting us with another wave of colorful, yet off-kilter, bubblegum pop music.

“Dreamer,” the opener, is a lavish and glossy tune that shifts in between airy crooning and a seemingly Migos inspired triplet flow, courtesy of the two guest features. Keeping up with the trendy sounds of modern American pop music, the following cuts “3AM” and “Blame it on You” are stagnant and forgettable tunes- with one giving off the overdone, tired trend of faux dancehall. Fortunately, this is quickly upended by the “Roll With Me,” a spastic and booming-cut full of cavernous, swirling instrumental passages that could likely make MC Ride blush.

Charli and company’s mission seems to be pleasing the top 40 pop fans before they shift gears up to craft some excitingly wacky and memorable songs. The following two bangers “Emotional” and “ILY2” are two tracks that will likely bring the “Boom Clap” fans back into the fold with soaring, resonant choruses to warm even the coldest of hearts. “Emotional” absolutely lives up to the angelic imagery of the album title while “ILY2” matches the triumph of the former while adding a hint of alternative rock flavors, even packing in a guitar solo. Regrettably, it’s difficult to report anything highly notable after these tracks, sans the hyperkinetic ending “Lipgloss” that has a surprising, but typically prurient feature from CupcakKe.

Alas, this is a moderate success. Charli is still finding ways to cleverly pair experimental, nuanced alt-pop songs against easily-digestible, saccharine love songs; she just hasn’t quite found the proper recipe to mix it all together. The fantastic production and vocal performances are impossible to ignore, but it’s difficult to look past some of the shortcomings; e.g. Charli’s lyrics and song topics are very one-dimensional.

However, in the grand scheme, these are all minor complaints. Number One Angel is still a stride in the right direction for Charli, and one can only hope that her contemporaries take note. She’s surrounded herself with a very talented team of people dedicated to enhancing a sound that’s becoming more stale and bland as the 2000’s press forward. Given the gracious carriage Charli XCX has been leading, it’s comforting to know we have an angel watching over the land of pop. I just hope she gets her wings soon, I think she’s earned them.

6.8/10

Angel Tier: “Roll With Me”, “Dreamer”, “Emotional”, “ILY2”, “Lipgloss”

Demon Tier: “Blame it on You”, “3AM”

(Authors Note: If you’re not familiar with CupcakKe, give her a google search. Turn your speakers on extremely loud and play her most listened to song “Deepthroat,” preferably in a library or at your parents house. Additionally, her verse on “Lipgloss” is bangin’.)