Music Reviews

What the hell were you smoking when making this album name and WHERE can I get it.

Well hello there friends and welcome to this special review – this day’s review is about Big Thief’s new album „Dragon New…“ (I’m not writing all that, you read the title) and what an album it is – almost 80 minutes long and 20 whole fricking songs. I mean trust me I like me some Big Thief but for a full hour and a half? Well it’s safe to say I was a bit skeptical at first going into this, but I’ve heard some pretty positive things about, so I gave it a shot and well, I can pretty much safely say that the runtime is, for the most part, justified. Sure there are ways to cut corners here and there and yes, there is a track or two that could have been cut in it’s entirety, but in the greater scope of things, this thing just delivers. For many it may sound a bit underwhelming at first glance but further listens reveal the true beauty in the songwriting and by the end of it you realise that this is Big Thief’s most cohesive complete and fulfilling body of work to date. I’m not gonna go through ALL of the songs, just the ones that stood out to me the most, wether that means good or not so good, because there necessarrily isn’t a bad track here.

So with that out of the way, let’s get into the actual meat and potatoes of this record – the album open’s up with the at first kind of underwhelming „Change“ which is ironically a song that doesn’t really change during it’s 5 minute runtime – but as everything on this album, it’s a grower. Over time I learned to appriciate what it’s going for and learned to love it and I’m sure you will too. Definetly one of the more accesible tracks here, because believe it or not, Big Thief actually get a bit experimental on this record – case in point the next track „Time Escaping“ which sounds like some sort of ritual being performed, especially the drumwork, that’s like something out of a psychological horror movie. Probably the first track that really caught my ear on first listen, but this one kind of shrunk on me over time – it’s still fantastic and I appriciate the band’s efforts to try something new here, but it doesn’t have the same replay value as some of the other tracks I think. „Spud Infinity“ is a really goofy and dare I say wacky track, it’s really country-ish and has this weird bouncy effect at the start of the track and just the way the strings and vocals are eranged sounds just super like something I’d hear some random rednecks play from a Barn in the middle of nowhere and I mean that as a compliment belive it or not. Though innitially I was super put off by this track, just something about it rubbed me the wrong way. „Certainty“ is certainly a sweet track, though there are tracks on this album I belive that do this style much better and honestly with one of my biggest criticisms towards this album being it’s length, this one could have been easily cut I think. Still a nice moment on the album and since it as of writing this review stands as THE most popular track of the album, people seem to really enjoy it, so I digress. Anyways after this we have what I consider to be the best track of the entire album in the shape of the title track (no I’m not writing all that again) – a beautiful guitar-driven ballad with a dusty atmosphere and a deeply layered instrumentation with some beautiful and haunting vocals merge together to create one hell of a track that always leaves me utterly mezmerized by it. From here on out things get a bit all over the place – „Sparrow“ has one of the better choruses on the album but is way too long for it’s own good, „Little Things“ on the other hand is probably the only song on the album justifying it’s longer than 5-minutes runtime, it feels like the title track but with like a more punch to it – the second half of this song always blows my socks off, the guitarist can really shred let me tell you. Then you have the song „Blurred View“ probably the most „different“ song on the album – the vocals sound like they were recorded on a potato or something, yet it works somehow – the heavy bass hits with the super compressed sound of the track create this eerie atmosphere, that just, something about it is… It just feels like I’m drowning, like this track is swallowing me whole, it’s a super neat moment, that also serves as a nice middlepoint for the album – now onto the second half. Now if „Spuf Infinity“ was inspired by country in some aspects, then the song „Red Moon“ makes country it’s only aspect and it does it well. I’m not super big (pun intended) on country but I can appriciate when it’s done well and this song certainly does just that – it’s just not one of MY personal favorites. „No Reason“ has exactly that – no reason to GO SO HARD GODDAMN. The chorus hits harder then my dad’s belt and not only that, it also has a FLUTE OUTRO – I mean this song is the full package. Seriously though, great track all things considered. „Wake Me up to Drive“ is anothe one of those… Weird ones. I like the artificial drums and the burried mix, it sounds pretty solid, but I’m just stuck here wondering like…. What does this track’s existence provide to the expirience of the album? I mean sure, more variety and all that, but it’s so out of left field I still don’t know how I feel about it – it’s an okay track though, one of the tracks that stick out more on first listen for better or worse. Now I DID say that the title track is my favorite, but is it the catchiest? Well no, that award goes to „Simulation Swarm“ an absolute EARWORM that just won’t stop playing in your head – it’s just so bouncy, so full of life, it feels like it has a heartbeat man. Really dig this one, one of my absolute favorites for sure. I really love love love the next song „Love Love Love“ even though it start off like we’re already a minute into the track, I just can’t help but love the guitars on this track and the chorus while yes very repetetive does it’s job well enough – I approve of this track. The closing duo „The Only Place“ and „Blue Lightning“ are both fine, „The Only Place“ is more stripped down and lowkey with some pretty impressive guitar-plucking flexes and „Blue Lightning“ is not really my cup of tea once again, but it fits the album well enough and does it’s job as the closing track too, so I can’t really complain.

So yeah, this is what’s in my opinion the best Big Thief album – then again I only heard like 1 more, but I have a feeling that this is just their most cohesive body of work to date. I like to just put this album on and just escape reality for a hour and a half – it’s beautiful, immersive whatever else you wanna call it and yeah, I think I’m just gonna leave it with that, great record all around.

-favorite tracks: Change, Time Escaping, Spud Infinity, Certainty, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, Sparrow, Little Things, Flowers of Blood, Blurred View, Dried Roses, No Reason, Simulation Swarm, Love Love Love, The Only Place, Heavy Bend

-least favorite tracks: 12, 000 Lines

Light 9/10

So apparently saying the same word over and over and making some of it’s parts longer ISN’T considered a review… But everyone who has heard this thing KNOWS that that is the only appropriate way to react to this album: WHAAA- (ok I said I’m actually not gonna do that again this time). So yeah, this thing is great – it’s only February but I’m pretty sure no record this year is gonna top this one right here. It’s everything and more I ever wanted from the band and with the context of Isaac Wood leaving the band to focus on his mental health it hits even harder than I innitially thought. So I’m gonna do my best at breaking down why I think this is an absolute masterpiece, but truly and honestly no words could do this thing justice, you gotta hear it to believe it.

Every track here packs a different emotional punch and every single one of them is unique in their own way (except maybe the intro and „Mark’s Theme“, but even that is such an unbelievably beautiful piece to the puzzle) and yet they mash together seemlessly creating a gorgeous cohesive story that flows from one track to another like a knife through butter (which rhymed, so it must be true). Anyways as I said the intro track (simply called „Intro“) is probably the weakest of the bunch – I do believe it has it’s rightful place on the album as it sets the tone fairly well and serves as a pretty smooth transition into the next tracl (which we’ll get into in a bit), but considering how the last record didn’t waste anytime in letting messing around with it’s opener, then this is kind of a step-down from that. Then again this album is much more different and I believe ultimately better expirience than that album was, so I can turn a blind eye toit and move on to the real first track of the album, which is „Chaos Space Marine“ and oh my god what a name for a song. This is probably the „happiest“ sounding song on the album and I think it’s very well placed here because it showcases many of the album’s main sound palates aswell as getting you hyped for what’s about to come. Also this and many other songs on this album are huge growers – like innitially I didn’t really care for this cut but it won me over as I gave it more listens and thank god I did, because it has become one of my favorites of the whole album and believe me when I say that the bar is set really high. I LOVE how diverse this song is – there is constantly something new being added in and new sounds and melodies being brought up, it’s constantly evolving and you never know what to expect – „Chaos Space Marine“ is honestly how this song feels, it’s chaotic and it just feels like a giant space marine for some reason – really hit the nail on the head with the name on this one. The next song „Concorde“ is where the album truly begins to reveal it’s true colors and you hear the shift in the sound instantly – it’s much more moody, much more dreary and much more soft. This whole song is like a giant build-up to the huge crescendo at the end and honestly I can’t really complain about anything I’m hearing here – unlike the last song, this is much more focused and much more serious and as a result I start taking it more seriously. The instrumental is gentle, slowly building in it’s power and just it’s sheer volume until it hits that peak where it feels like the emotional struggle has just become too much to handle. Isaac Wood’s vocal performance nad lyrics portray this feeling of hopelesness really well, it’s like you can hear the pain through the lyrics – it’s once again one of my favorite moments on the record (you’re probably gonna hear this a lot throughout the review, so get used to it lol). „Bread Song“ is kind of like the calm after the storm if you will and essentially consists of two parts – the first one being just really gentle guitar plucking with Isaac’s broken lyrics over it that colapse together into this beautiful musical blanket that you just never leave – and then when you think it can’t get any better than this the drums kick in and oh my god, what a moment that is. The song becomes much more colorful with it’s instruments and suddenly it feels like you’ve been transported to a different dimension – again, just an insane display of musicianship and musical mastery. Isaac again flexes his lyrical abilities here, talking about a crumbling relationship reffering to it as „bread crumbs“ (hence the name „Bread Song“), just some really smart analogies and once the weight of it all hits you – it hits you. „Good Will Hunting“ is the first non-single song on the album (not counting in the intro) and is also where I was starting to get worried at first – what if they manage to screw it up somehow? Well I should have had more faith in the group, because this song is on the same level as those songs are – I adore the female vocalist supporting Isaac’s broken voice and how it compliments the pounding piano with the kickdrums and everything – again, just the way they blend all of this together sounds like it shouldn’t work on paper but they just manage to pull it of regardless. I also love how really just intense the second part of the song, it has to be one of Wood’s best vocal performances on the whole record – also I don’t know what effect they used on the guitars here but they sound out of this world, it really helps portray this feeling of just completely loosing it. Once again, the lyrics talk about a failing relationship, possibly unrequited love and the struggles that come with that – it’s just so incredibly saddening. „Haldern“ is definetly one of my favorite musical moments on the album – again serving as sort of a calm after the strom, this track has some really breath-taking piano leads, really gives many of the usually more hidden members of the band a moment to shine – and when the saxophones (?) are added in? I mean it takes the song from „great“ to „MAGNIFICENT“. Also the way the saxophone sounds for the majority of the second part of that song reminds me of Clown Core for some reason, just thouht I mention that- never really though I’d be mentioning Clown Core in a review about BC, NR but here we are. „Mark’s Theme“ is a song I don’t have much to say about to be honest, it’s more of a interlude then a song really – it at least gives you some breahting space, before the final three asolute titans of tracks. Speaking of which the next song is „The Place Where He Inserted the Blade“ and I’m gonna be honest here – this is my favorite song not only of the whole album, but of the year so far. For many people it’s the closer „Basketball Shoes“ and I get that, that song is insane – but this one just really felt like a blade inserted into my heart, because it really cut deep. And I know that may sound a little too melo-dramatic, but that’s this record in a nutshell – it embraces it and you can much more easily put yourself in the shoes of the protagonist of this story (basketball shoes if you will). And I mean it, this song is everythin and I mean everything I ever wanted from this group – it’s raw, it packs a punch, it has layers, it’s colorful and insrumentally rich, it’s desperate and yet comforting in a way and it feels like the weight of the world collapsing on top of you and you are powerless to stop it. The choice of chords is absolutely astonishing and fits the song perfectly and everything feels like it’s placed in it’s right place. After this absolute emotional drain you are comoforted with „Snow Globes“, a 9 minute opus to heal your wounds and give you even the slightest glimmer of hope that things are gonna be okay at the end, even though it hurts like hell – you’re gonna be alright. That’s at least how the song feels to me, lyrically it’s much more deeper than that, but after the emotional rollercoaster you expirience with this album this I feel as is the protagonist being at his absolute lowest but still choosing to keep going in hope of things getting better – and that’s how this song feels to me. I would especially like to highlight the drumwork on this song, it is really impressive and fits the chaotic nature of this album super well. Now for the final song „Basketball Shoes“ – yeah I mean duh, it’s good. I think people calling this already the SONG OF THE DECADE is a bit of a stretch, but there is an argument to be made about the significance and the impact this song has and proaly will hae. It feels like the perfect climax to this album and is THE emotional highpoint of the album for many – which I totally get, I just slighly prefer „The Place…“, but that’s just me. Still a fantastic song and a perfect way to wrap this album up – like you know an album is good when the first thing you do after finnishing listening to it is play it again.

Wow, I wish I wrote this good in my school essays… But like in those I’m kinda lost for words right now. This album really blew my already insanely high expectations out of the water – I have really high doubts that any album this year is gonna come even close to the magnificence of this project. An absolute emotional journey from the start to finnish, I honestly can’t give this album anything but that sweet sweet…

Strong 9/10

…

just kidding, here’s how I would actually rate it:

-favorite tracks: Chaos Space Marine, Concorde, Bread Song, Good Will Hunting, Haldern, The Place Where He Inserted the Blade, Snow Globes, Basketball Shoes

-least favorite tracks: Intro (if I had to pick one)

10/10

WHAT.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *inhale* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.

WHAT.

10/10

Yard Act – The Overload (post-rock)

This album so far has recieved a pretty polarizing reception – like it seems you either absolutely can’t stand it or think it’s the greatest lyrical achievment of the year. Me? Well I’m kind of in the middle with this – I generally LOVE the sound this album tries to go for, but honestly like half of the time I can’t even make out what is being said with the spoken-word formula it uses and it’s so much easier for me just to focus on the instrumentals, which are honestly kind of hit or miss, but at least with those I know what’s going on. Still a pretty impressive debut album, one that I unfortunately don’t really see myself coming back to all that much – most of my problems with this album boil down to personal preference though, so maybe give it a spin yourself and see if it’s more your cup of tea (get it, they’re british) – I just don’t really care.

Decent 6/10

foxtails – fawn (screamo, post-hardcore w/ jazz elements)

Damn… So this is what the fox says.

Decent 7/10

Billy Talent – Crisis Of Faith (alternative rock, punk rock kinda)

Billy Talent in 2022.

Strong 5/10

Utada Hikaru – BAD Mode (art pop, J-pop, alternative R&B)

I could honestly do without the Skrillex track, but other than that for something called BAD Mode (or as I like to call it „SOO NOT HALAL mode“) this is pretty GOOD Mode. Also Evangelion.

Light 8/10

iann dior – on to better things (pop rap)

This guy couldn’t write an intresting song if his life depended on it, like all of these song sound literally the same – the beat is the same, the generic guitars are the same, his voice is the same, EVERYTHING SOUNDS THE SAME. Also at points (by which I mean the majority of the time) this album tries to copy Machine Gun Kelly’s last album, which boggles me why anyone would even think is a good idea to do (there is even a MGK feature on one of these songs which I didn’t even notice at first, which only emphasizes my point). But unlike that album this one is at least listenable, even though it sounds like if they just took „Mood“, copied and pasted it 15 times and called it a day. I like „let you“ though, so it has that going for it.

Light 4/10

FKA twigs – CAPRISONGS (alternative R&B, glitch pop)

I mean, it has it’s moments – it’s definetly not on the same level of ambition like her LP or even some of her EP stuff, but it doesn’t need to be – it’s just a fun collection of tracks, nothing more nothing less. It’s kind of all over the place, but that gives it that raw mixtape vibe that kinda just clicks – though the interludes could have easily been cut from the album and nothing would change at all, they kinda bring the project down for me. Maybe at the end of the day I’m just mad it’s not called CAPRISUN, then it would have been a 10.

Strong 7/10

Korn – Requiem (nu metal)

So this is the first album in the „4th of February drops“ installment, because everyone wants to drop their album on this day this year it seems. Anyways what can I say about Korn that hasn’t been said before – they have been making the same album for the past decade, except this one is just a tiny bit more listenable. Still even though it’s formulaic to a point of actual numbness, it at least does the formula right. Just be glad they’re not working with Skrillex anymore (damn, that’s already the second time I mentioned Skrillex in this bunch, that’s not a good sign).

Decent 6/10

Animal Collective – Time Skiffs (psychedelic pop, neo-psychedelia)

I don’t know if this is a hot take or not, but I never really understood the hype behind Animal Collective – I like maybe 2 of their songs but I just never really got what’s all the fuss about. I just think they never really clicked with me yet and I was kinda hoping this record would change that – but unfortunately no, I still can’t say I get it. I’m sorry, but these songs just don’t do anything for me – I like some ELEMENTS of them and some IDEAS here and there sound like they might be going somewhere, but that’s all they are for me – not fleshed out elements and ideas. And honestly the songs sound good on a technical level, but they’re not super memorable nor intresting most of the time – I don’t know, maybe it’s just not for me. I still overall enjoyed the record, like the expirience of listening to it was mostly pleasant, but I just wish I left it feeling… Well I guess anything.

Strong 6/10

Saba – Few Good Things (conscious hip-hop, jazz rap)

This album is the musical embodiment of riding around with your friends on a warm summer night – I genuinely couldn’t believe it was still February after listening to it. It’s just so warm and inviting and so lyrically sharp and hard-hitting, it packs quite a punch to be honest. Also for some reason it just sounds so much like the album cover, I can’t explain why, but just go listen to it, you’ll see what I mean.

Light 8/10

Mitski – Laurel Hell (art pop, synthpop)

There obviously is still one album from this 4th of February drop of albums that I haven’t talked about yet, but you’ll have to wait for a full review on that one – and trust me, you don’t want to miss out on that. Anyways this new Mitski is pretty damn solid in my opinion, the instrumentation is lush, Mitski’s vocals are passionate, pretty much the level of quality you’d expect from her – except for „Everyone“ though, that track is like such a dud in the tracklist – it’s not like unlistenable or anything, but compared to the rest of the tracks you immidiately hear that something is off. Other than that probably the second best album to come out of the 4th of February drop, made me for some reason think of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless on tracks like „Working for the Knife“ – it’s like a more clean Kidz-Bop synthpop version of that and I do mean that as a compliment.

Light 8/10

Damn, didn’t know the ship from Sabnautica made music.

Jokes aside for me AURORA has always been kind of a weird case – a friend of mine showed me her music like a year back and unlike them I didn’t instantly fell in love with it – I liked some elements of it, especially her voice, but I didn’t really care about anything else that was going on, though I understood why people were attracted to her music. So naturally going into this I didn’t have any super high expectations, even though I did have some, beacuse whether you like her or hate her music, you can’t deny there’s a certain level of quaity and pristineness that comes with AURORA’s music – she clearly puts a lot of work and effort and cares about the stuff that she puts out there. But truly and honestly, this album is right up my alley with what I like about modern pop music – the lush layered instrumentals complimented by her intimate voice together feel like a warm blanket wrapped around you that you just never wanna leave. And if you can get past the occasionally over-blown Imagine Dragons-esk choruses, there is actually quite a lot to be liked about this record. There is still your typical dramatic AURORA sound present, but this time there is a more experimental edge to it all and I think that is that something that, at least for me, was missing from AURORA’s music for me to really love it.

Alright, so let’s break this whole thing down bit-by-bit, shall we? I honestly don’t have much to say about the album’s 40 second opener „The Forbidden Fruits of Eden“ other than this is the most AURORA way to start a project and if you played me this without any context I would INSTANTLY recognize it’s her – like this has AURORA written all over it. That more surprising is when the next song „Everything Matters“ doesn’t really follow the typical AURORA sound – or in a sense it does, you have your typical guitar/piano ballad with AURORA singing her heart out over it, but what seperates this from every songle song in this style she has done is the percussion – the moment the drums kick in it INSTANTLY locks you in and refuses to let go. Then on top of that the raging bass that just gives the whole song new life. She has been hinting on going all out with this type of sound with her last LP and I think she truly embraced this sound right here. The distorted kind of deep vocal bits are another detail that may not seem like much but in reality make this song kinda work – it’s the whole package honestly. The next track „Giving In To The Love“ doesn’t waste any time in letting you know that THIS is AURORA – the heavy synths with electric guitar blend effortlessly and if not for the kinda cheezy chorus this would be instantly one of my favorites. Still one of the more intresting songs presented. I LOVE the next song „Cure For Me“ though, even though it’s a bit generic and over-blown, but the SECOND the drop hits, it just gets me everytime – honestly one of the most dancable tracks I’ve heard all year too and another W on AURORA’s part. „You Keep Me Crawling“ is more of what we’re used to from AURORA, but even though it’s been done before, here she really flexes how WELL EXECUTED it is. The melody is haunting and the drums super crisp and AURORA’s voice makes it all click. It also transitions super nicely into „Exist For Love“, which the moment I heard the gentle guitar plucks I knew this was gonna be a tear-jerker in a good way though. And yeah, I was right, this song hits all the right spots – probably the emotional high point of the whole album. The next songs „Heathens“ goes through many intresting ideas, especially the outro of the song which the first time I heard it completely threw me off-guard. „The Innocent“ I like more in theory then in practice – again one of the more dancable tracks, but this one just doesn’t have the same punch as „Cure For Me“ had, but honestly what song does – this one just has a different vibe and it’s still one of the more memorable and intresting songs on this album, so maybe I’m just nitpicky. Now i don’t know what’s up with albums in 2022 having the first half significantly better than the first one, but this one honestly fits that criteria aswell. „Exhale Inhale“ isn’t a bad song and it serves it’s purpose pretty well as sort of a transition point in the album, but some of the electronics don’t really stick the landing and overall this song easily just could have been left on the chopping block and honetly nothing woud change with the expirience I had with this album – maybe it would only enhance it. „A Temporary High“ is a song I WISHED I liked more, beacuse in concept this should have been one of the best songs on this album – all the pieces are there, but the full picture is just missing. The 80s sound this whole song has honestly kind of makes me feel like AURORA has also fallen for this 80s revival trend that The Weeknd started 2 years back and has honestly only been matched by himself in that field. „A Dangerous Thing“ picks things up a bit – I especially like how the song in a way parallels the song „Exist For Love“ with lyrics like „there is no love in the end“, just another showcase of AURORA’s genius writing. The next song „Artemis“ I like for what it tried to do with what seems to be harmonica if I’m not mistaken? It sounds okay and I commend AURORA for trying new things honestly not only on this song but on this whole album – it’s just that not all the ideas work as much as others and this song just should have been like a bonus track or something. The first and only time I can say the chorus REALLY hits the way AURORA intended is on „Blood In the Wine“, my personal favorite song on the album – it feels like a huge army marching towards me and I LOVE IT. The final 2 tracks on the album „This Could Be A Dream“ and „A Little Place Called Moon“ serve as a comedown from „Blood In the Wine“, but they both kinda overstay their welcome – like did they BOTH need to be 4 minutes? The answer is no – and you know me, I can listen to a 34 minute song and not bat an eye, but these songs just don’t have much of anything going for them to keep my attention for even the 4 minutes. I guess I like the trumpets on „This Could Be A Dream“, but they just appear for like 3 seconds and are then again written out of the song – like come on, there was so much you could have done with that, but instead you took the boring route. „A Little Place Called The Moon“ is the better one of the two closing tracks in my opinion as it wraps this whole album together in a satisfying way and credit where credit’s due, the song does have one of the better sounding instrumentals.

So overall, I think this album sees AURORA trying just many new things and while some work better than others, they all cumulate together into one surprisingly cohesive mess of an album. Still if the question is „is this my favorite AURORA project“ then the answer is yes, it is. I’m really excited to see where she takes her sound next on her next project and until that day comes gonna overplay this one to death.

-favorite tracks: Cure For Me, Exist For Love, Blood In The Wine, Everything Mattters, Giving In To The Love, Heathens, You Keep Me Crawling, A Dangerous Thing

-least favorite tracks: Exhale Inhale, Artemis, This Could Be A Dream

Light 8/10

So, after the two major releases of this year so far (those being the new Earl Sweatshirt and The Weeknd records) I wanted to branch out and try something new for a change. And while I was browsing the dark dark lands of rate your music, I stumbled upon this – a brand new Bonobo album. The album mainly caught my eye with it’s SUPER relaxing album cover, which is slowly becoming one of my favorite album covers to look at in a long time. But you didn’t come here to listen to me praise this album cover, I’m here to critique the music – so is it any good? Well at it’s worst, Fragments is some really nice background music that might lack some punch to it, but is overall harmless – but at it’s best it’s some of the finest most well-crafted house beats I’ve heard all year (which considering this year just started out is not saying much, but you get what I mean). I didn’t really have high expectations going into this record since I know little to nothing about this guy’s music, but this honestly kinda blew me away – like I expected something really chill, somehting I could just put in the background and just vibe to, but got so much more out of – these songs have so much life, hope and emotion in them, it’s like the cover perfectly represents what the music sounds like.

Right off the back, there are no songs I like actively dislike off this album – some just hit harder than others and some just stick out more then others. That being said, some stand out tracks for me definetly include tracks like the short but sweet opener „Polyghost“, AKA the perfect tone-setter for this whole album – like if you don’t like what you hear on this song here then you are probably better off listening to something else. Then definetly the song that right follows this one „Shadows“, which might just have my favorite beat off of this album and also my favorite vocal performance (from the featured artist Jordan Rakei) for sure – yeah, there is a lot to like about this song. Probably the most ambitious cut this album provides is „Otomo“, which has GOT TO BE one of the BEST drops I’ve heard probably like ever – like sure, this song takes time to get to that point, but if you give it that time, if you’re patient enough, it will reward you that much more. Seriously, I can’t get over the RUSH of dopamine I get when the drop on this song comes, it’s pretty much flawless. „Tides“ with Jamilia Woods is also pretty sweet and serves as a nice cooldown after the hellride that was Otomo – her vocals compliment the track pretty well and it’s another sweet-sounding piece to the puzzle. „Closer“, another one of my favorites, has such an unexplainable atmosphere surrounding it – the synth work on here is also out of this world, like innitially I didn’t really think all that much about the song, but the second the synths hit, it was like I was transpored into another dimension – yeah, this track is pretty much saved by them. Now my personal faorite song is hands down „Age of Phase“, which has THE most infectious sample and melody on this whole album, it’s like Crystal Castle’s „Kept“ but like the lofi hip-hop beats to study to version of it. I could honestly listen just to that sample alone for hours and not get tired of it. Now that’s pretty much about it for the GREAT songs, you know, the „best and most well-crafted house beats of the year“ songs. Now as for the rest of the album… It’s okay still. And there is a lot of beauty to be found in the rest of these tracks – „Elysian“ has a nice string section attached to it, „From You“ with Joji has a nice Joji attached to it and „Sapien“ is honestly kinda underrated, the song is generally seen as one of the worst on the album and I just don’t find that to be the case – but honestly they all still just lack something extra the other ones have. Most of these track are also located on the second half of the album, so yeah, this album is pretty front-loaded, but not to the point where the second half is not worth listening to, I would compare it to the new The Weeknd album in that regard, where it’s good as a whole, but the first half obviously out-shines the second half.

(God, I never know how to wrap these things up) uhhh so YEAH, not bad first impression if I do say so myself – this record isn’t much and you won’t get much out of it expecting much – but what it is is a fun chill ride, that if you give it the benefit of the doubt can take you on a blissful journey. (also this album is a way for me to try this new „favorite/least favorite songs“ feature I definetly thought of myself and didn’t just shamelessly steal from Fantano and other creators)

-favorite tracks: Shadows, Otomo, Closer, Age of Phase

-least favorite tracks: Day by Day, Counterpart

Light 7/10

Christmas came EARLy this year.

So after a 4-year long wait we gather here together for the new Earl Sweatshirt release. Honestly I’m not super familiar with Earl’s work up to this point, the only album I heard from him in it’s entirety was „Some Rap Songs“, which still to this day is a really special album to me – I think it’s the closest things to doing drugs without actually doing drugs. Like there is something just so haunting and fundementally broken about it, even after all this time I can’t wrap me hear around it – that album for me really solidified Earl as one oh modern hip-hop’s greatest offenders in terms off production and uniquness. Now as for this album over here, I think that it only builds on the foundation that „Some Rap Songs“ layed down with a more modern twist – this is a much more accesible album than that album was. It’s a lot more shorter, clocking in at only 24 minutes, which is basically mixtape length. The album is filled with the trademark Earl Sweatshirt druggy, hard-to-pin-down production with the inclusion of more trap beats as well as some muble rap-isms scattered throughout the project. Also I think that Earl is legitemately in a much better headspace than he was on his last couple of LP – this album is much more free and much less i guess depressed than „Some Rap Songs“ was. Earl also is noticably more vocally present on this album then before – these songs just burst with confidence.

Speaking of songs that vocally AND instrumentally burst with confidence, the opener „Old Friend“ is sure as hell one of them. For how short this intro is, it definetly doesn’t waste any time kicking the door right open with an ethereal beat that has little to no percussion whatsoever, just some crazy synths with Earl’s voice sliding on top of them, like you can tell this is Earl in his natural habitat. Almost as smooth as the song itself is the transition into „2010“ which overall is just a great song, even though a bit too repetetive. Earl sounds hungry on here and his rapping is just so effortless and it translates super well to the listener. Next up is the title track „Sick!“ and the first real showcase of this album’s much more accesible trap-flavoured beats – it honestly sounds like something that would prefectly fit on „Some Rap Songs“ weirdly enough (minus the raging trap hi-hats i guess). By this point on the album we start to notice that this album is a bit of a mess, but that’s something you gotta expect when listen to Earl’s music – the next two songs completely throw the „1 to 2 minute songs MAX“ format this album has been following so far out the window and drops at us not one but TWO 4-minute songs, both with the only features this album features (heh). The first of the two „Vision“ featuring Zelooperz (which I honestly had no idea who was, sounds like a name for a Pokemon, but then again this man named himself after a piece of clothing lmao) is i guess the less enjoyable of the two for me, but that’s like having to pick between your favorite child, you love them both pretty much equally. This one is one of the more trap-inluenced songs and it’s done well enough to where it’s enjoyable, it doesn’t drag on for too long and it leads pretty nicely into the latter of the two „Tabula Rasa“, and pretty nice it is. I love the little vocal chop samples integrated into the piano-driven beat, it has Earl Sweatshirt written all over it. This one also features Armand Hammer, which is a match made in heaven. Both artist are in their A game here. After this we are back to the shorter songs with the song „Lye“ and I’m not gonna lye, this song is pretty heat. Probably the most jazzy song on the album, and you know me, I’m somewhat of a jazz enjoyer myself, so this was a nice change of pace for me. The beat is so smooth it should actually be illegal, aaaah, it’s so good. Also somewhere around here is when I realized something when I was giving this album like me third listen – Earl REALLY abuses the hell out of the „fading-in and out“ effect on this album (don’t know what it’s called, feel free to educate me in the comments). Like he does that A LOT on this record, especially on songs like these and the closing track and I’m not really sure how I feel about it – on one hand it kinda ruins some of the songs for me, but on the other it really doesn’t, I don’t know, I guess it kinda balances out and I’m just indifferent to it. Moving on we have the song „Lobby(Int)“, which I could honestly do without – it’s not a bad song by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that after one of the best beats of the entire album we get this just uninspired trap mess… I ain’t mad, just dissapointed. Like even Earl sounds half asleep on this song. But yeah, you wouldn’t find this in the list of my favorite songs of this album, let me tell you. „God Laughs“ picks things up a bit, but not by much – I do mess with the sampling on this song though, there is something really cathartic and mysterious about it. The song „Titanic“ is like a more fleshed out version of „Lobby(Int)“ with a beat that honestly might just take the crown for the best trap beat on this whole album. The closer „Fire in the Hole“ is probably the best song of the album if we’re being honest, it’s the perfect note to end this album on. The guitar-work on this song is really something to behold and the beat just has so much life and personality, like everytime I listen to it I just close my eyes and pictue myself floating in space, because the song really got me feeling like that. It’s also one of those songs when you finnish hearing you just wanna listen to the whole thing again – AKA a good closer. The piano fade-out is also a nice touch, makes it feel more complete.

I think this album more than anything is a sign of something much more ambitious coming down the line – it shows not only artistic growth but Earl’s growth as a human being. The biggest flaws this album has are honestly just what it doesn’t have – it doesn’t have much of a direction nor ambition and it’s generaly just a little too short and a little too repetetive for my liking – like cut some of the longer songs short and add like 3 or 4 more songs – that i think would only make this an even more cohesive expirience. That being said, this album is still a fantastic display of talent and artistic growth and while I still prefer „Some Rap Songs“ over this, I can’t WAIT to see what Earl has in stock for us next.

Light 8/10

First review of 2022 hooray!!

This album, at least for me, was a series of many red flags. First off all how it was announced basically like not even a year after After Hours, Abel’s last album and one of my personal favorites of that year, the really confusing almost non-existent roll-out to this album and, of course, the in my opinnion still not so great album cover, (which is me after waiting for this thing to drop since it’s been announced). Then the album actually came out and I gave it a full listen and… Well all my red flags proved to be right, or at least innitialy they were. I couldn’t remember a single note from this album besides „Take My Breath“, which I’ve already listened to death at that point and I was starting to get genuinely worried, because everyone LOVED this album when it dropped. I felt like I was going crazy – what does everyone see in this that I’m overlooking? It must be just me, right? So I decided to give it a few more shots and well, long story short, this album is amazing (that’s what I call character development right here). Speaking of character development, Abel REALLY build on the 80s inspired foundation he layed down on his last album and I feel like this album is him fully embracing it. It may not do as well commercially, but don’t let that stop you from how much this album actually bops.

You notice the tone shift instantly on the first actual song on this album „Gasoline“, where Abel, for the first I ever heard him do it like this, really explores the capabilities of his lower register voice. And admitedly it was a bit off-putting the first time I heard it, but there is honestly something really mezmerizing about it – it just clicks with you after a while for some reason. Also this is where you start to notice how rich and layered the production on this album is – the lush 80s synths with punchy crisp drums in the hands of some excelent producers make this a treat to listen to. „How Do I Make You Love Me?“ is honestly one of my favorite songs here, the chorus goes so hard it should actually be illegal – there is also this underlying feeling present throughout the entirety of the song that something just isn’t right. What definetly must be illegal though is the transition into „Take My Breath“, which is so good I still can’t proccess how excelently that is done. The song itself also took a new form on this album, clocking at around almost 6 minutes, almost double the length of the original single version and I gotta say, it really does the song justice, I’ll take this version over the original any day. If I had just 6 minutes left of my life… I probably wouldn’t listen to this song, but it’s still really good. Instead I would play the next song „Sacrifice“ two times, because that guitar thing that’s going throughout the entire track goes SO HARD IT DIDN’T HAVE TO GO SO HARD BUT IT DOES OH MY GOD IT’S SO GOOD. The Quincy Jones interlude „A Tale By Quincy“ is one of the better interludes I’ve heard in a while for sure and it ends on a really dark note aswell. „Out of Time“ is really uplifting instrumentally and yet so miserable lyrically, it just creates this contrast that I absolutely love. The flute or whatever it is that’s going on constantly in the background really makes this song work. „Here We Go… Again“ with Tyler is fitting title, because right as that first note hit I said to myself exactly that. The song has no drums and is all just vibes with a so so Tyler verse, which I still can’t help but enjoy, because you know, it’s Tyler. It kind of works as the halfway point of this album, almost making the album two parts. The next song „Best Friends“ I enjoy a lot, the abrasive synths and the earworm that is the chorus, this should be an instant favorite for me, right? Well I think the song is good, but it’s just missing that extra something to really make it GREAT. Still one of my favorites just because of the reasons stated above. Here I think the album start to lose it’s focus a bit, the next few tracks „Is There Someone Else?“ „Starry Eyes“ and „Every Angel is Terrifying“ just don’t really do it for me, they all just blend into one forgetable expirience and I usually tend to skip this section (I like to call it the „Yawn FM“) while listening to the album. „Don’t Break My Heart“ puts the album back on track with a really gentle beat, I really like how the hi-hats mix with the somewhat burried synths and Abel’s storytelling. I also especially enjoy the section in each chorus where he says „I don’t know if I can take it anymore“, something about the way he says that just gets me everytime. Overall just an okay song though. „I Heard You’re Married“ featuring Lil Wayne coincidently also has a really nice vocal line in the chorus and a pretty catchy beat, but that’s about it for what makes this song stand out – oh and Lil Wayne is here too. The true highlight of the album comes in the form of „Less Than Zero“ though, with the really quiet guitar playing, the excellent synths, the absolutely bombastic chorus and just the overall aesthethic, all the pieces are there and the whole picture is excellent. The outro song „Phantom Regret By Jim“ is basically just an interlude, but it surpasses many of the whole song on here. Really convinving performance from Jim and a compelling way to close off the album and tie the whole thing together.

So yeah, this album is pretty good – I think the middle second half is significantly less exciting than the first one, but it also has „Less Than Zero“ on it, so it ballances out. Overall a solid effort from The Weeknd, I don’t think it’s on the same level of enjoyability as After Hours for me though, where I grew to love really every track on there, but it’s a natural artistic progression for The Weeknd to continue this path of 80s anthems and if he continues to do them as succesfully as here, then I think he’ll be just fine off doing exactly that. So yeah, a pretty good start to 2022 music-wise.

Strong 7/10