FKA twigs - Caprisongs
FKA twigs is fresh off of her magnum opus Magdalene in late 2019 and she had her tour and era cut short due to the pandemic. Between being locked inside like the rest of us and finally being able to process the emotional and physical abuse she received from ex-boyfriend Shia Labeouf, she decided to break free from her emotional music and make what is easily her most fun project ever released! Caprisongs incorporates her traditional art-pop sound, but also has lots of dancehall and hip hop influence all over the mixtape. All the tracks on here move through different modes, whether it be going from super soft verses to a banging chorus during the opener “Ride the Dragon”, or the ballad “Meta Angel” that goes from a beautiful ballad to an extremely autotuned bridge over a piano that evokes some Charli XCX influence. These uniquenesses are what makes twigs stand out, but the straightforward tracks are just as great! “Honda” and “Papi Bones” are both straightforward dancehall influenced bangers that are among the best of what I’ve heard from that sound! “Honda” especially sounds like a haunting version of something on Beyonce’s Lion King Soundtrack! She even does a drill-inspired track towards the end of the album where she raps, and then brings on Jorja Smith and Unknown T to help bring the track to its full potential! Daniel Caesar also kills it on his feature on the R&B track “Careless”, in which his deep voice works perfectly with twigs’s high-pitched squeak of a chorus she does on this track. Caprisongs is far from her most conceptual or emotional listen, but I bet this will be one of the most unique and fun pop and R&B projects of the year!
Earl Sweatshirt - Sick!
This is Earl Sweatshirt’s first album since late 2018, and his first project since Feet of Clay in 2019. I knew it wasn’t going to be another masterpiece like Some Rap Songs, and going in with those expectations has helped me enjoy this album more. Earl is still very much Earl on here, but he’s rhyming over some different beats than ever before. He’s described this album as what it would sound like if you gave him the aux cord, and that explains why this album is sonically all over the place. He goes from a maximalist, lofi trap-inspired beat produced by Navy Blue, to a drunk, piano-laiden beat with super abstract rhyming over top of it. There are fully written and long songs like “Tabula Rasa” with Armand Hammer, but then it’s followed up by four straight songs that don’t reach two minutes long. It’s an interesting album to think about, because there’s not a big overarching theme, which is a bit weird for someone as ideological as Earl normally is. But I’m really glad that Earl’s in a better mindstate now than his previous album, and hopefully he continues to be in that mindstate.
Cordae - From a Birds Eye View
This is an interesting one. Cordae came onto the scene with a response to J. Cole’s “1985”, a song where he criticizes the youth and attempts to give game, while Cordae’s response was a nuanced and quality look into the young person’s perspective of coming up in the music industry while taking shots at Cole himself. From then on, he was lauded as one of the best young rappers, and his 2019 debut album, The Lost Boy, was received to critical acclaim and was perceived as a nice throwback to the blog era of the early 2010s. But now, especially with this album, he falls into the same problem he was criticizing Cole for just years before, except he’s not quite as talented as Cole is. He sounds like he’s reached the mountaintop and is preaching to the choir about how he made it to the top, even though he’s only one album deep, 24 years old, and had this album sell less than his previous one. That doesn’t even mean that this album is bad, it’s not, it’s just missing anything that would make me want to listen to it again. The youthful energy is gone, the insightfulness is nowhere near the level of many of the older rappers still at it, the production is very much by the numbers, there’s nothing unique about it, etc. Cordae’s still a really good and talented rapper, but this sounds like he’s making music for people that still criticize all trap for being simple and think mumble rap is a devastating insult.
Tierra Whack - Rap? / Pop? / R&B?
It took Tierra Whack three and a half years, but she finally followed up 2018’s opus Whack World with some sort of projects. In this case, it’s three different three-song EPs in different styles. There’s part of me that thinks these are just loosies because many songs feel a bit unfinished, but I wonder if this is just the way she makes music now. Either way, the R&B EP is definitely my favorite. “Heaven” is a haunting ode to the deceased and “Cutting Onions” is easily one of her most personal songs ever. The other projects had their own respective and unique moments for her as well. “Millions” is a funky and soulful hip hop track that will have anyone dancing, while “Body of Water” feels like a worse, but still good, version of the Outkast classic “B.O.B.” “Lazy” consists of just a funky, single guitar lick while Tierra tries to sing overtop of it, which is unlike anything she’s ever tried before. It may not completely work in trying to make a great song, but hopefully songs and moments like this will help her create some really great and boundary pushing work with her big release that I’m still hoping will eventually come.
Arca - KiCK ii
Famed electronic producer Arca released four new albums in four days and because there’s a lot to talk about with each one, I’ll cover each of them individually. KICK ii was the first release and contains mostly her version of deconstructed reggaeton. Especially when looking at the first half of the album, the songs have that reggaeton groove that almost all the reggaeton songs have, but she incorporates her brand of weird, electronic elements that make them feel unique. Whether it be a song like “Rakata” where it feels like the entire track is constantly breaking down, or the pure energy of a track like “Tiro”, Arca puts her own unique spin on the genre. The rest of the album is a bit hit or miss for me, but there are some highlights. “Arana” almost sounds like random noises, but they somehow work, and the follow up track “Femme” is a chill little electronic number with some deep bass. “Luna Llena” is one of my personal favorite reggaeton influenced tracks, with its chill groove and amble use of space. But there are some moments that don’t live up to the highs stated above, so we’ll see how this project ages as a whole.
Arca - KicK iii
This project is pure chaos to the sound of music. Most of the songs feel extremely formless, packed with so many sounds that it feels like the songs are caving in on themselves. Just by looking at the opener “Bruja”, it’s clear what this album is going to be. There is some rapping by Arca over this ever-changing that goes from some stabbing electronic noises to an all-out sound collage. Just like most of the tracks on here, the song feels a bit too all over the place to listen to by itself, but when consumed with the entire album, it fits perfectly. “Fiera” is a personal favorite and feels somewhere between an all-out assault on the ears and a strangely beautiful masterpiece. It’s one of the simpler tracks on here, but it’s more traditional progression helps make up for that. “Senorita” feels as single-ready as any song on here, except that they would never allow these types of lyrics on the radio. But as usual, the production here is the highlight, especially the extremely heavy and manipulated techno sounds during a breakdown in the middle of the song. “Intimate Flesh” is another extreme highlight, and almost reminds me of something off of Flume’s Hi, This is Flume mixtape from a couple years ago, just a little Arca-fied. KicK iii is definitely my favorite of Arca’s four albums, but let's look at the other two just because.
Arca - kick iiii
kick iiii is the only album with 11 songs, as the rest have 12, but it still manages to pack a lot of interesting ideas into the tracklist. She’s taking many of the heavy electronic elements and turning them down in order to make beautiful, serene landscapes. The use of electronic elements are still the forefront of the actual music here, but it’s now really luscious and minimal instead of banging you over the head. This album is one that will have to live and grow on people, myself included. There are a lot of ideas and songs I enjoy on here, whether it be the anthemic single “Queer” with Planningtorock or the almost ambient combination of “Lost Woman Found” and “Paw” to end the album, each of which makes for perfect background music while studying. The album does feel a bit too ambient and loose on the songwriting as a whole, personally, but there’s so many interesting ideas and moments on here that I’ll continue to try to see if it grows on me. Either way, it’s still a really entertaining listen and worth the listen.
Arca - kiCK iiiii
The fifth and final installment of Arca’s Kick series is a full blown ambient album. Ambient albums always occupy a weird spot in my listening, because I find it hard to actually pay attention and not let my mind wander. Especially for an Arca ambient album, where everything is still layered with weird vocal manipulations and lofi piano chords, it’s an interesting experience. Just like the previous album, this will be one people either fall in love with or just don’t get, and I feel closer to the latter category. There are still highlights though, I like the weird percussion and operatic vocals on “Musculos”. “La Infinita” is beautiful with it’s synth and piano layering! “Tierno” gives off the calming feeling that I feel like ambient music is supposed to have. I wonder if this will work well for background noise while studying, but I’m not too sure. Either way, I do appreciate Arca for releasing four complete albums in the span of four days that all sound completely different from one another, especially because nothing on any of the projects feels like filler.
Underscores - boneyard aka fearmonger
Boneyard is a direct continuation of Underscores’s breakout album fishmonger. It’s a separate project, but they’ve called it an extra batch of songs made around the same time fishmonger was made, and these 7 songs still feel as fresh and innovative as ever. “Girls and Boys” is easily the highlight of the project, as it has one of the catchiest and anthemic choruses I’ve heard all year! It’s a perfect example of blown-out electro-pop, and arguably hyperpop. They even get Travis Barker on drums on the full out punk-pop track “Tongue in Cheek”. “Gunk” feels like a 100 gecs song, with the insane dubstep opening number that transitions into the minimal guitar ballad the track actually is. “Loansharks” shows Underscores’s uniqueness the best, with the combination of alternative and punk rock mixed in with the extreme electronics and catchy choruses of hyperpop. Boneyard might not have the staying power compared to fishmonger, but it proves that fishmonger was far from an accident.
Mach-Hommy - Balens Cho
Following Mach-Hommy is like trying to find a ghost. The warning for this album was from one person in the industry and only a few hours warning from the label, but Mach-Hommy came back again with his second great project of 2021! His lyricism and references are once again at the forefront, especially with references to DOOM-posters. For those that don’t get the reference, legendary rapper MF DOOM always wore a mask and would sometimes send imposters on stage to perform for him if he didn’t want to show up, and fans dubbed these people DOOM-posters. “Wooden Nickels” is another beautiful story of Mach’s grandfather making life for his son easier and how Mach’s father was going to do the same for him, until he passed away. The production behind this track of just a muted piano, minimal saxophone embellishments, and the quietest drums ever help make it the emotional centerpiece it is. “Self Luh” closes out the project beautifully with an ode to loving yourself and how one should treat themselves. It can come off a bit corny, but Mach seems to handle it with grace and care. Balens Cho is another fantastic body of work by hip hop’s most secretive lyricist.
Conway the Machine - Missing Bricks
Conway the Machine is one of my favorite rappers at this point, but Missing Bricks is barely a project. Instead, this project is a vinyl-exclusive, six-track collection of songs that didn’t make any of his previous or upcoming projects, either because of sample clearance problems or just because he thought they weren’t good enough. Because this is just full of extra tracks, and not even an official project, everything is mixed and mastered poorly, but that doesn’t take away from the throwaways being great! I find it hard to believe that “Spoons House” isn’t good enough to be on an official album! He goes on for three minutes about his rise to fame without any chorus or breaks, and it’s actually an emotionally moving track. There are more trap-inspired and sample-based bangers like “5500” and “TRU Bethel” with 2 Chainz that are both fantastic! The entire tracklist doesn’t feel like throwaways, even though it is. This is far from an essential Conway project, but it’s nice for people that want more Conway songs before God Don’t Make Mistakes.
Listen: Soundcloud | Youtube
India Shawn - Before We Go
India Shawn has been associated with Anderson Paak and The Free Nationals for a while now, and this is her first official project in close to a decade! Thankfully, she found her way back to the music industry in these past couple years and came back with a quality R&B EP. Looking at the credits behind this project, the reason why everything sounds so good is because it was produced almost entirely by D’Mile. For those that don’t recognize that name, he’s the person who produced all of the Silk Sonic material so far. In these seven songs, she explores everything from the R&B ballads, to the funk anthems, and even duets, like “Not Too Deep” with 6lack. Anderson Paak also shows up to give a verse on the fantastic “Movin On”, which is a personal favorite song on the project. She’s said in an interview that there is supposed to be a full length album dropping in 2022, so hopefully it releases and she pushes the boundaries a little bit with her official album!
ความคิดเห็น