Favourite track: (◡︵◡)

Fucking Gorgeous.

Gorgeous pieces of jazz interlinked with the repetitious practice of making the art known as hip-hop. Reminds me of Lord Apex all across this, would be great to see them link up.

All for artists releasing their millions of rough tracks that never reach the light of day as a little mixtape. This is because there are little moments of magic hidden here that are no longer to the ether. So TY for this.

Reminds me of the dead word: Palinoia - The compulsive repetition of an act until it is perfect.

Much like Assume Form, this record just falls asleep on me. I guess I'm just one of those fans who gets left behind as an artist grows and enters a different era of sound, so zzz for me really. To the point I'm okay with not hearing from Blake anymore, he was alongside Frankie for me just a few years ago, am I the only one? At this point, I prefer him as a producer and a public figure than I do a musician, please don't make me feel sleepy again.

Chelsea Wolfe and Lana Del Rey kissing

Well BTS did better than Coldplay here, which is wild news for me. Could have done without the rap-verse from Suga, it is Chris Martin channelling Chester Bennington without the piercing vocals while BTS give an interesting tinge in their Korean delivered verses, they ought to stay away from full English tracks. Overall its Coldplay's continued spiral, god do they make boring pop music, so much so that BTS seems far more interesting than them, even Maroon 5 seem to be keeping their head above ... read more

Might be drunk but this is my favourite release out of Korea this year as of RN. Slom continues to stake his claim as the best producer working in Korea. Sumin on the other hand has become a mainstay in the indie scene and she keeps getting better with every release, this record is a great marriage of these two rising stars.

Update:
Nah, I was drunk.

The perils of a self-produced record, while the record is uniquely Keem, the borders between creativity and unintelligible are especially close. Furthermore its hard to tell when you're on the right path, thinking you're creating something new only to realise you're off the deep end and while its commendable, to chase your creativity down the rabbit hole this is lesser than even "Die For My Bitch". That record had great hooks, this album has great verses see "Issues" or ... read more

This is caught between a 40 and a 73, because the album has great tracks; But what a mess, the only thing that makes these tracks worth a listen are the features, if Kanye is the orchestrator of this album, then what the fuck did he do? (this is a bigger mess than TLOP) Here he has made three of four memorable vocal loops that made for good choruses THATS IT. Its a 26 track album that plays like a Kanye West Spotify playlist. Each and every special moment has nothing to do with him. His verses ... read more

These three vocals all pitch similar, while the bass instrumentation follows syncopation patterns, its the rest of the track which meanders into obscure rhythms. Dean and Rad Museum mesh their range registers into one, while the only female vocal plays lead character. Oscillation plays a huge part where vocals repeat and spin into different forms of vocalisations, carrying the song into a dreamworld while its instrumentation constantly tries to crash you out of its rhythm, a drum brake and a ... read more

wtf is this

Isaiah is caught between two doors; Either a traditional rap-focused record or a worldbuilding record, more focused on mood than bars. This record ends up being a half-step, half the record filled with the hip-hop zeitgeist the other half being the record Isaiah's sound has been building towards since Cilvia.

Reading the reviews so far, it makes sense to me why this album is split in two, the majority of hip-hop fans want the "bangers" and aren't interested in "atmosphere". ... read more

2021 update: Original score 74

"Holy Ghost" has a vocal loop reminiscent of Gorillaz with a dragging guitar rift you'd easily see on a Radiohead deep cut, quite the way to start a rap album. Rocky's verse is meditative rummaging around forms of religion and how detached the church has become to the community his narrative starts from, it's well structured to me, a track that has aged well

Canal St. is starkly removed from its opener, the vocal loop now a deadpan "hustle" ... read more

Not much to say here, a record to experience. Does feel like an album that sways left to right in its heartbreak.

My favourite iteration of Vince, gorgeous production, introspective lyricism and honesty in the way our environments shape us. It's not some burden-proof record or hip-hop fragmented piece of art, its an artist painting with his brush, in all his thoughts and feelings.

Stories of trauma turned mediations on how the simple life, is all that's wanted for a damaged people, I relate all the way.

17 tracks? You ain't Frank Ocean. That being said, some gorgeous tracks here even with his influences spray-painted on his skin this album stands out in Hip-hop for its unique colour on some of these tracks and his sideways approach to writing verses. Bless the production.

Favourites: Dogs Don't Lie, Red, Peloton, Hey Auntie, Puerto Rico

I will try not to say too much from my lunch break. BUT for me, Tyler has finally found a strong lyrical theme to his writing, even if it's a story of cheating // This is Cherry Bomb lyrically realised. His biggest flaw all patched up in a love triangle'd affair. Sonically Tyler has always been brilliant, Call Me feels particularly a culmination of his sound. Any way you look at it this is a magnum opus moment for Tyler's discography, nobody could make this record but Tyler. His unique brand of ... read more

I'm reminded of the idea of a universal language. where different languages patchworked together, using french for intimate phrases, german in moments of instruction, swahili when speaking about the wind, English for business phrases, dutch for maritime and a mixture of two languages where things overlapped. A first language everyone spoke with their second language being their mother tongue so the generation who don't know this language (us) would still be able to communicate with our children ... read more

I hate this trend, Frankenstein'ing someone's work. Sure in this case much like with Mac Miller "he wAs WoRkInG" on a new record, but unlike Mac it's very apparent how far this record was from completion, he's ghostly on this album. Stop this shit, let the dead rest unless explicitly told otherwise.