Nuco Listens...

"Music album reviews, editorials and thinkpieces from a truly obsessive music fan."

[evilradmedieval]

Gucci Mane - “Mr. Davis” Review

It’s been a hot minute since one of these things, but I figured it would be good to make a comeback with a slur of reviews for the plethora of music releases that came out this week. With that being said, let’s get into the trap godfather himself, Gucci Mane. Since his first post-jail project Everybody Looking, he definitely was in the middle of the spotlight with some well-produced banger of albums with more focused lyricism and delivery that some could say have exceeded his efforts back in the early 2000s. He’s made strives to work with major artists such as Drake, Rae Sremmurd and the Migos, coming through with hit after hit. “Black Beatles” and “Both” are just quick examples of this. He also recently linked up with none other than Metro Boomin himself to come out with one of his most polished and banging EP I’ve heard Gucci every drop with Drop Top Wop. He’s been on such a hot streak, there’s no way you can deny the consistency he’s had with his projects critically and commercially. With this new album Mr. Davis, however, he attempts to completely go over the top with major collaborations with Migos, A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Chris Brown and Big Sean to say the very gist of it. Does he capitalize on having such a big feature list?

The opening track comes off surprisingly as one of the more personal cuts off the album. “Work In Progress” is a track that goes really in depth about all of the struggles and doubts that Gucci Mane had to overcome in order to get top where he’s at in the music industry. He touches on topics regarding the death of his distant father, the faith his fans have in him, and his time going to jail. The beat is lowkey and trap-flavored, but isn’t necessarily a banger because this is supposed to be a canvas for him to really let out everything that’s on his mind. Definitely one of my favorites.

Longtime collaborator Zaytoven jumps on the keys for this vintage Gucci Mane piano-interpolating trap banger called “Back On”. Here, he comes off with a lot of energy and gives his trademark slurred delivery with loads of personality and humor. His flow doesn’t really change up much during the duration of the song, and the instrumental sounds pretty run of the mill for Zaytoven, but the track is definitely one that can be seen played in the background of a raging party.

The Migos completely take over with the lead single “I Get the Bag”, a track that sounds like a B-Side to Culture. Takeoff, Quavo and Offset all make appearances, giving pretty high-energy performances atop an airy- atmospheric trap banger of an instrumental. Gucci Mane then comes into the track matching the same type of energy and delivery as his collaborators, making for a perfect club banger. It’s not amazing, but their collaborations usually work out well. Gucci Mane just sounded like a feature on his own track.

The influence of those high-bass heavy trap bangers from South Florida Soundcloud rappers comes through with full force on “Stuntin’ Ain’t Nuthin’”. The track features “Black Beatles” collaborator Slim Jxmmi from Rae Sremmurd, as well as Tennessee rapper Young Dolph. Both artists contribute some good variety sonically on the track, and the beat does a fantastic job in really making everyone’s performances really pop. Slim Jxmmi really surprised me on this one with one of his most exuberant performances I’ve heard to date.

The next track “Curve” features this poppy trap flavor, especially with an Abel verse. The track is commonplace for a Weeknd track, being very mysterious, trap-flavored and moody. He comes through with this sung-rapped verse, which sounds very similar to what he did on “Reminder”. Both of them pretty much cover what you’d expect, which is basically curving girls and being OP. The track isn’t amazing, and I wouldn’t think they’d really capitalize on each others’ performances as they don’t really match on a track together.

Gucci Mane continues with this R&B-tinged aesthetic by enlisting Ty$ on the subsequent track “Enormous”. The track sounds more woodwind-flavored, however still features that trap-flavored airiness that’s felt on a majority of the tracks on this album. Ty$ gives an average performance at best, with some of his verses with some cringe-worthy bars and a delivery that mimics the Migos in a way, especially with those corny ad-libs. This is a direction that really doesn’t pay off dividends in the long run for Gucci, as it’s obvious he’s trying to appeal more to a wider audience with this sound. His verse didn’t really do it for me on this one either to save it.

It’s around the middle section of the album in which the album really loses momentum with some half-baked tracks that either don’t go as hard as I’d like, feature some boring production or just more recycled song ideas. “Members Only” is subject to one of the most boring production on this track. The beat has very little variation and Gucci’s delivery is so snoozy it almost puts me to sleep. He raps in a way where the hook blends into his verses, which isn’t a good thing.

Gucci Mane then thinks he has the capacity to really start crooning on “Money Make Ya Handsome”, in the same vein as Drake on a couple of his songs. The track would probably be one of his worst songs on the album, where he comes through with also one of the cringiest bars about girls killing themselves to have sex with him. It makes no sense, and even the mixing on his vocals during the hook sounds like he’s literally drowning.

Big Sean makes one of the most wasted vocal features on this album. Sean appears on the track “Changed”, with his half-baked vocal delivery on the hook that really is an ear sore. The instrumental sample is also poorly implemented, with some wailing vocals embedded throughout. Gucci Mane’s performance is okay, but it doesn’t really save the track from what it could have been, especially since Big Sean has been on a quality music streak since I Decided.

This R&B-tinged flavor continues with “We Ride”, in which Monica decides to crawl up from the cave she’s been hiding in and contribute an overblown vocal feature on the hook. Again, this comes to show that Gucci Mane breaking into this path of poppy trap songs doesn’t really work out well in his favor. His own performance is decent, but comes through with a lot of “come-up” rap cliches that makes this song a dud.

The album finally bounces back into the right direction with a surprise guest appearance with ScHoolboy Q on the banger collaboration “Lil Story”. The instrumental is a banging trap explosion, with loads of energy and personality. Both artists really compliment each other well, with some clever bars thrown around like hot potatoes. This is definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album, and wish he opted for a sound more like this on Mr. Davis.

“Tone It Down” is one of those R&B trap bangers, however has an aesthetic all on its own that makes it one of the more compelling singles from the album. Chris Brown actually makes for an excellent feature on the hook, and Gucci Mane comes through with his most urgent-sounding performance on the entire album. His flow is unmatched, and what really puts the song over the top is the woodwind sample that we’ve been seeing on recent trap bangers like Drake’s “Portland” and Future’s “Mask Off”. It’s bound to be a radio smash hit, I’m calling it.

This streak of quality songs continues, with the sassy collaboration with Nicki herself on “Make Love”. There’s this xylophone-sample trap banger of an instrumental that really give what Gucci and Nicki need to make their vocals really pop. Gucci Mane comes through with a hilarious performance, especially on the hook. Nicki on the other hand pretty much attempts to take over the entire track and come through with some pretty OP bars. Gucci’s performance is essentially sheer simplicity and humor at his finest.

“Money Piling” is one of the few solo tracks in which Gucci excels with the exception of the intro track. He comes through with some pretty cheeky bars and provides yet again a pretty chuckle-worthy performance on the hook. There’s nothing else much to say, but again just a run of the mill yet quality Gucci Mane song that holds over well.

A$AP Rocky and Gucci Mane might as well make a fucking collaboration album because their first link-up on “Jumped Out the Whip” is nothing but straight fire. Gucci Mane does his thing with a pretty over-the-top verse, but A$AP’s delivery completely takes the song to another level. The track is a moody, atmospheric trap banger that sounds like it came off of At.Long.Last.A$AP, however never would I have thought the two would collaborate and truly feed off each other’s energy so well.

Although I’m not a fan of Rico Love’s appearance on this track “Miss My Woe”, I understand what Gucci Mane was trying to do with this track in trying to reference all his dead homies and those that are in jail. This is essentially Gucci on his Bone Thugs tip with his existential crisis as an outro. This is one of the few moments, including the opener, in which he comes off as more human and flawed as opposed to an invincible trap king. Some of the bars he throws around are pretty heady and heartfelt, which isn’t something that he does often. The violence in the ATL, his jail sentence and the loss of his loved ones are a couple things he touches on. Definitely an interesting side of Gucci Mane I wouldn’t mind him exploring in the future.

It all comes full circle on “Made It”, which takes all the hardship and negativity from the opener and flips it into a Zaytoven-produced trap celebration. The track is melodic and cartoony, but does what it needs to do to make Gucci sound like the most confident rapper on the planet. This was definitely the way we’d wanna see the ending of a Gucci album, out with a bang. He also does a touching tribute to his past loved ones at the end before dropping his trademark “WOP!!!” adlib.

This Gucci Mane album isn’t perfect, but when was the last time you really came across an album that was fully realized and fleshed out with nothing but trap bangers and minimal cringy bars? Either way, Gucci Mane does make a couple major missteps with some corny, R&B-tinged pop trap bangers. He also enlists a great deal of artists, in which some contribute half-baked performances or really don’t fit within the narrative of the album. However, when collaborations do fit, man do they really set the track on fire. The album has a great number of cuts as well, which makes for a bigger margin of error. Due to that, I couldn’t say this was an amazing album, but was a decent Gucci Mane album that’s bound to entertain. No one else truly does it like him, and again he is the one who calls all these other rappers “his children.”

RATING: 6/10

[evilradmedieval]

A$AP Mob - “Cozy Tapes Vol. 2: Too Cozy” Review

This is a massive year for the A$AP Mob. Within a couple weeks ago, A$AP Twelvyy dropped his debut studio album 12, which I thought was okay for a first album. His lack of personality despite his gritty, New York-inspired bars and outdated production made his album something I wouldn’t see myself revisiting anytime soon. However, his release was matched with A$AP Ferg on his new Still Striving mixtape. The mixtape featured a plethora of guests, both from the Mob and from close affiliation, which ultimately was the reason why it wasn’t a solid, cohesive project in my opinion. Despite that, the album was jam-packed with bangers that sought the return to that grimey Trap Lord persona everyone was missing back in 2013. Last year’s Cozy Tapes was an album that also tried to showcase all the Mob’s talents as a crew, however failed to showcase everyone’s distinct talents. I thought that there was a huge talent gap between Rocky and Ferg when in comparison to the rest of the crew members. It’s not a good thing when you can’t figure out who is who unless it’s Ferg and Rocky, but this new installment does a slightly better job in showing every members’ strengths. Although not a cohesive album, it initially comes off as monotonous and boring, yet picks up towards the latter half of the album quality-wise.

The first track “Perry Aye” features this hard-hitting trap-flavored banger, complete with some sinister vocals on the hook thanks to none other than Jaden Smith. The track is grimey and bass-heavy, definitely what you’d expect from a A$AP Mob track. Rocky kicks off the first verse with a pretty melodic verse that’s kind of short to give room for the rest of the guests to showcase their skills. Playboi Carti actually comes through with a verse that doesn’t consist of mainly adlibs, but again doesn’t contribute anything noteworthy lyricism-wise. A$AP Nast delivers an equally short verse as well, which was definitely forgettable as well. If the song was a little longer and A$AP Nast had a better verse, it would have been a decent track.

The next track “Please Shut Up” showcases this incredibly annoying hook recited by KEY!, a rapper who does nothing in means of verses. Again, Rocky comes through with the first verse, which is again short but still does his thing. Gucci Mane surprisingly comes through with a surprise appearance and contributes a nice verse here as well. But unfortunately, the rest of the track is nothing but KEY!, as he provides both a lackluster verse, an annoying pre-chorus and the ending chorus to really make you wish he’d be the one to shut up. The track sonically is another lowkey, nocturnal trap-flavored banger.

I surprisingly like the production on the next track “Blowin’ Minds (Skateboard), which features accordion sections and flute samples embedded in the Magnolia-esque instrumental. The tracks however features all these rappers, including Rocky and Carti, who contribute the same delivery and Autotuned performance that really mixes together in one massive posse cut of lackluster verses. I feel like if they didn’t stuff as many rappers as they could on this track and had a couple decent verses, it would have been one of the more memorable track. However, that’s not the case here.

We get this bass-heavy, high hat-rattling trap banger on “Black Card”. The track reminds me of Rocky’s “Jodye”, which is equally lowkey yet bombastic. Smooky MarGielaa comes through the head of this cut with the most annoying Autotuned, straining voice ever to kick off the track. It really ruined the grittiness of the track for me, which was luckily saved by a feature from A$AP Rocky until he started repeatedly refraining “Black Card” along with Smooky. Again, could have been a great track if not for the annoying Smooky appearance and the ridiculous hook.

Everyone on the track comes trough with the same monotonous, boring flow on “Walk On Water”, a laidback, trap-flavored banger that references Jesus walking on water? Either way, the hook is still pretty catchy thanks to Playboi Carti and A$AP Nast. A$AP Ferg makes an appearance towards the tail end of the track with a bombastic, off-the-wall performance, which really makes for great variety among all the other members’ sleep-inducing verses.

Speaking of sleep-inducing, Cozy Tapes Vol. 2 follows up this trend of boring posse cuts with the R&B-tinged, trap-flavored “BYF”. The aim seems to be sensual, yet there is nothing sexy about the Autotuned crooning from Smooky and the gruff, coarse braggadocio from A$AP Ant. A$AP Rocky makes only an appearance as the singer on the hook, making this track seem incomplete altogether. 

The next track I actually like a lot more than the last couple cuts. On “Get The Bag”, the track is nothing but dark, high-hat twittering and overall ominous. I really like the “It’s a new day” adlib looming in the background. A$AP Twelvyy, Smooky MarGielaa and A$AP TyY actually come through with decent verses here, however I still couldn’t ever get into A$AP Nast on these hard-hitting trap beats. By the time it gets to his verse, the tracks tends to meander and get boring. 

Standout banger alert. We kick off the bombastic “Bahamas” with a ridiculously aggressive delivery rarely seen from hip-hop enigma Lil Yachty. A$AP Ferg, A$AP Rocky, Smooky and ScHoolboy Q come through with fast paced flows as well, each contributing great but quick bars. Although there are half a dozen rappers on this thing, the track barely runs past three minutes, showcasing how little but memorable bars each feature was able to contribute. Definitely a standout for me on this thing.

The momentum sort of slows down on the more soulful, trap-flavored cut “Frat Rules” featuring some adlibs and chorus duties from none other than Carti himself. Big Sean makes a pretty surprising appearance here, intertwining his bars with A$AP Rocky’s. Both artists don’t collaborate a lot, however there is a lot of chemistry between the two, and they both are able to build off each other’s delivery to come through with a solid track.

The next track ventures back into that more ominous, nocturnal trap-flavored banger sound. “FYBR” features some great performances by the same regulars who I’ve come to love across the board on this thing, however thought Playboi Carti’s verse wasn’t too bad either. KEY! contributed only the hook, so luckily we didn’t get another lackluster verse on this thing.

“Feels So Good” follows the same formula as the previous track: being nocturnal, skeletal and trap-flavored. By this time, tracks are already sounding more and more similar, however we still get some decent verses from A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg and A$AP Ant. Nothing too worthwhile to comment on anymore at this point.

A$AP Twelvyy carries this next track by himself on “Coziest”. He gets some backing vocals by some artist named Zack, but comes through again with a boring flow and not as interesting lyrics on his other features on the album. You’d think he’d capitalize on the spotlight being the only one on this track, but it’s again just a lowkey trap banger that runs for a couple minutes into the next song.

The next track completely ditches the whole trap sound the entire project was aiming for, and brings in some grimey, boom bap-esque New York vibes. The shit-talking is at an all-time high with the inclusion of not only Rocky and Ferg, but PRO ERA contemporaries Joey Bada$$, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution and even the Flatbush Zombies. The track is nothing but a crazy posse cut that features some of the best coming from the east coast. Definitely a nice change of pace, and I wish this album opted for some variance in regard to sonic direction as such.

Ending off the album we get the viral single “RAF”, featuring a diverse set of appearances from Lil Uzi Vert, Quavo, Rocky, Carti and Frank Ocean. Everyone contributes a pretty good verse, including Frank himself on his first rap verse in a while. I was a little overwhelmed, as the track is sonically something we usually don’t find him on, but he held his own. Again, the track is just another trap-flavored lowkey banger complete with nothing but braggadocio. Still, one of my favorites off the album due to the inclusion of rappers not from the A$AP Mob.

When it comes to the Cozy Tapes installments, I don’t take them too seriously due to the fact that they’re projects full of A$AP Rocky and Ferg with a couple others from the Mob that aren’t clearly as talented or energetic. With this massive talent gap, it leads to a sense of unevenness on tracks, especially when you have Playboi Carti yelping all over hooks or a posse cut with other A$APs rapping with boring flows and uninteresting bars. However, there are still a decent amount of bangers and deeper cuts on Cozy Tapes Vol. 2 that are worth checking out. I just feel that this album was just a way to keep the A$AP Mob relevant and hold over fans until the next couple of solo releases. “Bahamas” is still banger of the fucking year so far.

RATING: 5/10

[evilradmedieval]

MadeinTYO - “True’s World” Review

MadeinTYO is one of those rappers that came onto the scene thanks to a really well written hook on a viral hit. In this case, “Uber Everywhere” was an infectious lowkey banger of a track that was all over the airwaves last year, gaining notoriety and even was remixed by Travi$ Scott himself. MadeinTYO follows up this buzz with another single in “Skateboard P”, which was remixed by Big Sean and saw almost as much success as its predecessor. In regards to releases, MadeinTYO was able to capitalize on the You Are Forgiven and Thank You, Mr. Tokyo mixtapes, in which both saw moderate success but offered nothing that would span beyond two years in regards to significance. That was what I saw as MadeinTYO’s problem as an artist: the inability to come through with an original angle with this trendy trap-influenced generation of adlib-obsessed rappers. However, his buzz was strong enough to be selected as one of the 2017 XXL Freshmen, where he contributed one of the most unforgettable freestyles. With a boring flow and forgettable lyrics, it was hard to see how long MadeinTYO could maintain his relevance. With his new EP True’s World, MadeinTYO looks to maintain that dwindling level of significance and hopefully hold over fans until the release of his debut studio album sometime within the near future.

The first track acts as the opener without its own hook and features MadeinTYO going off in regards to his come up and some other aspects of his personal life. Although I understand the intent with this track, he comes off as completely monotonous and bored of even his own flow. The personality again is not there, and the fact that this beat is overly simplistic and trap-flavored in nature makes this only two minute-long track seem like five. Either way, this was as personal as he was going to get, as you’d probably expect some lowkey bangers coming from this thing.

The next following tracks come through with some poorly written and unforgettable hooks to reel in listeners. In a means to deliver upon the sound promised on “Uber Everywhere”, this track is lowkey, trap-flavored and accompanied by a simplistic piano-driven sample. “Depends” features the same level of adlibs you’d expect from MadeinTYO, however showcases very unmemorable bars regarding fashion, drugs and women. He does this with so little charisma it’s another snoozer.

“Cashing Out” sounds about as generic as you’d think. Although commonplace in nature, he actually comes through with more intensity with his delivery when compared to other tracks on this EP. Still, the hook sounds overly repetitive and the instrumental sounds too similar to the previous track to be distinctive.

Thank God Nard & B, famous for producing the Migos’ smash hit “T-Shirt” made an appearance as a producer on this track “Too Quick”, in which it really makes MadeinTYO’s boring persona really pop more than it actually does. His flow resembles the Migos as well, but he still hold his own with his trademark adlibs and comes through with a better overall performance on this track compared to others. Sonically, it’s what you’d expect as well from Nard & B.

“Eating” is probably one of the more cringy moments on the EP, probably because he alludes to a woman as food and says he is “eating her” in an attempt to be seductive. It’s nothing but laughable as MadeinTYO tries to come up with cunnilingus food references with this horribly Autotuned crooning reminiscent of Future on HNDRXX. The track is nocturnal and trap-flavored, but it’s a shame MadeinTYO wasted a decently produced track with such a lackluster and cringy performance.

Flutes and recorders are an interesting choice for a sample for this lowkey trap-flavored banger. It’s a little different, and actually sounds interesting enough to make MadeinTYO’s more than half-assed performance sound good. Unfortunately, the track barely lasts over a minute and a half, cutting off the track short of what could have been a decent track. 

This album is definitely not something to be completely crazy about, but still has a couple bright spots. It just comes to show that MadeinTYO isn’t even interesting enough a rapper to really carry an entire album by himself without any help from features or good producers. This is quite evident here, as his monotone flow and forgettable lyricism really don’t come off as intriguing at all. At times he has potential to really come off as charismatic with some harder flows, memorable lines and his trademark “SKR SKR” adlibs, however True’s World definitely comes up short, despite a cohesive, trap-flavored sonic direction.

RATING: 4/10

[evilradmedieval]

Lil Uzi Vert - “Luv Is Rage 2″ Mini Review

Lil Uzi Vert busted onto the scene as one of those so-called “mumble rappers” that the normie hip-hop stans would coin. He came off as very formulaic, obnoxious and fit within that same group of rappers that includes 21 Savage, Lil Yachty and Kodak Black. Despite this, he does have a couple albums under his belt that have several hit singles, which includes my personal favorites “Money Longer”, “You Was Right”, “Seven Million” and the infamous “XO Tour Llif3″. These are all tracks that I really should not like on paper, but they’re all undeniably catchy party bangers. The latter track happens to be one of the standouts of this new album Luv Is Rage 2, which actually comes to show how much quality material is actually on this new album. With this new album, and his other albums, he comes through with his trademark nasally, rasp of a vocal performance, with that Migos-inspired delivery and his trap crooning that was popularized by contemporaries Future, Young Thug and even the Migos. With this album, although tracks are more decently produced and have a glitzier, more polished sound compared to his mixtapes, Lil Uzi Vert delivers another hefty project of nothing but the same shit we’ve come to expect.

Some of the brighter cuts off the album include “Sauce It Up”, a song that’s formulaic by Lil Uzi Vert standards with his warbled rap crooning, however comes through with enough energy to last for the duration of the entire track. “For Real” features this XXXTENTACION-influenced flow, with a bass-heavy trap banger and probably one of the biggest ear worms on the entire tracklisting. The latter verse of the track actually goes pretty hard, and I really like the loony, cartoonish sound of the track. Fortunately enough, Uzi was able to get a major cosign and guest feature from crooner heavyweight The Weeknd. He really helps in breaking up the monotony of the the album, almost to the point to where Uzi sounds like a mere feature on his own track. Lastly, the last two tracks on the album are complete bangers. “Dark Queen” is a surprisingly introspective track about his own mother, however the problem I had with the track was the fact that it reads off as a trap banger meant for the club, not completely matching the tone of the lyrics. Additionally, this could be said for viral hit “XO Tour Llif3″, however the song is so well performed and sung it’s really hard to hate such a guilty pleasure.

The rest of the album, unfortunately, could go down the drain in my opinion. With the exception of a few banger tracks, most of the other tracks read to me as songs that are horribly rap-sung and have really repetitive or poorly written hooks to be deemed catchy or even likeable. Again, lyricism is definitely not Lil Uzi Vert’s strong point, so what he has to do is come through with a lot of energy and bank on his production team to come through with these heavy, trap-flavored bangers to carry himself through songs. He’s really a one trick pony, and his music is fantastic as background music for the pregame of a party, but other than that he cannot really capitalize on Luv Is Rage 2 by coming through with a new angle or with anything that’s compelling enough for me to like it as a whole. He’s more so a “singles” artist, as wholistic projects are not his strong suit. Oh, and he should have been the one to be left off “Bad and Boujie”. 

RATING: 4/10

[evilradmedieval]

XXXTENTACION - “17″ Review

XXXTENTACION is probably one of the hardest artists to really categorize. Many people have come to label him as one of those Soundcloud rappers to comes through with a bombastic trap-flavored beat and screams all over the track about fucking women, hence the viral track “Look at Me”. However, he’s come to really fuck with our minds when he displayed different side of his artistry, in which he’s throw a curveball by giving us a indie folk-influenced track or a 90′s-esque boom bap banger with nothing but intricate lyrics over lyrics. He’s dropped several overlooked EPs and mixtapes, including the Revenge compilation, a mixed bag of lo-fi rock, booming trap bangers and lowkey cloud rap. It’s a downside to release albums like this, however, because it shows a lack of a direction with the sound he wants. However, especially with the new music that he’s been releasing amidst the XXL Freshmen cover release, a lot of his lyrics deal with very dark, and semi-satanic imagery. I’m not sure if he does this because that’s what he genuinely wishes to do musically or to gain attention. Regardless, X’s new album is here and it’s nothing short of the teen angst and emo trend that several other rappers in this day-and-age have been hopping on with 17.

The introduction gives us this sort of “Oh if you don’t like this that’s fine, this is how I feel” type explanation for doing everything. In a sense, he’s trying to straight-out say that he wants to do things on his own terms with his music. Interestingly enough, he then goes into this lo-fi, boom bap R&B cut in which X’s takes the reins on both the hook and rapped verses. Here, it showcases his interest in more cloudier, lo-fi type music, but just because he’s a fan of this genre doesn’t mean he is talented enough to dabble into it. His vocals don’t sound that good, especially on the hook for “Jocelyn Flores”, however comes through with a verse that does a good job of describing how he feels, which borders both depressed and suicidal. However, I thought it would have been a good idea to include why he feels this way as opposed to coming through with a emotionally ambiguous track.

The subsequent track finds us with a very short and also ambiguously sad track that’s acoustic guitar-driven and features the same low quality sung vocals by X. I like what he was trying to do with the track regarding obsession and depression being hand in hand, however the track was too short and should have been fleshed out a little more. The intent was definitely there, but again the execution was lacking tremendously.

We find ourselves with a cloud rap track with “Everybody Does in Their Nightmares”, another relatively dark and depressing track about how sitting in bed alone can really be horrible especially being stuck with negative thoughts. The track, again, is uncomfortably short, and this track could have easily been one of the better tracks had it have been expanded upon. Sitting at a minute and a half, the track sounded so rushed.

“Revenge” features this acoustic guitar-driven instrumental in which X’s gives us this indie folk-esque vocal delivery. The track is very lo-fi and sounds very lazily mixed together. The track references his ex-girlfriend and his charges with assault and battery back in 2016. Here, his first and only verse is merely a refrain, as he repeats the same first part of this verse for the second half of the verse... either way it’s very unnecessary and doesn’t sound good.

The next track sort of follows within the same vein of the previous track sonically with its lo-fi guitar-driven instrumental. The track is very stripped back and gives off very bleak and morbid vibes. His vocals here come off as horribly underdeveloped, angsty and overall just not pleasant. Some can say that he’s trying to come off as emotional, however the concept for tracks like this show that his lack of lyrical content and expanding of his song topics are not his strong suit.

A melancholy piano-driven instrumental comprise the interlude “Dead Inside”, which features X singing very lackadaisically. The piano sounds decent, but again this is only an interlude that really didn’t add anything significant to the tracklisting. The track then transitions into this cloud rap-esque, trap-flavored ballad. Autotuned vocals reminiscent of Lil Uzi Vert on “XO Tour Lif3″ are all over this thing, but sung horribly. He enlists the help of vocalist Trippie Redd, however both performances are so bad I can’t figure out who is who.

The next track “Carry On” is at least tolerable. Here, we get this lo-fi, ambient hip-hop track in which XXXTENTACION’s vocals dive in and out of reverb, with Shiloh Dynasty’s vocal samples looming throughout the song. The song is probably the best produced track on the album, as the sample actually works well with the subtle acoustic guitar riffs embedded in the instrumental. Again, this track is also relatively short and could have been great if it was made longer with another verse that adds to X’s broken relationship.

“Orlando” is a piano-driven ballad that showcases X actually giving a slightly better vocal performance about his view of life and how he has suicidal thoughts. Again, the lyrics are very ambiguous and the track is another short ballad of nothing but unexplained angst and depression. The song then transitions into another piano-driven cut, but acts more as an outro that really again doesn’t add anything to the album.

As an artist, XXXTENTACION is one of the most unpredictable rappers on the face of the planet of recent memory. With this album, this just proves that he has complete lack of a sonic direction and any regard for quality content in his music that actually expands into something. Every song is under three minutes long, and whenever I go on Rap Genius to see what he is saying, it’s usually a very angst-filled, ambiguous rant about how sad he is without regard for the reasons why and his actual viewpoints on certain events in his life. The songs are poorly sung, and although he has some promise as a rapper delivery-wise, I come across 17 as a project that’s nothing short of a mixed bag of nothing to be proud of.

RATING: 1/10

[evilradmedieval]

Daniel Caesar - “Freudian” Review

I haven’t logged onto Twitter without seeing over-emotional Tweets regarding the new Daniel Caesar album all over the place. Since earlier last year, up-and-coming Toronto R&B has been making waves in the music industry with singles after singles releasing. Although I haven’t had the desire to check out his music, it only seems fair to do so, thanks to the release of his debut studio record Freudian. With his initial singles, Daniel Caesar read to me as another one of those young 20-something singers that croon atop stripped back, minimalistic R&B cuts regarding commonplace topics such as heartbreak and falling in and out of relationships. The last time I checked such an artist was Khalid, someone who came to me as the most overrated young pop singer of recent memory. His most recent album showcased nothing but raw emotional crooning complete with angsty and immature songwriting with a mixed bag of electropop and alt-R&B production. That being said enough of Khalid, I was hoping that this was not the case for Mr. Caesar himself. With his new album Freudian, he sought to prove he can carry a project that delves into both classic gospel and tradiotional R&B with a modern twist.

The first track “Get You” is a pretty great opener, with this melodic and minimalistically produced lowkey cut that comes off as very sensual and comforting. Daniel Caesar’s vocals sound great, as the stripped back production really give him room to completely flesh out his vocal range. With this cut, he nabbed Colombian-American singer-songwriter Kali Uchis for a vocal feature, in which she actually compliments Caesar’s performance very well with excellent chemistry. The songwriting regarding past relationships and sex isn’t the greatest, but is overcome with some fantastic performances by both artists to really foreshadow what’s to come on the rest of the tracklisting.

Nothing but acoustic guitar and some heartfelt vocal performances make up the next track “Best Part”. Pop singer H.E.R. shows up, in which she does a fantastic job a sharing the cut with Caesar, without taking over his own song. Chemistry with his features seems to be one of the strengths that Daniel showcases on this album, but what starts becoming apparent with this track and onward is the lackluster and basic songwriting. Comparing life to a movie and alluding her to “the best” part sounds nothing short of lazy in regards to lyricism and metaphors, but again Daniel and friends make up for those hiccups with impressive vocals and beautiful production.

“Hold Me Down” again showcases the same flaws of the former tracks, yet has one of my favorite instrumentals on the album. That bass guitar really stands out and gives the song nothing but sexual vibes all across the instrumental. Here, Caesar cleverly has Kirk Franklin’s “Hold Me Now”, in which he still changes up some aspects of the track to make it his own towards the back end of the track. Again, I kind of cringed especially with that first verse, but the hook was a light improvement and is still pretty catchy. Gospel vibes dominate the tail end of the track and cary over into the next track “Neu Roses (Transgressor’s Song)”. I thought this was an interesting change of pace especially with that transition. The first verse comes off as very gospel-driven, then switches up in a standout verse that features Caesar exhibiting some pretty high octaves with some better lyrics this time around. 

I really like the concept of “Loose”, a track that has Daniel Caesar singing to himself in regards to whether or not he should break up with a problematic girl or stay with her. The track is very ambient and serene, yet I thought that this track could have been organized a little better by either separating both points of view into different verses or giving a different point of view in a different vocal range to make it easier to distinguish between what he is thinking. However, he may be doing it this way in order to showcases a state of wishy-washiness. Regardless, an interesting track.

“We Find Love” is this piano-driven ballad regarding Caesar and a lost relationship. Here, he tries to come off as heartbroken, angsty yet self-reflective of the past. The track has this very gospel-influenced vibe to is as well, in which Caesar gives off a performance that’s very melodic, yet formulaic. However, he does well in bringing in those backing vocals that give the track some extra pop with emotion. A well crafted song, but still sounds like something familiar.

We come across another piano ballad with the track “Blessed”, a track that again showcases nothing but a beautiful piano-driven cut and Daniel Caesar’s gospel-influenced vocal delivery. The low point of the track again is his unoriginal and commonplace songwriting, however again makes up for it with his emotional performance backed with some pretty backing vocals. I just wish when those backing vocals came in, he really went in on that portion of the song to really showcase what he can do vocally as the track is very minimalistic.

The Internet’s Syd makes an appearance on “Take Me Away”, a melodic love ballad backed with some minimalistic guitar chord progressions embedded into the instrumental. The hook is pretty catchy, and he does well in fleshing out his vocals for it. The songwriting is well improved on this track, however thought that the Syd collaboration was either not needed or underutilized. She doesn’t have the greatest or most diverse vocal range, but her backing vocals still make a slightly nice touch towards the tail end of the track. Definitely one of the better produced cuts off the album for me.

“Transform” kicks off with a vibe that’s ethereal, serene and laidback, with Daniel coming through with some fantastic vocals that are then accompanied by a singer who goes by the name of Charlotte Day Wilson. I have no idea who she is, but Daniel Caesar did a good job of enlisting her efforts on the track, as she perfectly compliments Daniel’s vocals very well. Here, Caesar gives off a performance that showcases a little more of what he’s capable of vocally. I didn’t think that vocal distortion was needed towards the middle section of the track, however when it cascades back to normal the instrumental opts to include a very interesting electric guitar section with some simplistic chord progressions.

The album ends with a ten-minute long summation of all the sounds that Daniel explored throughout Freudian. This cut comes packaged in two parts, in which the first portion features a melodic, squeaky drum pattern that sounds great with the bass guitarwork and the backing vocals accompanying Caesar’s performance. The songwriting on this track appear more intricately written and really translate well. The song then transititions into this organ-driven instrumental, with nothing but Caesar’s crooning in regards to his fame and success. The song is very mature and well organized, a noteworthy ending to the album.

Daniel Caesar’s new debut studio album definitely held together better than I expected. I was hit with some pretty run-of-the-mill songwriting towards the beginning of the album, with some cringy lines here and there especially on “Best Part”, “Hold Me Down” and “Neu Roses”, however his performance definitely made up for it. The production is nothing short of fantastic, and I had no problems with the mixing. Daniel Caesar is still relatively young as well, and already having so much potential as a vocalist shows that he can really grow into his own with this album going forward. There were times where I wish he could have really fleshed out his vocals a little more instead of staying within one generic vocal register, which sometimes had him sounding like a poor man’s John Legend atop some minimalistic production which could be kind of boring. But as the album progressed, tracks sounded better and better, and the songwriting quality definitely improved. Freudian was not a bad way to break out into the mainstream and show what Daniel Caesar can really do.

RATING: 7/10

[evilradmedieval]

Grizzly Bear - “Painted Ruins” Review

Indie rock, folk rock and a dab of psych rock come together on New York band Grizzly Bear’s discography, an outfit led by Edward Droste. Although their initial break into the mainstream came with the success of the album Veckatimest’s “Two Weeks” piano-driven single, they’ve found success in the underground with their more obscure works such as their lo-fi, progressive debut album Horn of Plenty and their gentle, psych rock and folk rock blend on the heavily layered Yellow House. The latter album was what really brought me to them initially before their music was soundtracked on every single rom-com and coming-of-age movie in the early 2010s. With Yellow House, the album was packed with different sound of acoustic folk rock guitars and different ethereal psych rock guitars leads that really give listeners a sense of comfort and tranquility. Droste’s vocals usually read to me as more airy and delicate, which really sways into the elaborate instrumentals. With their follow-up in Veckatimest, the album featured a little more straightforwardness in regards to instrumentation, which sort of dumbed down the complexity of all the instrumentation that was found on the previous album. Despite this, songs were still pretty catchy and captivating to keep it on repeat. On their 2012 follow-up Shields, however, the album found itself in this strange limbo in which tracks were aiming to be more instrumentally diverse sonically, however didn’t reach the level found on Yellow House or the accessibility of Veckatimest. However, I still found several tracks off the album that were pretty experimental in being more brash and physically forceful that kept the album slightly engaging. Five years later, we find ourselves amidst a new project in Painted Ruins, an album which I think was a perfect direction for them to go into. It follows the same sonic direction that Shields was going into, yet features a heavy deal of experimental and complex instrumentation that has me intrigued. I was pleasantly surprised with this release.

The opening track was interesting in the sense that it’s the most gentle and sonically ethereal track on the entire album, yet it’s the first song that appears on the playlist. On “Wasted Acres”, I really like Rossen’s vocals on this, as it comes off as very introspective and pondering. I simply love the simplistic guitar leads that sway in the background. Sonically the track is very downtempo and features a looming synth lead that really keeps you in a daze. 

We then get this uptempo 808 drum pattern in the vein of a poppy indie rock track. On “Mourning Sound”, one the lead singles off Painted Ruins, the track is very melodic and catchy, with one of the more infectious hooks on the entire album. Due to this, it makes sense in making this the lead single and sort of acts as the “Two Weeks” of the album. As the hook cascades in with Rossen and Droste’s lively vocal performance, there’s a mix of acoustic guitar, electric guitar leads and synth layerings that really come in nicely. Lyrically, the singers references cryptically the topic of women’s liberation and the relationships of men and women. Definitely one of the poppier cuts off the album, and one of the standouts for me personally.

Sonically, the next track features this more synthy, ambient sound until all the energy climaxes towards the midway point of the track on “Four Cypresses” during the hook. The instrumental initially comes off as a slow burner as Rossen’s vocals effortlessly loom throughout, with his backing vocals really putting the listener in this baroque pop-esque state of mind. To me, this track reads as a sort of ode to the chaos in regards to the creative processes of their music, in which there are parallels to the uprooting of cypress trees to make for creating new paths. In a way, this sound seems too safe and uneventful to really coincide with what he’s saying, as it really contrasts with the previous track. Not a bad track though.

There is more sonic experimentation and layering as the trackilsting goes on, especially starting with the track “Three Rings”. Here, we get some beautiful lead guitar arpeggios and really melodic drum patterns, all accompanied with these glittering synth sections and these lush, electronic layerings that really make the track pop. Droste sounds great here as well, as his vocals are equally soothing as the previous tracks, however fleshes out his performance in a more emotionally reaching way. The buildup of the synths works beautifully with his vocals.

“Losing All Sense” reverts back to a sound that was evident on their former record Veckatimest, which features some melodic drum patterns, rhythmic piano and guitars chords, along with some extra synth chord progressions to add more pop to the track. Droste and Rossen come through with a pretty catchy hook that obviously references the fragments of a lost relationship. Again, this track sounds like one of their more poppier and more accessible cuts off the album, however is still one of my favorites with its blending of sounds from both Veckatimest and Shields in regards to sonic experimentation.

“Aquarian” features Rossen again handling the reins for lead vocals, whereas he doesn’t necessarily sing for that long. Here, the track can be interpreted as alluding to the hardships of life and reflecting on past mistakes and hardships only brings sorrow. For the first third of the tracks, Rossen comes through with a pretty energetic performance, however the rest of the cut is dominated by some skipping drum patterns, roaring synth layerings and flashy guitar riffs. The track then settles into a very serene instrumental breakdown.

Folk guitar makes its way back into the mix for Grizzly Bear with the track “Cut-Out”, which dominates a majority of the track with Droste and Rossen sharing the vocal duties of the track. I really like the abrupt yet drum-like guitarwork that cuts in towards the second half of the track. In a way, this sort of reminds me of some guitarwork and sonic layerings that were done on the more recent Fleet Foxes record, however with less complex intricacies. The track does tend to meander for the former end of the song, which I wish they would have done a little more with.

Acoustic folk guitars makes another return on the subsequent track “Glass Hillside”, a track that features a little more art rock sonic experimentation and variance in the sound. I developed a likening for this track more so than the latter, as it featured an extra level of unpredictability that I love in Grizzly Bear’s music. 

I absolutely love the next track “Neighbors”, one of the lead singles from Painted Ruins. This track happens to be the most emotional track off the album, as it references the disconnect between former lovers and how love fades over time. The instrumentation works perfectly with the vocal performances by Droste. The track features the perfect amount of acoustic and electric guitarwork. The arpeggios really intertwine well with the very emotional crooning about loss and sorrow. Definitely a highlight on the album for me.

We venture into more dreampop and ambient territory with the slow burning “Systole” track. The track features some pretty run of the mill acoustic guitarwork thrown together with some synthy layerings that don’t really escalate or climax interestingly. Probably one of the slower and more dreamy tracks on the album, I thought Grizzly Bear could have been a little more adventurous with the instrumentation here.

Lastly, we finish off the album with a solid track in “Sky Took Hold”, a track that culminates all of the sounds found on the album in one gigantic sonic finish with a mixed bag of different elements of instrumentation. I felt like I was listening to some of the more electronic, synthier cuts off Radiohead’s Kid A when I had this track playing. The guitars had a decent amount of revert, and the vocals had this level of warbled distortion as well. At a whopping near-six minutes, the track really seems to make an encompassing statement regarding all the musical elements that make this album what it is in one song. 

This album isn't one of Grizzly Bear’s best works, however thought that they did a worthy attempt to really build off the sonic direction they were going for on Shields and bring to light some of the instrumentation that was seen on several past albums such as Yellow House and Veckatimest. Sitting at only ten tracks long, the album has a very cohesive sound, yet at times can tend to meander and come of as a slowburner. However, I always thought that the vocals from both Droste and Rossen come off as very emotional and passionate. There were a lot of highlights on Painted Ruins, and despite some of its flaws and snoozer moments, it was a worthy entry in their ever growing discography.

RATING: 7/10

[evilradmedieval]

A$AP Ferg - “Still Striving” Review

A$AP Mob has been making waves in the music industry for some time now. I recently went over a brief history of the A$AP Mob on my recent A$AP Twelvyy review of his debut album. With A$AP Ferg, he reached a new level (no pun intended) of meteoric popularity with the debut release of 2013′s Trap Lord. The album was packed with nothing but bangers and trap crooning. However, despite some of the corny lines and cringy singing performances on that album, Ferg was able to showcase a great deal of personality and insane flows atop some of the hardest hitting trap-flavored beats I’ve heard since Waka Flocka Flame’s Flockaveli. His smash hit “WORK Remix” has become a staple in trap culture, especially at EDM events. With more trap rappers becoming the norm, he sought out to maintain that same level of relevance with his sophomore effort Always Strive and Prosper, probably one of the worst follow-up albums I’ve ever heard in a while. The album was packed with commercially-sound tracks that fortunately didn’t see the light of day on the radio. Duds like “Hungry Ham” produced by Skrillex and “I Love You” with Chris Brown had me shook in disbelief that even Ferg himself would make such pop trite attempts. The subsequent year found himself on a couple Cozy Tapes with A$AP Mob, however still feel like compilation albums featuring Rocky and Ferg babysitting a couple more less talented rappers attempting to get their careers to take off into the mainstream eye. This now puts A$AP Ferg in an interesting position, in which many of his fans were yearning for that same grimey, aggressive Trap Lord sound that was missing for almost four years now. Enter his new mixtape Still Striving, a project that does a good job in bringing that same sound back to fruition for his fans. Let’s dive into it, shall we?

The main problem that I had with this album was the fact that A$AP Ferg had a lot of guests on this project, which was fine, but tried well to emulate his feature’s same type of flow and production style that made it seem like he was trying to appease to other sounds. This is evident on the Meek Mill-esque opener “Trap and a Dream”, with a high tempo trap-flavored Philly instrumental. He matches Meek Mill’s energy well, though. Both artists come through with pretty aggressive flows and have some pretty good bars here and there. It is what it is though.

The next track opted for a moodier and more sinister-sounding trap banger, with none other than Dipset representative and best rapper alive Cam’ron himself. His feature is so grimey and lowkey it contrasts with A$AP Ferg’s high-pitched and goofy flow so well. The hook on “Rubber Band Man” is so infectious, it has me repeating the refrain in my head constantly. Ferg comes through with a little more subdued performance, but still comes though with a noteworthy performance to match Killa Cam’s. It’s tracks like this that make me wish Cam’ron still consistently put out music.

We take it back to New York with the Dave East-assisted “Olympian”. The track is also pretty grimey, nocturnal and trap-flavored in the same way that “Rubber Band Man” was. The hook is pretty over-the-top as well, but not the worst. Although not a fan of Dave East as he has a pretty boring flow, he still comes through with some pretty good wordplay and may occasionally give me a double take to make me want to run that shit back. A$AP Ferg’s verse is pretty heavy-hitting here, as his energy gets more realized as the track goes. Despite everything I didn’t like, both artists seem to mesh well enough to carry the track.

We get a heavy-hitter with “Aww Yeah”, which features hip-hop enigma Lil Yachty. The hook is pretty uninspired, but A$AP Ferg comes through with a pretty schizophrenic and aggressive delivery as always. The only thing that really disappointed me was Yachty’s verse, as it was underwhelmingly short and had so much potential. But again, if you’re not a Yachty fan, he comes through with his rap-sung delivery that can tend to lose a tad sense of tempo when matched with the instrumental. Ferg also showcases his “Hood Pope” persona with his rap-sung delivery as well, which is a sort of turn-off for me. Either way, one of the surprisingly harder-hitting tracks on the mixtape sonically.

The next track is the worst song on the entire tracklisting. I am openly a Nav hater, as he comes through with the most generic, boring flows and comes off as a one trick pony, which was evident on his sleeper of an album Perfect Timing. On “What Do You Want”, the objective was to be supposedly sexy, however both artists sound nothing of the sort. Ferg and Nav come through with very boring flows and the cringiest of lyrics that I’ve ever heard on a Ferg project. It was completely bullshit how he had to bring on Nav and try to copy his flow and lyricism to appeal to a larger fanbase.

“Coach Cartier” features a piano-driven trap-flavored lowkey banger, which sonically sounds more laidback than usual for a Ferg track. However, he comes through with a pretty off-the-wall performance on his first verse. The next verse belongs to up-and-coming “mumble rapper” Famous Dex, who actually doesn’t do much to really add to the track. He has one of the more generic flows (a la Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, etc.) and fits within that same pool of boring rappers. Still, at least he didn’t pull off a Playboi Carti and adlib his entire verse.

We get another heavy-hitter with the best adlibs on “Mad Man”, in which A$AP Ferg goes in on both his verses and adlibs. The track is bass-heavy, complete with high-hats twittering, and features one of the best Ferg verses going off. Speaking of the devil in reference to the previous track, Playboi Carti comes on, and unfortunately wastes at least 8 full bars of what could have been with either something that wasn’t already repeated or his weird flinching adlibs that make up for empty bars. It might just be me, but his complete lack of contributing anything to the track other than weak adlibs makes the track lose its aggressiveness and momentum from an exceptional performance by Ferg. I have no idea why the Mob fucks with Carti so heavy when he merely slows and dumbs down every song he’s featured on when he’s offered a verse.

“Plain Jane” picks up the quality of the tracklisting with no features and brings back that pure Trap Lord sound. He comes through with a pretty grimey, hard-hitting delivery as usual, and gives us one of the most ear-catching hooks on the entire tracklisting. The track is uptempo and melodic, and I have nothing to complain in regards to this being one of the standouts on the track.

I absolutely love the flow on “Nasty”, however the hook and the annoying intro really fuck up the quality of the track. Ferg showcases this really annoying Autotuned wailing of sorts, which he might have picked up from listening to too much 2013 Kanye West. The Migos luckily show up to create some variety with their distinct flows and deliveries, and ironically don’t use the vocoder for their appearances. The track isn’t bad, but would be great without the ass-quality chorus.

The next track features one of the grimiest and bass-heavy tracks as well. On “Mattress REMIX”, we get a pretty great appearances from Rocky with his trademark Bone Thugs flow showcasing some great chemistry with Ferg. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like the inclusion of Famous Dex, Playboi Carti and Rich the Kid. If we already didn’t have enough of the two former artists, Rich the Kid adds to the lackluster performances of verses with a pretty uninteresting appearance. It’s so bad, I can’t figure out who is who because everyone other than Ferg and Rocky sound exactly the same.

“One Night Savage” sounded like a throwaway track, with a generic, nocturnal trap-flavored beat. Then it finally came to me that it was a Madeintyo track, an artist who is probably another nonessential character in today’s generation of mainstream trap rappers. Ferg takes a step back and gives a more subdued performance here in means to match the same low energy as his feature. Again, not horrible, but uninteresting altogether.

The next track is essentially the “WORK Remix” of the album. The first have features some of the best features. Busta Rhymes comes through with his relentless high-speed delivery, throwing multiple rhymes within a bar at you like a machine gun. A$AP Rocky came through with a pretty laidback yet melodic flow that matched Busta and Ferg lyrically. Dave East also held his own with some pretty heady bars. However, French Montana’s bullshit appearance completely threw the track into a limbo with his slow down and uninspired bars. His references to other rappers is the most uninspired attempt to comparing himself to an elite artist, which is sickening to me. Rick Ross came through with his trademark kingpin raps, which wasn’t bad but added to the slowing down of the momentum established by the first four rappers. Snoop Dogg’s basic verse was also the cherry on top of this trainwreck, as his appearance was so out of place it was awkward to hear him on such a banger of a beat. It was good until it lasted.

“Nandos” is another dark, grimey trap-flavored banger, which is actually another highlight on the mixtape for me. Without any features on the track, he comes through with some bars that actually touch on police brutality, violence and his own success with all the shit he’s been through. It was a nice change of pace having to jump into different styles from other artists that he stays sort of true on this track.

We get more introspective on the closing track “Tango”, which is the only track that doesn’t feature a heavy-hitting trap banger as the instrumental. Here, Ferg actually opens up and touches on topics such as his childhood and his relationship with his mother. It’s surprisingly personal for Ferg, which I did not see coming at all. This is a side of A$AP Ferg I can see him really exploring in the future, as coming through with so many bombastic bangers every year can tend to get old.

With this mixtape, I didn’t really expect much, as it was merely a move to keep his name relevant amid the Cozy Tapes era of A$AP Mob. The mixtape is full of features, with a plethora of the artists either being not talented enough to truly contribute a quality appearance on these tracks, or just sound out of place. Another complaint that I had with this project was Ferg’s tendency to wear his collaborators’ styles on his arm like a sleeve, in which he would either dumb down his energy or copy the same flows. But when he does stay true to his Trap Lord persona, Ferg does nothing but go in with bombastic flows, over-the-top lyrics and give us nothing but pure unrelenting bangers. Still Striving is definitely an improvement from Always Strive and Prosper and had some great tracks, but was weighed down by his uninteresting or awkward collaboration choices.

RATING: 5/10

[evilradmedieval]

A$AP Twelvyy - “12″ Mini Review

A$AP Mob has been making a lot of waves in the hip-hop world since the debut of de facto leader A$AP Rocky’s mixtape Live.Love.A$AP, an album that brought back that chopped-and-screwed southern drawl but with a modern New York flavor that had more of an emphasis for flow and lavish beats instead of sheer lyricism. This was more apparent on his debut studio album Long.Live A$AP, a commercial breakthrough that still retained elements of his melodic Bone-Thug-N-Harmony flow. With Rocky’s unique style on the map, A$AP Ferg saw this is an opportunity to come through with his debut in Trap Lord, an album that opted for more banging beats and a boatload of energy with his schizophrenic delivery and a lot of personality. The respective leaders of the Mob definitely showcased an ability to really appeal to the masses, however saw some failed attempts for the other members to really break through with their own solo projects despite the push from collective LPs in the lackluster Lords Never Worry and the half-hearted Cozy Tapes Vol.: Friends. One of those artists was A$AP Twelvyy, a rapper who truly wasn’t able to completely grab attention with his debut single “Xscape”, a boom-bap inspired track that was slated to be released on the defunct L.O.R.D.S. project. But years later, we finally get word on his debut studio album in 12. A gritty ode to the streets of New York, A$AP Twelvyy found himself on this album having to wear a lot of his influences on his sleeve with minimal personality and decent beats to really allow him to carry a project by himself with minimal features.

The tracks that really stuck out to me were honestly just the cuts off the album with big name features. Joey Bada$$, Flatbush Zombies, as well as a couple members from A$AP Mob made their way on the album to really make for variety. With the tracks that found A$AP Twelvyy without any vocal features, it was a chore getting through them due to his monotonous delivery and minimally produced boom bap-inspired New York beats. I really enjoyed the A$AP Ferg-assisted “Hop Out”, in which Ferg himself really ignites some actual energy into the album and opts for a more modern trap-flavored instrumental. Twelvyy actually comes through with a delivery that boasted more personality and pop thanks to his labelmate’s energy being infectious. Erick Arc Elliott contributes a pretty grimey, trap-flavored lowkey banger with “A Glorious Death”, a track that was dominated by Flatbush Zombies due to their gritty flows and ominously produced slapper of an instrumental. Twelvyy merely sounds like a guest on his own track. A$AP Rocky’s verse on “Diamonds” was actually pretty heavy and was reminiscent of the sounds found on his debut album from 2012. The best track that Twelvyy was actually able to come off as a rapper with some sense of personality was “Periodic Table”, in which he comes through with a hook that’s equally infectious as it’s aggressive. The instrumental features this heavy boom bap drum patterns with some nocturnal, synth samples giving the track some sense of eeriness. Additionally, the closer track on “Brothers” showcases a pretty emotionally-charged Twelvyy ranting about his struggles on the streets and how it affects himself and his peers. Unfortunately, the track is dumbed down by a tasteless vocal hook sung by Smooky MarGiela. 

Other than the aforementioned tracks, there isn’t much else to praise on the album. Sure, he comes through with some sense of autobiographical narratives to the street life on 12, however isn’t the greatest when trying to vividly paint a picture due to his barely decent lyricism, boring flow and lackluster instrumentals. What really brings the album some pop are the tracks with other vocal features, and it wouldn’t be safe to say that all of them showcase appearances that contribute much to the album either other than sonic variety. A$AP Twelvyy unfortunately fits within that box of rappers from the Mob in which he doesn’t have a distinct style that can be easily discerned from other members of the group that aren’t Rocky or Ferg. Hopefully going in the future, he comes through with a project that boasts better production, vocal delivery and personality to encompass it all.

RATING: 5/10

[evilradmedieval]

Kesha - “Rainbow” Review

I had some pretty high hopes for this album, given the fact that Kesha has totally revamped her artistic style since the whole Dr. Luke situation has been settled. And since then, she’s been releasing a plethora of singles which showcases a surprising departure away from her party-first attitude and instead opt for more stripped back, emotional and passionate vocal performances on her songs. I was especially blown away by her minimally produced yet emotionally jarring lead single “Praying”, which in a way I thought was going to lead to the release of a Christian album. However, that was not the case with the release of this album, as she sought to make a pop album that was more that just drunken electropop anthems. Going into this project, I was pretty unsure of what sonic direction she was going to divert towards. However after a few listens, I have come to realize that although a more mature approach was applied, the same old pop trite tendencies still resurface on Rainbow.

The opening track “Bastards” features Kesha atop this very minimalistic acoustic guitar-driven cut. This gives room for her to really string out her vocals and demonstrate that she doesn’t necessarily need EDM-tinged banger beats to really incite a mood. Her vocal performance is great, however thought that some aspects of the songwriting on the hook can come off as a little corny, calling men who wronged her as “bastards” and “assholes”. Straightforward, but a little shaky. Still, that anthemic ending towards the tail end of the track sounded nothing short of grandiose and powerful.

On “Let ‘Em Talk”, we get this dad rock anthem about ignoring haters. To me, this sounded nothing but a nasty dance-rock disaster. Eagles of Death Metal, a band that contributes nothing death metal on the track, comes through with some heavy guitar chord progressions in the beginning, however is overtaken by the dancepop drum patterns on the hook. They provide some background vocalization, which don’t really do much to make the track sound heavier sonically. The direction she veered into with this track just screams “relapse” in regards to her more trashy music from a decade ago.

Meghan Trainor must have had some sort of influence on Kesha’s next track, as she goes straight doo wop on the cut “Woman”, an empowerment anthem backed with some funky horn and saxophone sections. Again, Kesha comes through with one of the corniest hooks of the entire tracklisting. The songwriting is definitely lacking in regards to her verses as well, as she comes through with these rap-sung refrains about not having her weed touched or having drinks bought for her. Unfortunately, the quality of the album has already dipped significantly immediately after the opening track.

The poppier side of Kesha comes out on “Hymn”, which has this sweet, melodic DJ Mustard inspired drum patterns accompanied with some airy synths and some comforting piano sections. I didn’t like this song initially, but it was this very sweet sentiment to it in which she sings about self-empowerment. The chorus can come off as slightly corny, but the track’s minimal instrumentation and touching sentiment really overcomes its flaws. Definitely one of my favorites off the album.

Album highlight  and lead single “Praying” turns up, which was a good spot to include on the album with “Hymn” rounding out as the previous track. Again, just to recap my love of the track, this cut has Kesha’s most passionate and emotional vocals to date. You can really feel the regret and anger in her voice as she completely dominates the piano-driven track. This may be a longshot, but I can say that this is the best turnaround for an artist stylistically that I’ve seen in a while. Enough said.

As a song by itself, “Learn to Let Go” sounds like a Katy Perry inspired breakup anthem, but in context of the album this song is really fitting and truly embodies what Kesha is trying to go with her music stylistically. The track basically describes itself in its title, with the idea of giving up all the negative thoughts of the past and learning to go forward. Again, she sounds great here too, but I wish the song didn’t sound too generic despite its sentiment.

“Finding You” sounds like en extension of what was said on “Learn to Let Go”, in which the song also sounds like another anthemic love ballad about finding a loved one and searching for a new life after the hardship of a strained relationship. The track is paino-driven and explodes into a climax of passionate vocal energy with Kesha’s empowering vocals. I prefer this song more so than the latter, as the track has a smoother hook and some vocals that tend to pop a little more as well.

“Rainbow” is another highlight on the tracklisting, which features another piano-driven ballad about vulnerability and heartbreak. The song here is another emotional heartbreaker in the same vein as “Prayer”, which again features more of Kesha’s fantastic vocals describing broken relationships and having to live with it. The songwriting on this track is a huge standout for me compared to other tracks, as the metaphor for a rainbow being the light at the end of a tunnel really hits home a little more. The track has some baroque pop vibes to it as well, with some glitzy, elegant violin and synthy instrumental arrangements that really make the track shimmer with emotion.

“Hunt You Down” is one of the cornier tracks, unfortunately. It also seemingly contradicts the entire idea of moving on and living with the cards that’s been dealt. Here, Kesha comes off with a country-tinged vocal inflection that sounds out of place. With it, she tries to appear aggressive, saying she’ll hunt down someone who does her wrong. This completely switches things up in a way that break the momentum of the previous couple of tracks that really show more emotion and passion with the fantastic songwriting and vocals. She really didn’t need to put up a front with this cut, which she unfortunately did. 

Kesha comes through with another collaboration with Eagles of Death Metal on “Boogie Feet”, as if one wasn’t enough. Here, she comes off with a lot of personality and energy with her vocal inflection, however the track showcased some of the cheesiest hooks I’ve ever heard since her “TiK ToK” days. The track is a country rock-tinged dance track, which again throws off the entire tracklisting into another jumble of a mixed bag. 

“Boots” follows this country-tinged theme of the previous track with some high-powered moaning vocals and another horrible song topic. The track is basically another danceable, drunken mistake of a song. She gives the cut a lot of personality, however I thought wasn’t really fitting on this album at all as well. 

Although I’m not a country fan, Kesha actually did a decent job matching up with country rock legend Dolly Parton. With “Old Flames”, she actually contributes some pretty passionate vocals as well. The track feels more so like a tribute song more than anything though, as she successfully covers a B-side of a Parton song. Despite this, she does well in what she exhibited on “Old Flames”, despite my reservations for country.

I don’t get how this song fits within the context of the album, however I fucking love how random it is. Sonically, the song seems to mesh well with the other cuts on the tracklisting. Apparently written about a decade ago, “Godzilla” is about Godzilla wrecking havoc at a mall and meeting your mother. It’s so bizarre and makes no sense, but it still sounds so great and acts as a great draw-away from the more serious and emotional cuts off the album.

The bluegrass-tinged “Spaceship” acts as another experimental track in the sense that she feels so out of place in this world, and Kesha simply waits for her spaceship to come back and pick her up to her true galaxy in which she apparently belongs. With her 2008 Lil Wayne tip, she still is able to really kill the banjo-driven instrumental. She sounds pretty comfortable, giving some great vocal harmonies and backed by some angelic backing vocals. The song is definitely an interesting way to round out the track, given that the previous track was one about a kaiju.

I’m in no means a Kesha fan, however appreciate when an artist comes back from a horrific turn of personal events with an album that truly embodies her sincere feelings. She delivers a set of some straighforward and at times country-tinged ballads about the past and her vulnerabilities as a human being. There are still some noticeable hiccups on the album, with some random dancier dad rock tunes that throw the album slightly out of whack. However, I still think this is a great direction for her to go into, as plenty of people can relate to the message she’s trying to relay. The cohesive sound isn’t for me per se, but I definitely respect what Kesha’s trying to do with Rainbow.

RATING: 6/10

[evilradmedieval]

French Montana - “Jungle Rules” Mini Review

Not much can be said about my reservations form French Montana as a solo artist to be honest. Sure, he can make for variety on a posse cut or as the dude on the hook of a catchy song, however Montana barely has anything that truly sticks out to me as original or even vaguely interesting as an artist. None of his music really has a genuine sound, with the main problem being hidden behind a wall of more successful collaborators or coming through with a trendy sound that hits the limelight and lasts for his fifteen minutes of fame. This was apparent on his debut album with the lead single “Pop That”, a club banger than was loaded with guest spots from Drake, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross. Despite being such a massive hit, he slipped back into irrelevance after the release of debut album Excuse My French. Since then, he has made a couple guest features on a couple singles, as well as drop a couple mixtapes in order to keep his name still circulating. It wasn’t until this year in 2017 in which he decided to ride on that dancehall bandwagon and nab Rae Sremmurd member Swae Lee for an intoxicating feature on his smash hit “Unforgettable”. The track was catchy and features a rhythmic dancehall-esque beat that sought to be a club banger. However, French Montana’s involvement in the song was so minimal, it didn’t even sound like it was his own song. Drowned out in Autotune, I could barely make out his own verse towards the latter quarter of the song. Going into Jungle Rules, however, I could only hope for French Montana to just come through with some hefty bangers, courtesy of frequent collaborator Harry Fraud, so that I can at least vibe out to it and get a move on.

This was not the case. Much of this album was jam-packed with features, more so than his debut. Jungle Rules was an album that enlisted the help of several producers for a seemingly diverse sound, however most of the tracks sounded nothing but spacey, glitzy and overproduced. Adding onto that, French Montana did exactly what I hated about his lead single coming from this album: be a guest on his own album. Every track features at least one major artist, whether it’s Future, Young Thug, The Weeknd, who have you. The Travi$ Scott song sounds like nothing but a Travi$ Scott song with Autotuned French Montana adlibs on “Jump”. “Black Out” sounds like something I’d find off of Slime Season 3 with Young Thug weirdly sounding almost like French Montana himself. It was just weird to see Quavo on “Migo Montana” actually give the reins to French himself to actually make a significant appearance for a majority of the track. The same could go for about three quarters of the entire album.

Despite this, I was still able to vibe out to a couple slappers on the album. Even though Pharrell and The Kid Daytona comprise a majority of the track, the second single “Bring Dem Things” has the most ridiculously produced, over-the-top horn section-sampled banger of an instrumental I’ve ever heard on a French Montana record. All three artists come through with hard hitting verses and the beat further reinforces their aggression. And although French Montana totally steals the flow of Future on his Future-assisted “No Pressure”, the song is still a slapper and the two have some great chemistry as well.

Although some of the guest spots aren’t necessarily horrible cuts in addition to a couple slappers, the dancehall-inspired tracks are what really put this album down under into another world of fecal matter. “Formula” is a perfect example of this, in which the track is horrible, cheaply produced and makes “One Dance” sound like a Shabba Ranks track. This concept of horrible singing over reggae-tinged R&B ballads continues on “Famous”, in which his Autotuned crooning is nothing sexy. There are several others, but honestly finding an actual quality song is the true accomplishment here. Oh, and the closing track in “White Dress” makes me want to take a shower every time I comes up on my music listening queue.

There is very little I can say about this French Montana album. It’s no improvement upon his debut studio album, but rather a further digression into another level of hip-hop mediocrity. The tracks are poorly produced. The personality in his lyrics and delivery are lacking. And the overall enjoyability of this album is as nonexistent as ever. Please do not listen to this album for fun.

RATING: 2/10

[evilradmedieval]

Vic Mensa - “The Autobiography” Review

Former Kids These Days member Vic Mensa has had a rollercoaster of a career within the last half decade. Fresh from the breakup of said band, Mensa comes through with his breakout mixtape Innanetape, a project that not only showcased him exhibiting his full strengths as a young rapper with very technical ability with a dash of humor, but also as one of the up-and-coming rappers in the game coming straight out of Chicago. “Tweakin’” was the track that really caught me off guard, a collaboration with famous SAVEMONEY labelmate Chance the Rapper, in which both MCs boasted some very loony lyrics with some very schizophrenic flows. Vic Mensa is also an artist who has some capacity to sing, which was evident on his crossover hit “Down On My Luck”, a deep house-influenced club anthem that had his hardcore fans scratching their heads. He made a couple appearances here and thgere, collaborating with artists like Kaytranada, Flume and even Kanye West himself on a couple obnoxious trap bangers in 2015-2016. Despite losing some momentum in the later years, Mensa released a couple lackluster and unmemorable EPs in There’s a Lot Going On and The Manuscript, both projects displaying a mixed bag of styles where Vic fails to truly find some sort of footing in regards to his own unique style. With word on a new album however, I had high hopes that this was the defining project that truly showcased a more personal account of who he is as an artist and person, hence the name The Autobiography. Although delayed, his debut is finally here.

The opening track “Say I Didn’t” is a pretty notable first cut off the album, in which the instrumental boasts a pretty soulful, jazzy sample interpolating throughout atop some trap-flavored high hats and booming bass. His delivery and lyrical content is pretty straightforward yet genuine in nature as well, something I really was looking for from Vic. We also see Mensa showcase a taste of his singing abilities momentarily towards the latter half of the album, which he smartly doesn’t flaunt for the majority of the album. The track is pure autobiographical bars, and an awesome opener.

“Memories on 47th Street” was actually a song I was able to witness live at Lollapalooza when Chance was able to bring him out during his set. This track was actually a fantastic one to see performed live, as Vic’s passionate delivery and personal account of his past is definitely apparent here. The track sonically continues the tone established on the opener, with a very anthemic soul sample and some heavy trap-flavored influences to really make his performance pop. His vocals are a little too far reaching from what I’m used to, as he really tries to make the hook work. However, still an enjoyable track.

Unfortunately after the first couple of tracks, the quality of tracks goes downhill. The next track “Rolling Like a Stoner” sounds so out of context and doesn’t tie into the the whole biographical theme that he was trying to go for. Trap-flavored, bombastic and obnoxious, the song’s hook is as uninspired as a Saw movie sequel, in which he opts for a generic banger rapping about doing drugs with this tasteless coat of Autotune slapped over his vocals. Definitely not a good addition to the tracklisting. This song happened to make his The Manuscript EP, which again makes no sense at all as well.

“Homewrecker” is one of those tracks that has a good sentiment and intent, but the end product doesn’t really add up right. It’s pretty detailed and takes into account everything that happened between Vic Mensa’s old flame and his transgressions as a boyfriend. The way he approached the detailing of this story was slightly tasteless in the similar vein of how J. Cole detailed his loss of virginity on “Wet Dreamz”. Also, the Weezer vocals at the tail end of the track are so out of place and make no sense. I thought the song was going to be at least guitar driven, but only features River Cuomo’s phoned-in verse which was so underwhelming. 

This whole concept of infidelities continues on the track “Gorgeous”, which features minimal vocal contributions from The Internet’s Syd. The track is honest and pretty detailed as well, and Vic actually pulls of retelling this story more so on this track compared to “Homewrecker”, however the hook is what really kills it for me. The songwriting is definitely not there and really doesn’t tie into his lyrics. However, I think this song is more tolerable than the previous one.

The return to quality tracks comes back with the cut “Heaven on Earth”, which actually is similar in vein to the track “Stan” by Eminem. The-Dream appears on the hook, but actually does well in not changing the whole tone of the ominous and dark nature of the song. What I really like about this cut was Vic Mensa’s ability to switch perspectives between himself, his fallen friend and his alleged killer. he did this in a way that was creative, personal and quite heartfelt. The emotion is definitely there in his delivery on all three verses. Definitely a highlight on the album.

According to Vic Mensa, we need to have some unnecessary obnoxious tracks on “Down for Some Ignorance”, featuring none other than Chicago natives Chief Keef and Joey Purrp. The track isn’t as bad as it sounds on paper however, as Vic comes through with some dark lyrics about the violence in southside Chicago. Chief Keef’s Autotuned verse isn’t the greatest aspect of the track, and Joey Purrp barely contributes anything of value to the track as well. I just felt that the concept of the dangers of Chicago could have been executed with a better hook and more impactful guest spots.

When Vic Mensa sings, he’s able to hold his own if it’s his own hook. However, when he attempts to carry the track with his awkward crooning then it becomes a problem. On “Coffee & Cigarettes”, Vic attempts to tear at the heart strings with a drunken ballad about a past love. The drum patterns draw heavily from Kanye’s 808s and Heartbreaks, also being equipped with some glitzy piano sections and string samples to really add some extra emotion to the overly-produced track. It also doesn’t help that he drops some pretty cringy bars during the rapped verse at the tail end of the track.

We turn back the dial on a more positive note with “Wings”, a track featuring the production and vocal contributions of Pharrell, as well as some minimal backing vocals by slam poet Saul Williams. The instrumental features this nocturnal and melodic initial tone, then switches up to this high tempo breakdown in drum patterns that picks up as Vic Mensa’s delivery intensifies. I really like the change up in delivery here as he perfectly paints a picture about past issues and mistakes that he’s willing to let go of. “Wings” happens to be the more emotional tracks on the album, with minimal lyrical missteps and some pretty reflective outlooks on Vic himself as a person.

There’s a reprise of the fantastic “Heaven on Earth” track that appears in the tracklisting, however I thought was unnecessary. He brings back The-Dream for another vocal guest spot atop a pretty nocturnal, spacey trap-flavored beat. His vocals are more prominent this time around, which I think is meant to just add to the emotional impact made by the original and also transition into the next track.

The next track draws from the building momentum and drops like a bomb with the intense delivery we see Vic spit upon “The Fire Next Time”. Here, the track is a simple accepting of all the flaws he has as an individual and to continue while putting in work. There’s no struggle bars here to speak of, however I feel like the hook could have been written in a more effective way. The beat is pretty generic though, as it’s nocturnal, anthemic and trap-flavored without being overly obnoxious. 

We get some actual heartfelt singing by Vic on the track “We Could Be Free” on the hook, however I wasn’t a fan of the sung-rapped vocal inflection he provides. He does this in a way similar to Bryson Tiller, in which I wish he really opted for a more aggressive and emotional rapped delivery. The lyrics are heartfelt, political and personal, yet I thought could have been showcased in a better way. The instrumental is pretty blissful and acoustic guitar-driven in a very minimalistic way as to really showcase his singing. Again, not a bad track but could have been executed differently.

Vic Mensa takes a major L trying to channel his inner Imagine Dragons with the track “Rage”, which has an overly-produced, anthemic instrumental that sounds like it came straight from Evolve. I get what he’s trying to do here lyrically, however the singing really doesn’t work well in the sense that he sounds almost like Dan Reynolds. Definitely a botched attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator. 

We get Vic in full flex mode with the Pusha-T-assisted “OMG”, which features this weird phoned in hook by a megaphone that sounds like such a rushed idea. Vic comes through with some worthy braggadocio, however I’m not a fan of the track in the context of the whole album. It would have been a better idea to make this as a bonus track, as it also appeared on his previous EP. Pusha-T also provides a decent verse, but nothing that really blows my mind.

With The Autobiography, Vic Mensa attempts to give listeners a more personal account of what’s really been going on with him for the past couple of years since his rise to fame. What we get instead is a mixed bag of tracks that partly tie into the whole idea of his own life and his views on the world. Some tracks are poorly executed with horribly written hooks or some obnoxious bombastic bangers that make no sense in the context of the album. He also tends to opt for his own singing duties on his hooks, making for genuine listening a chore to me. However, when he does hone into his skills as a lyricist with minimal struggle bars, heartfelt and personal commentary on his life and slick and soulful trap-flavored production, he’s at his best. There are a plethora of ways that Vic Mensa could have made The Autobiography better, yet unfortunately comes up short.

RATING: 5/10

[evilradmedieval]

Arcade Fire - “Everything Now” Review

It took me one Lollapalooza set to make me realize how much of a gargantuan catalogue of quality music that indie rock legends Arcade Fire have amassed since their debut in 2004 in Funeral. I didn’t visit that album since the beginning of the early 2010′s, amidst the release of their polarizing Reflektor album. It was that very night a couple days ago how beautifully layered their music was instrumentally. Win Butler’s vocals were passionate and emotional, so imagine me witnessing that live. Tracks like the opener “Neighborhood (#1) Tunnels” and “Wake Up” are definite standouts, and the grandiosity of the album was fully realized at that set. “Keep the Car Running” was also another standout from their sophomore anti-slump record Neon Bible, an album that was packed with religious themes throughout. Their streak continued with The Suburbs, an album that was more accessible and straightforward lyrically and sonically, yet still featured that same level of quality in vocals, songwriting and instrumentation in comparison to their previous efforts. With Reflektor, however, I wasn’t won over by their attempts to venture into dance-rock territory, being influenced by more disco and funk bands of the 70′s. Despite that, I was still a fan of some tracks which included “Normal Person” and “Afterlife”. It’s been a couple years since that album release, and with 2017 we get the newest record in Everything Now, an album that fully realized nothing else but the dancier tracks seen on Reflektor. With the singles, it definitely polarized a lot of hardcore fans, however I dove into this album with an open mind and sought to see as many positives as possible.

Lead single “Everything Now” was one of the lead singles coming into the release of the album, and it really didn’t sit well with me at first. The track was quite evident of being part of that dancier part of Reflektor, with a heavy disco vibe to it. However, the track is indubitably catchy. It’s melodic and upbeat, accompanied with its blend of layered funk guitars, piano sections and ethereal synths looming in the background. Win still sounds pretty great here, commenting on the technological alienation in digital age we live in. It shares a more optimistic view on our reliance on technology, which is evident in this upbeat and giddy sort of tone they were going for with the album. This is a definite highlight for me, as the track throws back to a more rootsy dance feel as opposed to straight EDM. 

The subsequent track “Signs of Life” is another funk/ disco influenced cut, one which equally shares the same level of earmworminess as the previous track. Arcade Fire clearly wanted to pull from the sounds of artists such as the Bee Gees and Chic, wearing their influences on their shoulders but with a more modern twist in regards to lyrical content. Here, Win and Regine intertwine vocally, alluding to the idea of people going out to meet significant others at clubs or bars and ultimately realizing that their search is fruitless despite encounters of sex and drugs. The track doesn’t seem as deep as it aspires to be however, and the upbeat and dancey tone of the track somewhat sounds out of place when matched with its lyrical content. The refrain is equally uninspired as well. However, I’m speculating that this sonic direction of the song is intentional as to maintain the theme of the album. Still, not as great as the lead single.

“Creature Comfort” is the point where it really goes downhill for me in the sense that the track instrumentally sounds nothing like a disco-funk track and more so a tasteless electronic-rock type cut with awkwardly sounding synthpop vibes and annoying backing vocals. Win sounds so awfully out of place on his verses, singing about women who are insecure and on the verge of suicide with this uncomfortable vocal inflection that doesn’t really fit his style of singing at all. The track just sounds so noisy and out of place when in comparison to the actual lyrical content, it was just not doing anything right for me at all.

Butler and friends follow up that monstrosity of a song with yet another musical blunder in “Peter Pan”, which luckily isn’t as long in track length. Still, the song sounds ridiculously awkward and the songwriting is definitely lacking. The track is an obvious nod to the popular J.M. Barrie story, yet Win provides listeners with the most basic lyrical content about being Peter Pan and wanting to have “his Wendy”. The track has these awful sounding beat breakdowns that sound like robots dying. Instrumentally the track has this weird reggae influence yet with electronica 808′s and synths all over. It just doesn’t come together well at all.

The next track “Chemistry” is another rather interesting cut as well, and not in a good way either. The track sounds like some weird flip of a Bad Brains reggae track, mashed together with an awful breakdown of the most awkward guitars riffs I’ve ever heard. The track is so dizzying because it switches from these heavy electronic drums to obnoxious guitar leads while Butler constantly refrains the same phrase over and over again. It does not sound good at all, and at this point I’m not sure if I was listening to an Arcade Fire album.

The next couple of tracks are interesting in the sense that they’re both called “Infinite Content”, yet are simply both interludes in a sense to reinforce the fact that we have so much access to information with our social media. But Win Butler does this by simply repeating the same phrase over and over again through a hard rock rendition and then once more with an acoustic version with the same lyrics on each track. I’m not sure which I liked better, but this was definitely something I would not have expected on any album. Either way, it was unnecessary.

Regine takes over lead vocal duties on the track “Electric Blue” a heavily synthpop-influenced track with nothing but melodic electronic drums and skipping synths throughout. Her vocals aren’t the rangiest, as she maintains this high pitched vocal inflections for the duration of the track. Here, she comments on the generic state of pop music, as well as the crumbling of a woman’s relationship, however all I could get from this song was the really annoying “na na na na na na na” refrain of the hook. Unfortunately, the songwriting and vocal range of her vocals weren’t there to help her successfully carry the song.

Sonically the direction veers towards a more favorable sound in my opinion, as “Good God Damn” opts for a more lowkey yet still melodic sound in the instrumental with minimal disco and synthpop influences. I actually really enjoy the bass guitar chords on this track. Win Butler exhibits a pretty memorable vocal performance as well, in which lyrically he continues off of what was showcased on the track “Creature Comfort” regarding the woman who is contemplating suicide however backs out. 

I’m really getting some LCD Soundsystem vibes on the next track “Put Your Money On Me”, a track about love and the allusion of love to money. The track has this very melodic, skipping drum pattern as well as this strumming bass guitar chord progression that emanates throughout the duration of the song. This track reads as more straightforward in comparison to the other tracks, however still doesn’t do too much for me as it seems overly accessible as also another dancier indie pop cut.

The next track “We Don’t Deserve Love” features a blend of acoustic guitar and electronic elements such as the drum patterns and the looped, dizzying synths looming in the background. The acoustic breakdown during the chorus is pretty underwhelming, as Butler’s vocals don’t really pop with the reinforcement of the instrumental. The track also is basically the closing track, as the actual last song is simply an instrumental reprise of “Everything Now”, a synthy and vocal-less ending.

This album was probably not just a massive departure from what made their music great, but also a complete overhaul of their original style altogether as a band. Arcade Fire has ventured into territory of disco-funk and synthpop influences, but in a way that seems so rushed, cheaply produced and poorly executed. Win Butler still provides with his passionate vocals on a handful of these cuts, but the instrumental backing in context to the topics of the songs really do not fare well together. I guess you can say this album was more cohesive in comparison to Reflektor, but is it in no way a superior quality album. There are few highlights on this Everything Now that truly make me wish to revisit this album in the future.

RATING: 3/10

[evilradmedieval]

Aminé - “Good For You” Review

Aminé was someone who I was never able to really pinpoint my opinion on. Lead single “Caroline” was a smash hit on the airwaves, with its kooky lyrics, bombastic trap-flavored instrumental and his unique sung-rapped delivery. It wasn’t until I finally got a grasp of a couple other singles in “REDMERCEDES”, a silly flex anthem about cars and “Baba”, a more personal account of his childhood. With these tracks and his XXL Freshman campaign, Aminé displays a knack for really standing out from the commonplace rappers like Lil Uzi Vert and 21 Savage with his apparent sense of humor and his distinct vocal inflection in his music. Additionally, his name also has stirred up some talk on what the correct pronunciation is. Nevertheless, his new album is out in all it’s naked-on-the-toilet glory and we shall see if Aminé really lives up to the viral success of his debut single with Good For You.

The opening track “Veggies” gives us some ethereal string sections which then dips into some plucking guitar leads accompanied by Aminé’s distinct sung-rapped vocals. He has a decent vocal delivery here on the chorus, which can be hit or miss for me on the record. Ty$ provides some backing vocals as well, but doesn’t steal the limelight in regards to the chorus. The track then switches up to a more loony and trap-flavored track, which really epitomizes and foreshadows thew rest of the album. Not really a standout but Aminé comes through with some silly bars here and there.

“Yellow” follows up the trap-flavored, airy instrumental formula of the previous track, with a slightly less inspired hook on the track. The track is merely a flex anthem, and the Nelly feature at the end of the song doesn’t necessarily add anything to the track since he takes more of a backseat appearance similar to what Ty$ did on the opener, however what really steals the show is Aminé’s bubbly character, despite his moderately juvenile and straightforward lyricism and commonplace delivery.

What else is there to be said about viral smash hit “Caroline”? The track opens with an alleged dialogue with a friend, in which Aminé responds to the questions regarding his girl in sung-rapped verses. The flow on this track is sublime, especially with the bombastic and trap-flavored instrumental. His switch-ups from singing and rapping are infectious as hell, and also provides one of the most contagious hooks of recent memory. I still think the Tarantino reference is tasteless as fuck, but the song is ever so fun regardless.

“Hero” surprisingly enough features guitarwork thanks to up-and-coming indie rock outfit Girlpool, which is subtly mixed into the instrumental. On said track, Aminé sticks more to his singing abilities to carry us through the song, which can be sort of a drag. The track doesn’t have the most character with such an uninspired hook, unfortunately epitomizing itself as a trap-flavored sung pop rap ballad. Some of the bars are unmemorable mainly due to his monotonely sung delivery. Definitely not a good look, despite help from Cleo Tucker and friends. 

With the subsequent track in “Spice Girls”, Aminé comes through with one of the corniest yet catchiest hooks alluding to Scary Spice and friends. True story, he had to ask every member of the Spice Girls to actually make a song alluding to their success in the 90′s. The track is giddy, upbeat and trap-flavored, equipped with samples of flutes and recorders. He doesn’t offer much lyrically, but his delivery is on point with the tone of the instrumental and the track is just guilty pleasure fun.

The next track however doesn’t come through with the same quality of guilty pleasure fun as “Spice Girls”. Aminé sounds awful with a heavily Autotuned vocal inflection on the hook. This should be the first and last time he ever jumps on the vocoder bandwagon, as few rap artists nowadays actually sound good using it. The hook is so repulsive and uninspired, it makes me want to skip the track once I even heard the opening beat skips of the instrumental. Definitely a huge low point in the tracklisting.

We then take it back to the past relationships with “Wedding Crashers”, which features an appearance by Migos’ member Offset. The track showcases yet another commonplace pop rap hook about ex-lovers atop a giddy and trap-flavored instrumental. Although Offset comes through with an Autotuned verse, he at least comes through with variety with his distinct Migos flow. The track is straighforward and is what it is, not necessarily standing out from other tracks. Although sounding formulaic and decently catchy, it’s stands among the others as just okay in my book.

We switch up the vibe with this melodic, lowkey boom bap of a track with “Sunday”, one of the few more personal cuts off the album. On the track, Aminé touches on topics such as his family and his laziness when it comes to his religious beliefs. When he comes through with the hook, he actually sounds pretty great, as the track has this warm feeling of genuine rawness. The track not only makes for variety apart from the other pop rap songs, but is genuinely one of my favorites due to the emotion that’s apparent in both the delivery and lyrics. 

This level of personal recollection and reflection is also seen on the subsequent track in “Turf”, which has this similar instrumental tone of being lowkey and showcases these acoustic guitar chords that are subtly embedded into the beat. When the beat drops, I swear I mistook Aminé for J. Cole, as he effortlessly rides the beat. His singing vocals on the hook are pretty passionate as well, which I feel he should have utilized more on his other tracks. He relies on his singing as much as Drake does, and I feel has the capacity to utilize his talents effectively similar to what’s been done on this track.

“Blinds” is one of those songs you wish was longer and more fleshed out, because he actually goes in on this minute and a half banger of a track. The beat doesn’t necessarily go hard, but falls within the vein of a loony and offkilter beat in which his unorthodox delivery really fits well atop the instrumental. 

“Dakota” features these really strange vocal inflections that are sampled throughout the hook, which are then intertwined by Charlie Wilson’s vocals. I really don’t think this is a good fit for the vocalist himself, however Aminé does make up for this with some decent bars here and there. If the track was produced more effectively, then this would have been one of my favorites. 

“Slide” comes through with one of the more formulaic pop rap tracks with its synthy trap-flavored instrumental and sung-rapped vocals. The hook isn’t the most inspired as well, which again is a prevalent problem on the album. However, what really makes the track so infectious is the personality and delivery that Aminé provides on the track. It also helps that the track is danceable as fuck.

The next track “Money” provides us with a more somber, trap-flavored instrumental and a healthy dose of “following your dreams”. Supposedly, the song was written a couple years ago when Aminé was trying to get off his mother’s data plan, oddly enough. Regardless, the intent is there in which he passionately raps about how money revolves around the world and how it affects people. Although relatively basic in nature, the track is still pretty heartfelt despite slight hiccups in the quality of the hook.

The closing track features the same formula of previous pop rap tracks on the album, however features a message about positivity and happiness. Again, the message comes through in a more surface-level type of detail, and features some of the more uninspired production, hooks and vocal inflections especially towards the tail end of the track. 

Although I had high hopes for this album, Aminé is unable to prove his distinct style away from his contemporaries due to the release of an album that consist of several formulaic pop rap anthems. His true weakness is his inability to really write good hooks and come through with some memorable lines on some of his songs. Although some of his lyricism and song topics can be basic, there’s no denying the sheer fun and kookiness of some of these cuts that can be stuck in your head for days on end. I wouldn’t necessarily say that this was a quality debut album on his end through and through, however do say that he has the potential to really provide his listeners with tracks that are easygoing, simplistic in nature and infectious as hell with his distinct vocals and happy-go-lucky attitude. Despite my reservations on the album as a whole, there are some definite highlights on Good For You.

RATING: 6/10

[evilradmedieval]

Tyler, The Creator - “Scum Fuck Flower Boy” Review

For me, this one was a long time coming. It’s been a hot month since I’ve been up-to-date on my music tip, so let’s kick it off with one of my favorites since landing back on U.S. soil. Tyler, The Creator is the genius behind the semi-defunct hip hop collective OFWGKTA, which houses less popular acts such as Syd from The Internet, Earl Sweatshirt, and a couple others who have seemed to dissipate into the oblivion of irrelevance. Tyler, however, happened to be the one with the most potential, as he’s able to both produce and rap for himself as an artist. His catalogue of music hasn’t necessarily been the prettiest, with Goblin being one of the more disappointing releases and Cherry Bomb being the most polarizing and flawed. However, I was a huge fan of the very campy Bastard debut mixtape, as well as the very clunky yet lyrically mature Wolf. With this new album however, Tyler takes a huge step up on all fronts regarding the beautiful production, well thought-out songwriting and overall cohesiveness of the album.

“Foreword” is an awesome introduction into the new world of Tyler, in which we get a lyrically prolific performance by Tyler himself. Here, he sees himself contemplating on how much longer he will be successful as an artist in this day and age post-Odd Future. The production on this track features some glitzy synths and guitar chords, which are a very nice touch atop some skipping drum patterns. The guest vocals from Rex Orange County, who doesn’t necessarily have the greatest vocals, but the boyish-ness of his vocals really fit into the Tyler aesthetic that he was going for on this song.

The following track in “Where This Flower Blooms” features some blissful harp chords and piano samples throughout the instrumental. Here, Tyler gives a pretty monotone and lowkey delivery. I really dig Tyler’s lyrical content, despite his autopiloted flow. The hook on the song seems slightly uninspired as well, however I still enjoy the laidback and carefree vibe of the track. Frank Ocean makes a surprise appearance here as well, however not delivering his greatest vocals in means to not steal the spotlight from Tyler.

“Sometimes” is a short interlude that transitions into one of the standout tracks on Flower Boy via “See You Again”. Here, we get some decent singing vocals from Tyler, who gives us this daydreaming character who is falling in love with someone going to war. Kali Uchis was perfect for this track, further making the argument that both her and Tyler are a match made in heaven. The production is fantastic, with these blissful and ethereal synths pandering throughout, and intensifying as Uchis makes her appearance on the hook. Suddenly, Tyler calls for a switch up to the mood instrumentally, in which he comes through these rapped love-drunk recollections of his crush. Although lyrically corny on paper, the song comes together so well in a way that reflects Tyler’s silly yet sweet side. Definitely a highlight on the tracklisting.

We then get a massive change-up in the direction of the album with the lead single “Who Dat Boy” following up such a carefree song. The track has these hauntingly ominous violin sections that intensify into one of the heaviest beat drops Tyler has ever put together on a song. The song is trap-flavored, bass-heavy and nothing short of bombastic. I’m not sure if the track is a comment or satire on modern hip-hop, but he manages to nab one of his best friends A$AP Rocky for an equally obnoxious feature. Both Tyler and Rocky show sublime chemistry on the track, and the beat only reinforces their ridiculous punchlines. However the track is nothing short of pompous fun.

The direction of the album goes towards a more laidback tone with “Pothole”, which surprisingly enough features a random appearance by Jaden Smith. His hook actually really fits into the whole aesthetic of Tyler’s ambitious and boyish mood. The hook also is pretty infectious, having me constantly reciting it in my head after a couple listens. His verses are packed with a lot of well thought-out, well written metaphors as well, especially with the “wolf amongst sheep” bar. The instrumental layering on the track is subtle yet effective, as there’s some jazzy horns and synths shimmering throughout the very even-tempered beat.

The most talked-about track finally comes up in “Garden Shed”, in which Tyler allegedly comes out as gay. Here, the song takes a while for anything substantial to be really heard until the very tail end where he comes through with these pretty straightforward lyrics alluding to coming out from a garden shed and having to hide all his life. The track is accompanied by some very soulful vocals from British singer Estelle, who I haven’t heard from in a hot minute. The track isn’t one of my favorites due to how it’s structured, but can see how this was intentional as to play into the whole idea of having to wait until the correct time to “come out” on the track, whether it’s literal or metaphorical. Either way, the track is still beautifully produced with its somber lead guitar chords and mesmerizing drum patterns. 

“Boredom” transitions perfectly as the next song, with one of the most infectious earworms of a chorus on the entire tracklisting. The track feels empty and lonely, due to the idea of not having anything to do and having no friends to spend time with. Tyler comes through with verses that really show how unamused and isolated he feels from everyone else despite constantly being around others. “Boredom” is similarly produced, in which it’s jazzy and equipped with some notable guest vocals from Rex Orange County, Corinne Bailey Rae and Anna of the North.

We get another looney slapper in “Ain’t Got Time”, which surprisingly was originally supposed to include Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. Despite their absences, Tyler delivers with his aggressive and sarcastic performance about dismissing people that show interest in his music and reach out for collaborations, ironically enough. Despite this, the beat is cooky and clunky, similar to how “Tamale” was on Wolf. It’s a nice change of pace from the slower, more emotional cuts off the album. 

Standout track “911/ Mr. Lonely” finally makes an appearance, with its Thundercat-esque bassline and soulful guest vocals by Steve Lacy, Anna of the North and Tyler himself. Although the track is more upbeat compared to several of the other cuts on the album, the song still ties into to the whole idea of being lonely despite being so successful. This is quite evident in the trap-flavored second half of the track, in which he even states that he’s the loneliest in the room despite being the loudest. However, I still love the absurd “chirp chirp” refrain by Frank Ocean, showing that he can do literally anything and he’ll still sound good while doing it. 

“Droppin’ Seeds” is an interlude track that further proves the idea that a collaboration album with Madlib and Lil Wayne would be fantastic. Lil Wayne showcased this on Cherry Bomb’s “Smuckers”, even outshining Kanye West himself. Sitting at a minute long, the track ties in well with the aesthetic of flowers on the album. I just wish the song was a little longer and was fleshed out more to really showcases more of what Lil Wayne and Tyler can do together.

I hear nothing but N*E*R*D on the instrumental of “November”, which is pretty evident on the kooky drum patterns. The lyrical content of Tyler’s verses showcase nothing but worry amidst his time of success. He comes through with some pretty great bars here and there, and the track is accompanied by some vocal snippets towards the tail end which actually tie in well with the subsequent track in “Glitter”. However on “Glitter”, the hook came off to me as slightly uninspired, trying too hard to tie in with the aesthetic of flowers and the niceties of where Tyler is at. The vocal inflections also are a slight throwback to what Tyler did on a lot of his previous works in the early 2010′s, however is an awkward choice as an actual closer of a track. “Enjoy Right Now, Today” reads to me as sort of an instrumental closer, which actually was a waste of space and could have been utilized better had there been actual vocal content on the track other than Pharrell’s guest background vocals as a homage. 

Although Tyler tends to come through with a mixed bag of songs for albums, Scum Fuck Flower Boy happens to be his most cohesive album yet, with a truly defined theme of loneliness and being true to oneself. The production is nothing short of beautiful, and it really comes to show how his love of jazz fusion and R&B become a huge influence on his music. With this album he fully fleshes out all the ideas on his songs which tie into each other well. There are a few hiccups on the album, especially the slight decline in quality with the last two tracks, but overall the album really showcases an artistically maturing Tyler coming through with sweet production, minimal cringy lyrics and the right vocal features for his songs. This might as well be his best album to date.

RATING: 8/10

[evilradmedieval]

21 Savage - “Issa Album” Mini Review

I really wanted to like this album. But it was a mission getting through this thing, especially sitting at a near-hour long listening time. Regardless, Atlanta rapper 21 Savage is here to stay. Known for coming through on his verses with his trademark monotone flow and vocal inflection, 21 is known for his gritty street life raps and seemingly aggressive demeanor. His major break into the mainstream was with the release of his debut EP Free Guwop, an obvious ode to his lifelong idol and trap rap king Gucci Mane. Since then, he’s proceeded to be a selection to the 2016 XXL Freshmen Cover, featuring a group of rappers who’ve been unofficially labeled as “mumble rappers”. 21 then feeds into the hype announcing the release of a mixtape with renowned producer Metro Boomin on the project Savage Mode. The project took a while for me to really get into, which showcased a very inconsistent 21 Savage rapping over one of the hottest beats with some of the biggest names in hip-hop, including an appearance by Future on the standout track “X”. The project to me was a revelation of 21 Savage’s flaws, in which the drawback to his appeal is the very flat, monotone delivery and tendency to choose very spacey, atmospheric, trap-flavored instrumentals, which really don’t help make his voice pop. Sure, he has some great features on other tracks such as Drake’s “Sneakin’” single and the Mike Will Made It posse cut “Gucci On My”. However, while attempting to embrace the meme, 21 Savage’s attempt at a full length album on Issa Album ultimately comes up short of personality and variance.

There are some lowkey bangers on this album that I genuinely like, especially the opener track “Famous”. The track is essentially a summation of 21 Savage’s come-up up until his big break into the mainstream. “Bad Business” comes through with a more aggressive trap-flavored banger, in which 21 Savage appears to come through more aggressively thanks to Metro Boomin and Zaytoven production. There are also some pretty catchy bars throughout. 21 Savage actually goes pretty political on the track “Nothin’ New”, which is a huge change of pace away from all the talk of violence, drugs and gangsterisms. He basically raps about the evident systematic racism in the country, which really stands out across an album of what you’d expect on a 21 Savage album. The Young Thug track isn’t bad either, however doesn’t feature enough Thugger to really hold me over through the track. We simply get a couple adlibs, which was a huge disappointment for me. 

Despite a couple high spots on the tracklisting, the album still comes through with an unhealthy dose of flaws by Savage himself. First things first, his flow DOES NOT CHANGE UP AT ALL during the duration of the entire album. There are times in which he opts for a more R&B-tinged performance on tracks such as “Thug Life” and “Facetime”, the latter in which the drowning of his vocals in Autotune doesn’t help at all. With this one-dimensional flow, it’s really hard to want to stay motivated and listen through this near hour-long project. His lyricism definitely has made an improvement compared to his past projects, however sometimes relapses into struggle bar moments as well, at times even repeating bars to fill up space on the instrumental. This is seen on the slightly irritable “Numb”, where he raps about taking narcotics to take away from hardship with a completely uninspired hook. The rest of the tracks on the album either don’t hit hard enough lyrically or sonically, making for complete enjoyment of the album to be a chore.

I’m not a huge fan of 21 Savage, neither am I a hater. I think that he is a one-trick pony of sorts however, in which his uncharismatic demeanor on tracks really makes it hard for me to find appeal in his music. Sure, he has some decent tracks here and there on this album, but there aren’t enough moments lyrically and sonically to make him really live up to the hype of this album. It seemed like the tracks just cohesively blended together as I listened through the project. I’m not sure if I listen to his music for slaps or to really enjoy the lyrical content or delivery. As of right now, I’ll take a pass on Issa Album, but still am rooting for him to really evolve as an artist. 

RATING: 4/10

[evilradmedieval]

Washed Out - “Mister Mellow” Mini Review

With Washed Out’s first two albums Within and Without and Paracosm, singer-producer Ernest Greene has really came into his own creating a narcotic, atmospheric hybrid of chillwave and synthpop bliss. This was also quite evident on the short project Life of Leisure, in which its lead single “Feel It All Around” gave us a sense of weird, melodic synthpop which was seen on the beginning of Portlandia episodes. However, since the signing to the more radically left-field, underground music label Stones Throw, his music went in a slightly different direction, in which hip-hop instrumentals and off-kilter vocal samples started being incorporated in his music. This is especially evident in his new effort Mister Mellow, which can be described as a mixing pot of synthpop, hip-hop and psychedelia. There are so many different sonic layerings and offbeat vocal samples that may seem like it was influenced by J Dilla himself. Let’s dive into a couple tracks.

Melodic, synthpop tracks like “Burn Out Blues” and “Floating By” have some pretty obvious hip-hop influenced sounds, in which the drums reverberate in a way that’s very boom bap-esque. His vocals are really drowned out in a way that comparable to more dreampop-oriented bands, which is a definite influence in the sound on this album. The instrumentation is lush and layered, however isn’t anything experimental. There are definitely some jangly synths and some spacey build-ups, especially seen on “Floating By”. The track “Instant Calm” features this very psychedelic and warbled boom bap instrumental, sans the vocals from Greene. This is also quite evident on the track “Million Miles Away”, which exerts more psychedelic moments with its very slow and melodic tempo and warbly synths tossing back and forth.

There are some tracks that definitely draw from more synthpop and indie pop sounds, which is definitely apparent on the track “Hard to Say Goodbye”. Here, the instrumental is very melodic and has some subtle hints of a funkflavored grooves. The track also sees some minimal vocal samples looming through. “Get Lost” happens to be another track that definitely seems like it drew from a Bee Gees record. Here, there is some definite disco aspects on the instrumental. Again, Greene’s spacey vocal inflections ride effortlessly on this track. 

This is definitely not one of Washed Out’s more memorable albums. To me, the album plays to me like a collection of sounds that draw from Greene’s influences of psychedelic rock, funk, disco and hip-hop. Mister Mellow is a record that definitely wears its influences like a glove, and don’t necessarily read to me as a record that really pushes boundaries or takes old ideas and comes through with something that is truly extraordinary. Although some of the sounds are consistent as an LP, Greene’s instrumentation don’t read into anything near experimental and seem to have a lot of unfinished ideas, especially with the ditching of his more synthpop former sound. Still, it’s an album I wouldn’t mind playing as background noise.

RATING: 5/10