Alright, so, right off the back, this guy was always really hit or miss with me and it will probably always remain this way – some of the teasers for this project however get me very intruiged in what was bbno$ up to this time, especially with the gorgeous single „Help Herself“ which still remains to be one of my favorite singles this year periodt. Still though, it’s clear that bbno$ is still in the phase of experimentation and is still trying what sound fits him the most, but I gotta say, he really hit the nail on the head this time. This 5-track EP has it’s shortcomings but when it really comes to it, this thing is just all killer no filler – front to back just 13 minutes of pure fun in musical form. The opener „sorry“ is one of those songs that may not grab your attention at first listen, but once it clicks, it just fricking clicks – the rush of dopamine I get from this song everytime I hear it is just unbelievable. The production is immaculate, the rapping is on point, for all my money (pun so much intended) it just works. The following title track „my oh my“ takes a much more mellow approach, it’s much more calm and tame in comparison, however the tune is certainly there, it’s still catchy as hell and overall keeps the momuntem going fairly enough to where it’s not out of place but still manages to smoothen things up, which works perfectly for the next cut, the remix of „help herself“ with none other then Benee and the chemistry here is unmatched, it goes without saying that Benee kills her verse here and her vocal contributions compliment the song quite well. Now the fourth track here is also probably the most underwhelming of the bunch – „bad to the bone“ is not a bad song as the title may suggested, it’s just really underwritten compared to the rest of these cuts – the beat switch is cool though and I like some of the melodies here, it just that the core melody isn’t enoug hto carry the song. Now last but not least we have the closer „help herself“ which I just can’t get enough of – this song is an aboslute joy to listen to. Bbno$’s vocals sound just so defeated and broken, I adore the melody here and the song just gets better the more you listen to it – this more indie approach is really what Bbno$ shines at the most.
Now while this little project does contain some fatal flaws, biggest one being that there is just zero ambition whatsoever, it still is a fulfilling and statysfying listen, really hyped for the whole studio album now.
So, Wilbur joined a band, huh? The important question we’re all asking though is – is the music any good? And I can happily report to you that yes – for the most part anyway. There are some pretty major flaws but other then that, I’m just impressed by the sheer musicalship of this album – it’s just a bunch of dudes being dudes and it works like a goddamn charm.
Now there are just four song on this four song EP (who would have guessed?), which don’t really varry in quality, they are all relatively well made indie rock song with one thing holding all of them back – the mixing. The mixing on this album is very… Ammateurish to say the least. Some could argue that the rough around the edges mix benefits the raw sound of the album, but I just don’t feel like that’s the case – the ideas are still present there though, I just think that with some better production and more of a vocal presence from Wilbur, this thing could go from good to outstanding. The opener „Taunt“ is probably my favorite song on here, really cool Arctic Monkeys inspired guitar work, with horns that just add so much to the mix, it sounds so much richer and so much more sweet to the ears. The follow-up „One Day“ is much more poppier in comparison, the drum work on this song is something else truly and honestly. I like the catchiness of it, it’s just a really fun song, the tune is certainly there. The second to last song „Sex Sells“ lives rent-free in my head and I’m not even mad about it – being the longest song on here it manages to keep my attention all the way through, the chorus is the main selling point here. Now the closer „Cause for Concern“ is nothing special but it does it’s jov right, closes the whole thing off fairly well – once again I really like the trumpet here, it just adds so much.
So yeah, if this project shows anything for this up and coming band is mostly potential – with some proper mixing and once Wilbur gets his vocals more worked up, this can be the start of something truly special.
Uhhhh, where do I even begin with this… This is a bigger disapointment the my non-existent son.
SO, after the absolute mind-shatter that was „Ok Human“ the band released earlier this year I had no reason not to be hyped for this thing – all the singles were very fun and very ligh-hearted, with some typical weezerisms. But Jesus H. Christ, this thing is so front-loaded it hurts – the quality after the fifth track just drops substantially, it’s almost like the band completely stopped trying after that point and are trying their very best to save it last minute with some hot guitar solos that just becomes super predictable and migraine-enducing after like the fifth time the band does that. Now taking this track by track is gonna be seperated in two segments – me being an absolute weezer stan and me being an absolute weezer hater. So let’s get the less fun one out of the way – the track „Hero“ is a great powerhouse of a track with some really heartfelt lyrics coming from River with power rock riffs and an explosive chorus, I seriously adore this track. „All the Good Ones“ is much more tamer in comparison, still in a similar vain – wasn’t crazy about it at first, but it grew on me a ton after repeated listens, the harmonizing on the chorus is one of the saving grazes here. „The End of Game“ sees the band doing an AC/DC worship with some pretty succesful results if I do say so myself – just the introductory tap solo is aboslutely mind-blowing. Really old-school Weezer vibes on the chorus. „I Need Some of That“ is nothing ground-breaking, but the chorus is soo damn catchy it should be ilegal, one of my favorites just for that sole reason. Now the last tolerable song on here is „Beginning of the End“, it really goes down-hill from here, which has a much more grungier approach and some insane musical passages in the second half. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s move to the awfulness – „Blue Dream“ is literally just a demo version of Ozzy Ozbourne’s and that’s not even a stretch, it’s literally just that, an objectively worse version of the song, this song is begging to be skipped everytime it comes on. „1 More Hit“ is… God, where do I even begin with this song – I get the sentiment of it, I get the message it’s trying to communicate and I like some of the riffs on the back end of it, but Jesus if the lyrics to this aren’t just unironically like some of the worst of the year, I get in tears everytime I have to crawl through this song though. „Sheila Can Do It“ is indeed a song, that very much does exist – that’s really about it, I actually just have nothing to say to this song, it’s just filler filler and more filler. Same story goes for „She Needs Me“, this thing is just so boring it hurts, so generic, unintresting and pointless through and through. Finally the song „Precious Metal Girl“ is um… Look, all I’m gonna say is just that I have heard better love songs from this band before, this ain’t it chief.
So there you have it, this thing is kind of a disapointment on all levels – I really wanted this to slap, but just some things are not meant to be… This just should have been good, I’m really tired after this.
So here it is, after a tremendous ammount of waiting we finally arrive at the new Twenty One Pilots a highly anticipated follow-up to their critically aclaimed magnum opus „Trench“ – on Trench the group proved that they were more then your average pop music duo, experimenting with variety of sounds and styles, with very statisfying results, yet they still managed to keep their signature sound through all of it. Now here we are, Scaled and Icy, it’s fresh, exciting and most important of all, super disapointing – here is why.
So breaking this track by track we have quite a lot to unpack here and let me tell you, this thing is like the definition of a mixbag – the record starts with the low-key charming Beatles inspired ballad „Good Day“ which is an okay mood-setter. Off the back it’s very piano-driven, very tame with some occasionally cheezy but otherwise introspective lyrics talking about a hypothethical scenario, where Tyler looses everything in his life, from his wife and children to his music career, just all gone – the cheery sound compliments the depressing lyric quite well actually. The follow-up „Choker“ aslo the second single released prior to this thing is the first red flag that got me a bit worried going into this album – the souund clearly takes inspiration from their Vessel roots, the synths are kind of cute and the weirly mixed drums actually grew on me a bit, but I just can’t get past the chorus on this thing and ESPECIALLY the final rap verse at the last leg, that really makes me physically cringe, it really gets on my nerves. Now the first single „Shy Away“ is actually one of the best if not THE best song on the album – the clever synth-driven beat with the sharp drumming and the kind of 80’s inspired sound really works in the song’s favour. Now so far the album is okay, but just suffers from one critical flaw, which is how poppy it sounds – this album just takes NO risks whatsoever and rather then an evolution from Trench it feels like some cheap radio-friendly knockoff of that album. This also carries to the next song „The Outside“, which I found insultingly boring at first, but if I’m being completely honest, it grew on me a little – the rapping here is also substantionally better compared to like let’s say Choker – it’s justt kind of a funky vibe. Which is also something that can be said about the next song „Saturday“, the instrumentation is really what saves this one, beacuse the chorus is legitemately horrible. I also really like the pre-chorus on this one, it sounds really nice to the ears. It’s not bad, but neither is ait all that good, it’s just kind of there, whatever. „Never Take It“ is like Choker part two, with the weird mixing and more sellout sounds, like the handclaps. There are SOME cool ides but just burried under this awful mix and commercial sound that just starts to get a bit tiring by this point in the album. „Malberry street“ is one of those songs that you just completely forget every note from once the song ends, I can’t recall anything from this, all I know is that it sounds exactly like it’s title – make of that whatever you want. „Formidable“ more like FORGETABLE amirite? No but to be honest, this song is one of the more better sounding of this whole thing, it’s just kind of a charming guitar ballad with a nice laid-back summer vibe and some actually pretty cool guitar passages, but as everything so far in the second half of this album, it just gets stale after a while. „Bounce Man“ is literally so horrible I can’t even begin to tell you why – first of all the awful ukulele intro gives me severe PTSD and it somehow actually gets worse from there – the song is just a fricking mess, that’s what it is. This is three minuts of my time I’m never getting back, oh my lord… Anyways the band kinda saved the best for last with the both barely tolerable „No Chances“ and „Redecorate“ which the former of the two makes me so damn mad, because there is just so much potential to this song and yet it wastes almost every single bit of it – it’s just all over the place, when it should have been the biggest banger in the world. The closer is the more statisfying of the two with some legitemately beautiful guitar plucks that almost make up for some of the weirdly mixed backing vocals – I gotta say though, this song really is a grower and quite a nice finnish to this album.
This thing really is a front-loaded snooze fest with some cool ideas saved for last, but that doesn’t excuse the painfully average part in the middle. Also the mixing throughout the whole album is just so… Cheap and skeletal, I just don’t get it, what happened Tyler? It’s still istenable though, I’m not mad at this, just very disapointed.
So, I never really got the hype around Porter Robinson – funny enough, I was actually introduced to him through his not as critically aclaimed EP „Spitfire“ which I was very conflicted on – there were few key tracks I reall dug, but besides that there wasn’t much of anything that really stood out to me. His first full length LP „Worlds“ is a different story though – it was a much more cohesive and enjoyable record overall, but still, even there, something just wasn’t clicking – I absolutely adore some of the cuts of of there, but the whole project didn’t do it for me nearly as much as it di for others. Now here we are, in the present day, with Robinson’s second full length LP „Nurture“ and this may be my low expectations going into this, but Jesus, this is the most cohesive, mature and fully-realised Robinson has EVER sounded on a full-length project.
Now let’s break this track by track, there is really a lot to unpack here. For starters the opener „Lifelike“ doesn’t even feel like a Porter Robinson, more like some sort of critically aclaimed post-rock outfit, really a beautiful collage of sounds and strings. The way it tranisitions into „Look a the Sky is also just mind-blowing, almost as much as the song itself, beacuse this is easily some of the best synthpop I have heard in a very long time – one of my favorite songs of the year by a long shot. „Get You Wish“ follows on the same formula as the last song with more piano-driven beat, it feels much more natural (or should I say nurtural? Okay, I’ll see myself out now…), which is a very weird thing to say about Porter Robinon’s music, considering how electronic and robotic it usually sounds – this album is really just a hybrid of these two sides and it just clashes together in this beautiful mix of sounds and colours. The song „Wind Tempos“ takes a much more ambient approach with it’s sound, sort of like a really long-winded (get it) interlude, that transitions smoothly into „Musician“, a song with a much more Porter Robinsons sound then what we have been shown so far, but still with a few minor twists on it – it’s really glitchy, glossy and light-hearted, like a heartfelt hug from a robot. The song „do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do“ starts of as a more mellow, more guitar-driven tracks, that quickly reveals it’s true collors with once again more glitchy production, insane walls of keys and whatever else is burried in the mix and it all just manages to work somehow. The highlight of the song „Mother“ really is the subject matter and the lyrics, more then the sound of the song itself – Porter here expresses his love for not only his mother, but for both of his parents, it’s really the emotional highlight of the album. Now the song, if you can even call it that, „dullscytche“, is a really all over the place instrumental, that only finds it’s path towards the end of the song, it’s and intresting blend of sounds – the first half almost sounds like a leftover out of an „Igorrr“ project, for some reason. The song this interlude of sorts tranistions into „Sweet Time“ is a really heartfelt ballad, that just makes my eyes wet everytime it comes on, the lyrics and the way they are delivered are really what sells me on this one – it doesn’t have to be crazy experimental for it to hit hard. Now around this point in the album I sometimes get the feeling the songs are just sort of repeating themselves – „Mirror“ is structually and also sound-wise basically an almost identical copy of Get Your Wish. That doesn’t make it a bad song, but it just doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The song „Something Comforting“ really lives up to it’s name, it’s probably also one of the most epic songs on here, it’s really an ear-hug, a really anthemic one at that. The way the drop just kicks in is out of this world (which is fitting, because it also sounds like something straight out of Robinson’s last album Worlds). The follow-up „Blossom“ is possibly the most nature-sounding song on this whole album, just a nice little guitar ballad, that serves as a nice breath of fresh air before the final leg of the album, not much else to say about it. Now the song „Unfold“ picks the intensity up again to the maximum with a much more anthemic sound. The drums sound really crisp and the bridge is something straight out of a Kanye album, before the final explosion that just blows most of the drops on „Worlds“ out of water. The closer „Trying to Feel Alive“ really sums up the whole feel this album is going for – just trying to feel anything in the emptiness that surrounds us in these difficult times, it screams like a sign of hope, that there are better times ahead of us.
So from the reception this has been getting so far, I feel like people are just not listening to this the right way – instead of focusing on individual tracks, try to listen to this as one whole cohesive expirience, then it all just comes full circle and suddenly makes sense, even if the sound is not necessarily for you, please at least give it a shot, it’s a really comforting and anthemic album that just fills me up with hope everytime I listen to it.
