Serpentwithfeet is a super unique artist. His voice is unlike any other voice that’s in music. Take that with the airy and experimental production that he chooses to sing over, and he’s one of the most unique artists out now. This project is no different. The weird song structures only add to the uniqueness of this EP. Now, how do all these elements come together as a whole? Well, it’s going to depend on the listener. As unique and really cool as a lot of these songs are, there still feels like there’s a lot of untapped potential here. The songs feel more like ideas rather than full songs, which doesn’t bode well for a three song project. The last song, Psychic, is the outlier to this rule. There’s a clear chorus and motive behind the song, and it brings together the best that he has to offer. Overall, this is still a good project that shows an artist still in progress to make their masterpiece.
After hearing people talk about this album, I was worried to listen to it. Car Seat Headrest has made some of the most loved indie rock in the last decade, and this is their first album of completely new material since 2016. But when it was released, everyone was trashing it. In my opinion though, this album isn’t that bad. There are plenty of good ideas on here. The first three songs start the album off on a good note, but Hollywood immediately shifted the entire sound of the album. From there on out, it’s a pretty hit or miss album. It goes all over the place sonically, covering an insane amount of musical ground. This is one of the more unique albums I’ve heard in a while though, so I would say it’s worth a listen for that alone.
If you like the disco influence of Daft Punk’s 2013 album, Random Access Memories, you should listen to Parcels. Daft Punk even worked with Parcels on their 2017 single, Overnight. They are an electro-pop and disco influenced group out of Australia who released their debut album in 2018. This is their first live album, and was recorded at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin on a 24 track tape machine. Legendary acts such as David Bowie, U2, Iggy Pop, R.E.M., and more have recorded there. As for the album, it’s an amalgamation of their previous projects and a couple new songs. The whole project is cohesive and danceable, maybe to a fault. The highlights from their previous projects are still high here, including tieduprightnow and iknowhowtofeel. When they get into the slower songs, that’s when the album starts to get worse. As good as a lot of the production and songs are, this still doesn’t have much replay value over their studio projects. But if you want to have a fun time and some groovy, disco inspired music for an hour, this is definitely something to check out.
Speaking of disco inspired, here’s a different style of funk and disco inspired music. Even though they’re each from opposite sides of the country, their sounds compliment each other perfectly! Terrace is from LA and he crafts some groovy, funk inspired instrumentals for Ric. One of the instrumentals was even released by Terrace on his project from February, Sinthesize. Ric Wilson hails from Chicago, and he complements the production nicely, whether he’s singing or rapping. The project is the perfect length for an EP, at six songs and seventeen minutes. It gives a nice taste of the sound Ric Wilson and Terrace Martin bring. It leaves the listener satisfied, but excited to see where they’ll go from here.
Speaking of Terrace, released yet another EP a few days ago on May 15th. This time, it only contains one new song. The last four songs are all songs that were released as singles last year. The new song, Issues, is a traditional, modern R&B jam with Malaya on vocals. The rest of the songs carry on Terrace’s buttery smooth jams. Most of the other songs feature vocals, and they lean more into the hip hop and R&B territory. The last song is a smooth jazz piece with his family members playing along with him. This project definitely feels more like a collection of songs rather than a project, but still, they are all quality songs.
After dropping one of the most acclaimed rap albums last year with Grey Area, Little Simz is back with another EP. Grey Area showed the realized potential of arguably the best rapper out of the UK, and one of the best in general. As other artists have done, this entire project was made in quarantine, starting in early April. She’s done these mini projects before, dating back to 2014. This is the sixth installment in the “Drop” series. They’re not meant to be taken as a thought out album, but something for now. She even says on the first track, “This is for the now.” Even with the short time frame, she still comes through with a pretty good project. Lots of different styles are covered over the five songs, and she rocks every one. The mixing does feel a bit rough at times, especially on the first track. What the short time frame did was allow her to capture how she’s feeling at this point in time, which ends up being something many of us can relate to. Really glad she decided to do this, and hopefully she continues to make music at this level.
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