MIXTAPE PLUTO

I was saving this for when I was done with my Stones deep dive and then completely forgot to listen to it so here we go. I don't think this is as bad as a lot of people are saying. but it's certainly a patchy release. I feel like on this project Future tries to excuse inconsistencies and kinks in the formula because it's him in his careless 'mixtape pluto' form. The production, while not bad, is mostly not adventerous, and some of Future's performances are straight mediocre. MIXTAPE PLUTO basically spends its entire runtime fighting to stay just right above mediocrity, sometimes succeeding, other times failing. Songs like "OCEAN" and "SOUTH OF FRANCE" initially felt like they had more going for them, but ultimately felt like they could've hit harder, kinda unfortunate since the first of the two opens with some of the dopest production on the entire tape. They're not bad though.

It starts pretty nice, the first few tracks showing promising energy and eagerness, "SKI" being my favourite of the three, but things immediately go downhill. "READY TO COOK UP" and "TOO FAST" are just snooze fest trap songs with pretty much nothing going for them, but at least they aren't "PLUTOSKI". I heard alllll about this song before listening to this in full and it lived up to expectations. Honestly though points to this song for easily being one of Future's most entertaining duds ever. Like it's actually hilarious how he finalised the song with these vocals and thought, "yea throw it on the album". The tape closes with a similar streak of slag with "OATH", "LOST MY DOG", and "AYE SAY GANG". "LOST MY DOG" is at least topically insightful, so I can give points there, but musically not much is going on. "OATH" is way too short to conjure any intrigue and is just straight filler with zero purpose. There's also "MJ" which is almost as lifeless as this tape's lows get...but now I can mention more of the good, cause there's stuff worth mentioning for sure.

Future brings some of his best, most infectious flows and vocals on "PRESS THE BUTTON", "BRAZZIER", and "MADE MY HOE FAINT", all backed by some pretty solid production. "TOLD MY" is a shorter track, but it actually has a lot going for it. Future might sound a little sleepy, so I would've hoped for some more high octane vocals, but his flows are still good and the production booms. Another one of this tape's best songs is "SURFING A TSUNAMI". It has what I think is definitely the best production on this thing, bringing formulaically unfamiliar textures and sounds. It's focused, well-structured, and really is LP material. Future matches the ethereal production with some passionate boast vocals. This one's really a vibe for the queue.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to be excited for a new Future album when what we've gotten the past two times really were mixed bags, but at least we're still getting *some* stuff that sounds fresh.