Music Reviews

Um… What?

I- I don’t even know where to begin… First off all, believe me when I say that there are 2 things in this world I love and those are trap metal and especially when ZillaKami is on the mic. But this… Something feels very wrong with this project. And I can’t really put my finger on what that is for some reason… I tried to pin-point the issue to 2 main factors though – first of all the choruses, how do I say this… They just don’t hit, not at all. I don’t remember a single hook from this thing not a second from it. The second reason I think this project doesn’t work is, well, ZillaKami himself. Don’t get me wrong, I wish nothing but the best for the guy and I loved his music thus far, but here he just delivers these really akward kinda safe hooks over what seems to be just looped guitars with trap beats that probably even I could make in like 5 minutes and it all just comes out really forced and mashed together. There are some stand-outs I guess, I like the song „Not Worth It“ no matter how melodramatic it can be, it at least isn’t another trap beat slapped over some mediocre guitars, it’s different, gives the record a bit of variety. Also that’s another problem not only with this song but so many god damn songs on this record – THEY ARE SO FRICKING SHORT. Like even for this genre’s standarts, where songs are usually shorter – these songs don’t go anywhere, because they don’t have the TIME to go anywhere. Also I was laughing my ass off when the song „Hello“ came on – that’s like the most lazy tribute to Nirvana I’ve probably ever heard, it’s comically stupid and uninspired, Post Malone did this s**t 3 times as good, even though admiteddly he did just covers, but I’ll take covers anyday over whatever this is. I DO like „Bleach“ with Denzel Curry though, that feels like legitematelly the only song that had some care and thought put into it. After that rare moment of clarity we go back to the pointless wannabe ragers that just don’t get any better nor memorable. That’s the thing, if these songs were like really bad, I would at least remember them, but they are not bad, just really mediocre and therefore forgetable and boring and that’s just not the level of quality I’m used to from ZillaKami and City Morgue as a whole. The either make Ws or here and there some Ls, but you are entertained the entire way through – here I was just waiting to hear something I didn’t the million times before that. „BADASS“ with Lil Uzi Vert seems to also be one of the more positively rated songs on the album and why exactly is that? Once again, the production barely gets a pass, the hook is somewhat better than the majority of this record I guess and Uzi does just alright – like what makes this song so different from the rest of them? The Denzel Curry cut at least had some uniqueness to it, this just blends together with the rest of thie songs on here. 5 songs left and I’m DREADING for this to be over – however the quality does pick-up somewhat on the song „Nissan Only“ where you immidiately hear that this song had some effort put into it. For the first time on this whole record I felt like I was listening to an actual ZillaKami song, instead of a parody of it. „Black Cats“ has a similar vibe to it like „Not Worth It“ does and they both are just a cut above the rest. However after this the album ONCE AGAIN remembers it’s trying to be as boring as possible and realising it almost made a good song throws a couple more non-tracks on us in the form of „dedgrl“ (which is honestly fine) and „FROSTY“ (which not so much, easily the worst vocal performance of the whole album and the emotional weight just isn’t strong enough to carry this song, I’m sorry), before closing with „Space Cowboy“, which I’ll admit, FROSTY leads to pretty well and this song… I’ll just say he definetly saves the best for last. Well I guess not the best, but definetly one of the better cuts here, for sure – I’m glad ZillaKami remembered how to make good songs again a shame that it’s only at THE END OF THE ALBUM.

*sigh* yeah, this was disapointing to say the least. It’s not bad and if you’re a die-hard City Morgue fan, you will definetly find some enjoyment on this album, but for me, this felt like a weird way to compile some random ideas Zilla had into a full half-baked album. Also this is all just my opinnion, you’re completely free to have a different one and honestly, if you enjoy this album, don’t let my trash-talking get to you, like all power to you for seeing the good in this album – but even still, I’m gonna go ask you to do one thing. Take ANY song of of this album and compare it to, I don’t know, like „DRAINO“ by City Morgue. You see what I mean now?

Strong 4/10

Let me just start off by saying that 2021 has been an INCREDIBLE year for music – I honestly think the best one since like 2018 and that was one hell of year for music. For many people, to some extent including me, music was one of the few things that kept them going through this hellish year – we can only hope that 2022 will be better for all of us. Now let’s talk administration: this list will NOT be including EPs, only studio releases released between January 1st and December 31st of this year. Also if some of these scores are different then in my original reviews of these records, then that’s not a typo, but the fact that opinions do indeed change overtime, a hard pill to swallow for so many people for some reason.

10.) Porter Robinson – Nurture (decent 8)

Yep, this electronic yet very human album takes up the 10th spot at this list and I feel like I shouldn’t really have to explain why – this album alone is for many people what gave them hope this year and it is indeed a very hopeful album, but it’s also so much more than that. You leave it feeling like you’re floating on a cloud, it’s such an up-lifting surreal expirience, it’s beyond me – Porter Robinson just has such an ear for catchy tunes that just click. Key tracks include „Something Comforting“ and „Look At the Sky“.

9.) JPEGMAFIA – LP! (OFFLINE) (strong 8)

Oh yeah, I’ve heard this thing a million times over and I honestly remember very little from it, but I STILL keep coming back – that’s the JPEGMAFIA effect. Peggy comes through with an amazing effort, combining elements from all of his past efforts into one cohesive mess of an album, that you just can’t help but keep coming back to. Definetly one of the albums that’s more about the whole feeling and vibe of the record, then each individual track’s greatnest. Also listening to this on acid must be something else. Check out „REBOUND!“ and „WHAT KIND OF RAPPIN‘ IS THIS?“.

8.) Spelling – The Turning Wheel (strong 8)

Oh yeah, Fantano fans are gonna want my head off for this one, but even though I find this to be a magical and gorgeous expirience like the rest of you, I honestly don’t see this as a 10 – it definetly has it’s flaws, but who am I to complain about them, when they are mostly just nit-picks or stuff that entirely depends and your current mood – that’s also a thing with this album, being patient gives BIG pay-offs, but if you’re in the mood for something more instant, then maybe try listening to this record another time. It also get progressively more dark throughout and I find that to be a very nice touch. „Little Deer“ and „Boys At School“ is where it’s at.

7.) Tyler, the Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost (strong 8)

Tyler’s been on a roll with these past few projects, like from Flower Boy to this album here is one of the most impressive 3 album runs I’ve seen in music in a while. This new installment in the Tylerverse sees Tyler teaming up with DJ Drama who mostly just shouts all over the record, be he is doing great as a hypeman – it gets me pumped everytime I hear him come on, which is a lot of this record. Anyways Tyler does great as per usual, he seems to be in a better place in his life then he was the past few records and seems to be just enjoying life while he still can – some bangers you can’t miss out on are „WUSYANAME“ with NBA Youngboy who KILLS IT vocally and „JUGGERNAUT“ with Lil Uzi Vert and Pharell Williams, who does surprisingly well too.

6.) black midi – Cavalcade (strong 8)

Yeah, I was prett late to the party with this one, but over the past few days this has become an instant favorite of mine. The so unhinched spirit this record has, it in a strange way reminds me of Radiohead’s „In Rainbows“, one of my personal favorite albums, in a sense that everything just sounds so natural and dare I say human – though this album is much more abstract and harsh than that record is. It also has a really nice pacing to it, you constantly feel like you’re moving through an expirience, it never gets tiring nor overbearing, it keeps it at the right amount of insane. Listen to „Slow“ and the opener „John L“ to see what I mean.

5.) Silk Sonic – An Evening With Silk Sonic (light 9)

Oh yeah, I’ve been DYING to hear this one the past couple months and when it finally came out, people went sicko mode over it – and you can’t really blame them, this thing delivers exactly what it promised, two great musicians colaborating and having some fun in the studio while creating some of the catchiest, slickes music of the whole year, nothing more, nothing less. You really can’t call yourself a fan of music this year if you haven’t heard tracks like „Leave The Door Open“ or „Fly As Me“ – see? Even the titles just scream so much fun, so stop what you’re doing and treat your ear drums with this goddamn record (it’s only about half an hour short).

4.) Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (light 9)

This record prooves two things – b***h can rap and conscious hip-hop is still alive and well. I love this record with all my heart, I mean you already know I do, but I just want to express how much. This album makes any rap song by any artist this year look like a kindergarten lullaby. My mind is just blown by how well-executed and also articulated this record truly is, like she is SPITTING on this album. Also yaass Queen but unironically. PLEASE, for the love of god, give „Introvert“ and „Woman“ a listen, you won’t be disapointed, I promise.

3.) Parannoul – To See the Next Part of the Dream (decent 9)

Hey, what’s this shoegaze stuff, it sounds pretty good, huh? But for reall, this record is amazing. I fell in love with this album the moment I heard it, it grabbed me and then just refused to let go, but I honestly just wasn’t even resisting, because I would forfeit all my mortal posessions to this album if I could. Okay well maybe that’s a bit exaggerated, but you see what I mean, this album is like a musical hug. This is THE most underrated album this year, spin „Beautiful World“ and „Yout Rebellion“ to see for yourself. I’m gonna go listen to right after I finnish writing this honestly.

2.) Black Country, New Road – For the first time (decent 9)

The only good thing to come out of Brittain this year – doesn’t change the fact that it still doesn’t exist though. Now for the longest time, this album was my album of the year, no questions whatsoever – it really is like everything I like about music in one album. It packs an emotional punch, it has sax, it has ambition and flow, sax, it’s simple yet really detailed, THE GODDAMN SA- but most important of all – it’s not boring. Good god, this album is many things, but not boring. More than anything though, it showed potential – I have no doubt that this group will only get better as time goes on and seeing as this is their DEBUT ALBUM, I have some really high expectations. Your high expectations will certainly be met with tracks such as „Sunglasses“ and „Opus“. But one album last minute decided to change that number one placement and before I tell you what that album is, here are some few honorable mentions.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

-key tracks: it’s a GY!BE record, you don’t listen to „tracks“ on here, just listen to the whole thing

-key tracks: „You Loose!“ (god I love this song) and „Chaeri“

-key tracks: „Welcome To the Internet“ and „Bezos I“

-key tracks: „Welcome To Horrorwood“ and „Hip To Be Scared“

-key tracks: „All My Favorite Songs“ (NOT THE AJR REMIX for Christ’s sake…) and „Aloo Gobi“

-key tracks: „Off The Grid“, „Come To Life“ and „Jesus Lord“

-key tracks: the same as for the offline version

-key tracks: „Happier Than Ever“ and „Getting Older“

Now: without further ado, my no. 1 album of the year 2021 is…

1.) Injury Reserve – By the Time I Get to Phoenix (10)

Yeah, if you’ve read my review for this thing then you’ve probably seen this coming. This album takes my breath away everytime I hear it – not even the mention of 5G towers can ruin my expirience of this album. I haven’t had this good of a cry as I had to „Top Picks for You“ in ages – that would also be my pick for a song to check out from this album, aswell as „Knees“, both spectacular songs, but the whole album is just otherworldly – metaphorically and literally, because this album sounds like it was made on another realm of existence. Also it’s a 10 for those of you who are just here to see the score, so just go stream the damn thing, if you feel like you can handle it.

…yeah it’s good, duh.

Honestly if we can expect these levels of quality for the rest of the 4 chapters, we’re in for an instant classic from Beach House. The EP is just 4 songs in total, but I honestly believe they really make the most of it. The record opens up with the instantly infectious and soothing title track „Once Twice Melody“ which is like a balsam for soul – the lush production that Beach House are known for is on full-display here, they also flex their ability of blending different instruments together effortlessly on this one. It all makes for a super nice and smooth opener. However I am of the opinnion that the next song „Superstar“ not only tops that, but also tops basically anything Beach House released in a while – that song is an instant earworm that just won’t leave your head at least for the rest of the day, I can promise you that. I strangely enough draw similaritites with this song’s melody and the melody on Ed Sheeran’s „Bad Habits“, it’s like if that song was actually well-written, had a good vocalist and overall was just a good listenable song. But man, as soon as that melody hits around the one minute mark, you transport into another dimension. Now the remaining two tracks „Pink Funeral“ and „Through Me“ are both also decent tracks, the first of the two having a really nice hypnotizing quality to it, with some lush ochestation and as I said hypnotizing drum loops, while the latter being a bit more spacious and ambitious, basically your typical Beach House song in a nutshell. It also incorporates effortlessly some nice electronic guitars that just help elevate the song to new heights, especially when combined with the haunting vocals in the second half of the song and then by the end when the hi-hats hit? It’s the whole package, honestly, this is how it’s done ladies and gentlemen.

So I don’t really have like a creative way to close this off, it’s just really good and makes me supper excited for the whole thing to be out. Also from this point onward I’m not gonna be covering any of the other chapters that come out, you will have to wait for a full review once this whole thing is out :).

Strong 8/10

Haha, wow Coldplay, that was a good one! Now can you please release the actual album?

… oh you’re not joking. Well this was a disapointment to put it lightly. But maybe disapointment isn’t even the right word, because my expectation weren’t really high in the first place – though they still managed to not be met. We all really fell for their bait when they released „Coloratura“, the 10 minute long closing track to this album and easily the best song on this album and that Coldplay has released in a while to be honest. It reminded me why I liked Coldplay in the first place and why I’ve been defending them and their music for years now – unfortunately I fear that even the most die-hard Coldplay fans can’t find a way to defend this album, because it is to put it bluntly undefendable. It’s such a colossal failure on all fronts that it’s honestly baffling. Like how do you screw-up this bad? Half of the album’s songs are interludes and the other half are either forgetable or memorable for all the wrong reasons. Like the awful stuff comes in a lot of variety too – you have the over-produced piece of millenial pop on „Higher Power“ believe it or not still one of the better songs on here, the just unexcusable horiffic vocal chops at the start of „Humankind“, which if that didn’t instantly ruin your enjoyment of the song like it did it for me, there is still the super cheezy chorus that just reminds me of Lil Dicky’s „Earth“ for some stupid reason and everything that’s remotely connected with that song is an instant no from me. What else… Oh yeah, there is the Selena Gomez song „Let Somebody Go“ with a FRICKING TRAP BEAT ARE YOU SERIOUS?? Did you guys like forget you are a band and that you have instruments or something? And the beat is not even that good even though it’s, and I s**t you not, produced by METRO FRICKING BOOMIN. That’s a name I didn’t think I would ever mention in a COLDPLAY review, but here we are. There is also the car commercial-esk „People of the Pride“, which I’ll admit on an innitial listen I actually kind of liked, but as time went on and this album has had some time to sit with me a bit more, man, this song did not age well. Now everytime I hear it I just picture like an add for a new Toyota model or whatnot and I just can’t take it seriously because of that. There is also the song „Heart Emoji“ (too lazy to pull up an actual heart emoji, sorry), which doesn’t take inspiration from Bon Iver, because it just completely rips him off and it doesn’t even try to hide that. After People of the Pride there is the series of 4 songs which I like to picture each represents a different stage of the grieving process – the first song „Biutyful“, AKA DENIAL, is me denying this song’s existence, because I refuse the fact that a band I once openly liked could release something so hideous like this. The second one, fricking „Earth Emoji“ I guess, AKA ANGER, makes me so god damn angry at how low-effort this whole song just is – there is nothing remarkable about this and there is a reason that this is the single lowest rated song on the whole album, if you can even call it that, a „song“. The thrid song, „My Universe“ with BTS (god…) unfortunately IS an actual song, though I wish it wasn’t. The third stage of grief is BARGAINING, which represents me bargaining everything I own and just begging for the song to be over. Now for the 4th and final song before the closing track we have this thing „♾“ – like what even is that. Anyways the fourth stage of grief is DEPRESSION and indeed, that is arguably what I have after this just awful series of tracks I just had to stomach (there is technically a 5th stage „acceptance“, but I honestly refuse to accept any of this – but if I were to imply it still, I guess the fifth stage would be the legitemately only good song on the album „Coloratura“, which is fitting).

So yeah, if there is one thing to take away from this review, it’s that there is no acceptance with this album, it only leads to depression. Also look on the bright side of things – I listened to this album, so now you don’t have to! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go fix my taste with some new Beach House that dropped like a month ago and finally stop wasting my time with this garbage.

Decent 3/10

So yeah, you could say, I’m pretty late to the party with this one.

I mean what can I say about this album that hasn’t been said in the last like what, 9 months since it’s been out? That it’s the best shoegaze album to come out all year and for some people even just the best album any genre to come out all year? For some stupid unexplainable reason I’ve been avoiding this album like the plague since it first came out back in February this year and man, was I missing out. The opening track „Beautiful Dream“ has been in constant rotation the past few weeks and just few days back it finally pushed me to the point where I wanted to hear the whole album – and yeah, it’s pretty much as good as everyone’s been making it out to be, if not better. I mean good shoegaze, like really well-made shoegaze just does something to you, it’s kind of otherworldly.

Anyways one of the few criticisms I’ve heard being tossed towards this album was that throughout it’s runtime it’s all pretty one-note and while that may be the case, I honestly see this is as more of a strength than anything else – just look at albums like „SUNBATHER“ by Deafheaven – that album is basically all one-note and it’s one of my favorite albums OF ALL TIME. There is a sort of catharthic feeling that comes with this kind of music – it’s so over-bearing an larger than life, that it gives you this feeling of hope and more than anything makes you feel ALIVE. And that’s exactly my expirience with this album – it transports me into a whole different dimension for one whole hour. The album cover expresses that feeling better than anything I could write here honestly – it makes you just feel free. Anyway the tracklisting consists of about 10 different songs, that aren’t all perfect to be fair, I think the album’s last leg kind of dips in quality a bit, that free feeling just isn’t as strong here as it is on some of the earlier tracks – speaking of those tracks though, GOD DAMN, they really set the bar high to be fair. „Beautiful World“ is in one word just beautiful (that’s constructive criticism right here ladies and gents), „Excuse“ and „Analog Sentimentalism“ both are just gorgeous and dare I say both quite underrated in the album – the true hidden gem though comes in the form of the 10-minute long magnum opus of this album „White Ceiling“, which never gets even a little boring throughout it’s whole runtime. The title track serves as a nice break from that behemoth of a track and leads nicely into „Age of Fluctuation“, the second longest track on the album, which doesn’t quite reach the levels of genius that White Ceiling did, but still is a nice piece to the puzzle nonethenless – the follow-up song „Youth Rebellion“ is also one of my personal favorites on here, the title kind of speaks for itself honestly, no song describes the feeling of being young and rebellious better than this one does. „Extra Story“ is definetly the worst track on here, it sort of breaks the immersion that this album creates for no reason and it might be the sole reason why I don’t enjoy the last two tracks on this album as much as the others – but it’s not like it completely ruins the album expirience, it’s just kind of out of place, that’s all. Now the last two tracks „Chicken“ and „I Can Feel My Heart Touching You“ are still great, don’t get me wrong, but I feel as though they don’t take that extra step like the other tracks did to make them really just breath-taking. Still both good tracks that wrap up the album pretty nicely.

So yeah, this album absolutely slays at all fronts – one of the most magical expiriences I had with music this year, definetly blasting this for the days to come.

Decent 9/10

Welcome to the second installment in the „Albums I Missed“ series, where I take a short look at some albums I didn’t manage to get a full review out on and give my brief thoughts out on. Turns out quite a few music has been released over the past few 4 months or so, so we got a few of them to cover. Now without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?

Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World

Now this… This does being a smile on my face.

Magdalena Bay? More like Magdalena BASED amirite? All jokes aside this project is a treat to the ears – basically everything I love about pop music is to be found in this project to some capacity. A must listen for anyone remotly intrested in pop music this year.

Decent 8/10

Ed Sheeran – = (equals)

Here is something that isn’t a treat to the ears, though my ears do need medical treament after listening to this firing pile of garbage. You couldn’t pay me to give this a full listen, I didn’t get through this whole project ONCE. That being side the opening track „Tides“ and „Visiting Hours“ are fine I guess, still not worth listening to the whole album though.

like a strong 3/10? Who cares tbh

Lovejoy – Pebble Brain

Wilbur and the gang have done it again – they released a slightly above the average project that still isn’t able to show off their whole potential. I’m sorry, this album is definetly a step up from the previous one, it shows that the band is capable off releasing longer projects and also is capable of some ambition on tracks like „The Fall“, but still, there is still so much left to be desired with this band.

Strong 7/10

Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

WOAH hold up there, you can’t just release one of the best rap albums of the year and possibly the decade just like „here you go guys, enjoy :)“. Well enjoy I sure did – this thing front to back is just spectacular. Also send this album to anyone who says that „women aren’t as competent rappers as men“, because this woman is better than 99% of the male rap game right now, on god.

Light 9/10, might grow on me over time even more though

Ice Nine Kills – The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood

Honestly, I can’t help myself, I’ve always been a sucker for this band and this project is in my humble opinion their best offering yet. Their album concepts are just super unique in my opinion and for the most part well executed too – basically taking different horrormovie/videogame franchises over the years and making them into songs. Sounds really edgy on paper, but trust me, the way they embrace it just makes it so much fun. So if you’re into metalcore with some slight edge to it, that doesn’t at any point become too cringy, then this might just be your thing.

„Hey Paul!“

Light 8/10, ratio me all you want

black midi – Cavalcade

So this one is TECHNICALLY from may, but f***k it, I make the rules here, I’m gonna review whatever I want.

I’ve been constantly postponing a review for this one, because for some reason, I was never in the mood to listen to it – well until I did this morning and holy moly, was I missing out. I really wanna scream at my half a year back self for not listening to this when it came out, because this is easily one of the most well crafted post-punk albums released this year and this year was especially generous on post-punk projects.

Strong 8/10, but it just gets better with every listen, so I imagine that will only improve

JPEGMAFIA – LP!

Damn Peggy! Really out-did yourself again huh, how do you do it? Anyways this new project over here really slaps, I mean it’s JPEGMAFIA, like I’m not gonna sit here and tell you it sucks, but I just wish that it hat that extra something to it, y’know? I wish there was like a director’s cut version off sorts that would include all the songs that didn’t make it to this version…

JPEGMAFIA – LP! (OFFLINE)

… well that was easy. Anyways yeah, this is clearly the superior version and the version that Peggy wanted to make – there was apparently some drama with the label and some samples on some of these songs and that’s why there are two version? I don’t know, anyways buy this s**t, it’s really good.

online version – Light 8

offline version – Strong 8

Taylor Swift – Red (Taylor’s Version)

So I guess I’m one of the few people who has actually heard this version BEFORE the original and I gotta say, for the most part, I was prety statisfied with what I was hearing – of course I then went back and checked the original version and found out that that version just has a special charm to it, that this album is for the most part missing – Taylor has definetly improved vocally over the years though, I’ll give her that. I would recommend checking out the 10 minute version of „All Too Well“ though, that has gotta be one of the best things Taylor has released PERIODT.

No rating, because it’s just a reissue of an already existing album that doesn’t really change that much from said original album – a pretty good album at that, if that helps you feel better.

It finally clicked.

4 months. That’s how long I was trying to get into this album, but for some reason just couldn’t. I was going crazy – everyone around me was calling this the easy album of the year and I was just sitting over here not understanding the hype at all. But today that changed – I finally just sat down and listened to it, no pre-judgements, just turn all my attention to the music and it’s meaning – and it was at the 5th track „Ground Zero“ where this record just suddenly made complete sense. You see, this album doesn’t make NO sense whatsoever, BUT THAT’S WHY IT WORKS. This album really makes you question what even music is. It doesn’t try to follow any musical formulas, it doesn’t follow basically any genre restrictions, it just does what it wants and that is to musically express grief – grief is the main focus of this record and the hardships and struggles that come with loosing someone really close to you. The feeling of how the world just keeps spinning even though you still haven’t dealt with your loss – all of that becomes apparent on track seven, „Top Picks For You“, AKA the first, and probably also the last, glitch hop song to ever make me break down into tears. Once you get to this point in the album there is no turning back, everything just clicks, but it’s not an easy journey to get there – the opposite in fact. The world that the album creates through it’s music is dark, glitched, fundamentally broken and just incredibly tough to swallow. There is constantly this paranoid feeling that something is a little off and that feeling haunts you throughout the whole listening expirience. And what an expirience it is, I don’t think any album this year has made me so just… emotionally drenched. Now I personally never lost anyone that I was super emotionally tied to, so for me, I can’t even IMAGINE how horiffying of an expirience that must be, but if it’s even half as bad as this album’s sound is portraying it to be, then good god. It’s hard to talk about each individual track here, because the expirience works as a whole and taking individual tracks out just isn’t how this album is supposed to be listened to – it’s a journey through the grieving mind, a painful f***ed-up journey, that ends on a somewhat of a hopeful note, in the form of the song „Bye Strom“. This song says to the listener to keep their head up, that even though that someone else’s journey came to an end, doesn’t mean your own does too, even if that person was super imporant to you – „the show must go on“. And even though it may take weeks, months or hell even years, eventually, you will move on. It doesn’t try to downplay the grieving process, it let’s you very well know that it will be incredibly difficult and painful – but not impossible.

Now I got a little too introspective there, but it’s crucial to undestand all of this in order to truly appriciate how powerful this record really is. The music’s dark, it’s distorted, it doesn’t make no sense in some places, but it’s clear that it’s all calculated and intentional, I haven’t heard a depiction of grief this accurate since I think „A Crow Looked At Me“. Some key tracks would be the opener „Outside“, which is an ambitious opener that really lets the listener know, that what you’re about to hear is nothing short of insane, both singles „Knees“ and „Superman That“, the first of the two being one of the more accessible tracks on the album, while the latter being funnily enough one of the least accessible ones and also the track „Footwork in a Forest Fire“ which is honestly kind of beyond words, it’s one of those things where you gotta expirience it to truly understand it – that also kinda goes for this whole album to be honest.

… s**t. I mean this album broke me. I can’t even put into words what this music does to you, but it’s really something to behold… Anyways yeah, I see the hype now lol (also I realise this probably should have been a disclaimer at the start of the review, but I usually like to keep the swears out of my reviews, but with this one I felt like it really helped to express how truly just f***ed this album is).

10/10

I’m gonna keep this one short and sweet, kind of like the album itself. Silk Sonic is a Soul R&B duo consisting of two members rapper and singer Anderson .Paak and the hit maker Bruno Mars – sounds like a match made in heaven, right? Well they definetly didn’t dissapoint in that regard – their chemistry on this record is out of this world and they both play off of each other super well. Anderson’s more rough emotionally-packed voice compliments the sweet angelic voice of Bruno Mars impeccably.

Now this record isn’t flawless, it stills has a few issues holding it back from being that sweet sweet 10/10 I was pulling for this to be, the main reason definetly being it’s length. I understand that there is only so much you can do within this specific blend of genres for a long period of time, but 9 tracks clocking in at 33 minutes just isn’t enough – they never really get super adventerous on this record, it’s all played very safe within a certain formula – the formula works, but I just wished they branched out a little, that’s all. Anyways, there still is some variety to be found here, especially on tracks like „Fly As Me“ which has got to be one of the nastiest, grooviest most slickest piece of music I’ve heard all year (Silk Sonic more like SLICK Sonic… Yeah, that definetly hasn’t been done before) and „Put On A Smile“, which surely is the emotional highpoint of the record. The other issue with this album, and that is mostly just a minor personal nit-pick that I have, so don’t worry, is that the album doesn’t seem to follow any concept whatsoever – sure you could make the argument that there actualy IS a narrative hidden in this album, but even so, that clearly wasn’t an intentional artistic choice – you could call this a concept album, if the concept was partying and making some good-ass music to go along side with it.

That’s actually about all I have to say for the „negatives“ I feel towards this album – now let’s dive a little more deeper into the good stuff and oh boy, is there a lot of that – the rest of this review is basically going to be me just simping over Anderson and Bruno on this record. The album opens with the short introduction „Silk Sonic Intro“, which sums up the album’s musical pallete and gives the listener a pretty good idea of what they’re going into – however the next song and the main single of this album „Leave The Door Open“ completely throws that out the window (don’t say it, don’t say it…), sounding like typical Bruno Mars R&B production with just the right ammount of soul – both artist steal the show here, a prime example of their chemistry on this album, it’s really just on full display here. The next song is the previously mentioned „Fly As Me“ and this one’s special, because Anderson RAPS on this one. That’s right, if I’m not mistaken, which I sure as hell might be, I think this is the only instance of that occuring on this whole record and Anderson really doesn’t hold back because of that. Easily one of the best songs on the whole album and keep in mind, the whole album slaps, so that’s saying a lot. The next song „After Last Night“ also has Thundercat and Bootsy Collins on it, so of course it’s great, what did you expect me to say. Actually I’m just gonna leave (don’t say it, DO NOT SAY IT) it with that, I think everyone who knows Thundercat’s production style knows that the dude doesn’t miss and this is no exception. Now we arrive at my personal favorite song on the album – „Smoking Out The Window“ and there are many reasons as to why that is indeed my favortie song. First and foremost it’s in my opinnion the most layered song on here with such a complex yet catchy chorus and it all manages to feel so natural, I’m really impressed by the song-writing on this one. Second of all, the performances themselves are also one of the more heartfelt and emotinally-packed if you ask me – Anderson is really the star of the show here. And last but not least, it’s just so much fun – I can’t help but to put on a smile (DON’T) everytime I hear it. SPEAKING OF PUTTING ON A SMILE (oh god…), the next song is, you guessed it, „Put On A Smile“ and this one despite what the title implies takes my smile away and replaces it with pure unfiltered sadness. This is the so called „hidden gem“ of the record for me – Bruno’s lyricism is surprisingly tight, like everytime he says „tryna fight these tears from cryin‘, but Lord know I’m dyin“, I FEEL that. Also just the way he says it, it’s just an overall emotional gut-punch and I love it. The song „777“ kicks off the final third of the record and it’s a great song, don’t get me wrong, but the problems with this album starts to become a bit apparent by this point, it’s not different enough to be supper intresting and it’s kind of just more of the same – NOW BEFORE YOU GO AND TRY TO CRUCIFY ME I still think it’s good, but by this point in the album, I would welcome a bit of a pace-change. Still a good song nonethenless. And I hate to admit it, but basically the same goes for the next song „Skate“, except this one looses me honestly even more (which is still a joke to say, like the quality difference between the songs on this album is I think strictly a matter of just subjective preference of each individual listener). The existenc of the closer „Blast Off“ is really only to fulfill the purpose of closing off an album, as I feel the song on it’s own is significantly less impactful then in the context of the album. It does it’s job fairly well and honestly, at the end of the day, you still feel like you got the whole expirience by the end of it and that’s what really matters.

So uh, so much for short and sweet, huh? Yeah it’s hard not to get passionate about something that these two make, like leave some talent for us dudes – all jokes aside, this album is stellar. Definetly give it a listen if you haven’t, I don’t think there is a single human being on this album that doesn’t enjoy this record at least to some degree (so yes, if you in fact dislike this album, I’m calling you a non-human).

Light 9/10

One word – snore fest.

„He can’t keep getting away with this!“ is what I though right after finnishing this album – I mean this dude has just made like the 5th album he’s being making for the past like what, 6 years? And of course, he is a very succesfull artist, if not THE most succesfull artist of our generation, so he can afford it – this dude could release literally anything and his fans would still eat it up. He could release an album full of mp3 files of him at the toilet and his fans would still call it „life-changing“. It’s no wonder that there has recently been an outburst of those „Drake the type of dude“ memes, because that’s all he is, a clown and a f*ckboy. Man the last time I fully enjoyed a Drake studio album was in 2015, like what happened? This album also tricks you into thinking it’s good with the opening song being somewhat listenable and his „Scary Hours 2“ EP being actually pretty damn good. It gave me false hope that Drake will finally leave all the Pusha-T stuff behind him and come into his own as an artist, but he is just so indulged in it, it’s frustrating. And it’s not like I want to see this man fail, the opposite in fact, I really am trying my hardest to find one fricking song on this record I would consider great but if my life depended on it, I just can’t. The closest this album comes to an actual good song is the opener „Champagne Poetry“, „You Only Live Twice“ and the song „Fair Trade“ featuring Travis Scott, where Travis must have actually broken his back, because of how much of this song he carried. Those are genuinely the only three examples of a good song on this album, that’s IT. I’m not even gonna talk about the rest of this album, because all the song sound the fricking same, there is no deversity, no flavour, no texture, no anything to these songs – Drake sounds half asleep on most of them and the song „F*****g Fans“ is excuse my language a f*****g joke. I’m honestly not gonna spend more time writing this review then Drake did on making this album, I don’t wanna waste more of anyone’s time here.

Look, here is a question for you – did you like Scorpion? Did you like Views? Then congratulations, you’ll enjoy this record. But if not then please spend your time on something more worthwhile, go check out that new Injury Reserve album for example (review on that one coming soon).

Strong 3/10

„Hold on, let’s get this shit, let’s get this shit
Let’s get this shit, let’s, hmm
Top of the mornin‘, top of the mornin‘, top of the mornin‘
Top of the mornin‘, top of the mornin‘
Top of the mornin‘, top of the mornin‘
Hold on, let’s get this shit, let’s get this shit
Let’s get this shit, let’s, hmm“

… Alright now that I fulfilled my citizen duty, let’s get to the actual review.

So yeah, Baby Keem’s debut studio album is finally here and honestly after some of the mixed teasers for this album and also the mixed reception it’s been getting, I didn’t really expect much going into this, just to kind of zone out and feel the vibe and I pretty much got that for the most part, but this record definetly isn’t anything ground-breaking, not even close actually – it’s just an okay trap-rap record with a few serious highlights that make it stand out a bit more amongst the sea of rappers copying this exact sound this album is going for. What even made me check out this album in the first place was truly and honestly the family ties (pun very intended) this guy apparently has with Kendrick Lamar, who also makes some… appearances on this record. It’s clear as day from the get-go that Kendrick was involved in some capacity in the making of this album, but most creative choices are still clearly Baby Keem’s and one thing this album proves for Baby Keem moving foraward is definetly potential – Baby Keem has an ear for catchy hooks and melodies and the production for the most part on this record just clicks – guess it’s in the family to have musical talent.

There in total 16 tracks which all vastly vary in quality. The song that kicks this album off is „trademark usa“ which is honestly all over the place – there are some mic-dropping moments here and there and memorable bars for sure, but the song just can’t seem to fully flesh out one idea, it constantly keeps beat-switching and never stays on one beat for more then a minute – it’s cool in concept and definetly gets my blood pumping for the majority of the song, but there is already just a certain cohesion lacking to this record. Cool song all around, I just wish it was more tied together instead of constantly jumping from point a to point b, it’s almost like as if adhd was a song. „pink panties“ is the next song and this one just ain’t it – for the possitives, well I guess the synths were cool and some bars here and there weren’t too shabby either, but that’s about it for the good stuff, the rest of the song is just another really uninspired boring trap song with those annoying group vocals that keep reappearing through the track, it reminds me of „No Bystanders“ by Travis Scott, but like a discount version of that song, because that song made this chanting work, this song just ain’t doing it for me. „spacegoats“ is a very much needed nice change of pace, even though it lasts only for about a minute – I honestly think this song is kind of a missed oppurtunity making it only an interlude, you could easily stretch this song out for like another minute or two and it would make for a one gorgeous hell of a track. „range brothers“ is admitedly kind of a gulity pleasure for me – the song is just so fun to listen to and that Kendrick verse? Honestly I can’t decide which is funnier, the verse itself or the memes that came out of that – either way I’m grateful for the existence of both. The song „issues“ is where Baby Keem’s talent for melody and all that really comes to life, the song is just an earworm that I can’t get enough. It’s also one of the more darker tracks here and for some reason these tracks tend to just be the much more enjoyable tracks of the bunch. „gorgeous“ despite what the title might imply is not that gorgeous of a song, but I like what Keem was trying to do here and the keys at the end are very nice too, solid track, but not one of my favorites. „south africa“ is a song I like more in concept then in execution – I get what it’s going for and I appriciate the message and the sound honestly fits that message, I just don’t feel like it goes around as well as expected. „lost souls“ I remember only for the beat sounding really sweet to the ears, I honestly don’t have much else to say about it then that. And of course „cocoa“ with Don Tolliver is great, it’s fricking Don Tolliver, the man has one of the most beautiful and instantly recognisable voices in rap right now. Now for this next one, before I get crucified for it, let me just say that I DO enjoy the song to some degree and Kendrick does reasonably well on it, but I’m not the biggest fan of „family ties“ with none other then the man, the myth, the legend, Kendrick Lamar. The song isn’t bad, the word bad isn’t even in the discussion, it’s just sort of underwheling? The problems with most of this record is that I feel like Baby Keem really just underdelivers while his feature artist steal the show, when he should be the center of attention. Again, not a bad track, just a bit underwheling for me personally, but I get tha hype behind the song one houndred percent. Things do pick up fortunately in the last leg of this album – we have the song „scars“, one of my personal favorties, which just shouldn’t work as much as it does, but shoot me in the face if this isn’t one of the catchiest things I’ve heard all year – the beat, with the drums and the pianos, it’s so good – honestly nothing I can say here won’t make the production of this song justice. After that comes the song „durag activity“ with Travis Scott, which is alright I guess, it didn’t really leave a big impression on me, could have used some more flavour though, for the constantly evolving anc changing nature of this album this song comes of really one-note. Then we have the songs „booman“ and „first order of business“. Now the last two songs that finnish this album off are both in my top 3 of this record, they just examplify what I mean by saying this dude has some serious potential – the first one is „vent“ which is honestly the banger highlight of this album, the beat is so nasty it hurts, Baby Keem really goes off and it all beautifuly and not in a way that feels unfitting transitions into „16“ the 16th and also the last track of this album and what I consider to be the most beautiful song on the album – I just can’t get enough of those punchy drums combined with the piano melody, it’s such a beautiful mix, with Baby Keem also delivering one of his better vocal performances of the album, it’s clear as day that he really cared about making this song.

So that about wraps it up – this album starts strong finnishes strong and even though it had some duts in the middle, those are just beginner mistakes, if Baby Keem keeps doing what he’s doing, which I don’t think he’ll stop doing any time soon, I think he has a bright future ahead of him and I wish hime nothing but that.

light 6/10