Mixtape of the Month: End of the Year Edition
Oh man oh MAN. 2017 was quite the roller coaster of events. And according to this writer, the best way to confront these various issues is to completely glaze over them!!! Exceptional! Because, in reality, as a music reviewer, I really do not have the place or confidence to talk about such divisive subjects.
Now, we shall divert to the music!!!! The reason you’re here! Yes!!!! Let us commence the mixtape portion of this month’s paper! More particularly, the focus of this MOTM is an end of the year edition. In the accompanying playlist, Cam and I have given are picks for songs that we felt summarized 2017 from a musical perspective. Also, here is three final reviews we conjured to wrap the year MOTM style.
King Krule - The Ooz
Now, you may be wondering, “Whoa there, Cyril, why are you reviewing this??? This album came out two months ago. It is December/January, you plebeian scum!” or “Hey, I don’t know this artist! Weren’t there much more significant albums from much more popular artists for you to discuss?” Well, the truth to both of these hypothetical yet totally realistic qualms is that I AM THE REVIEWER. With my powerfully powerful position, I get to selectively choose whichever album I desire!!! So GUFFAW GUFFAW you cannot stop my utter control. *The writer realizes that when writing this portion, he was under an unusual mindset. He notes that the power of being a MOTM man may be getting to him. In response, he aims to fight against this vice and finish writing the review.* Alright, enough of that. King Krule’s second record, The Ooz, released back in October, but I believe the album was a missed opportunity for a review. To make up, I would like to discuss now how I really enjoyed this project. Carrying on his moody aesthetic from previous projects, King Krule capitalizes on his characteristic sound. On The Ooz, the “punk jazz” Englishman experiments and develops as an artist to create darker, richer tones. Along with sonic improvement, Krule’s lyrics become sharper and more descriptive. Such words he sings over a wide array of song types, such as punk rockers (“Dum Surfer”), bluesy downers (“Lonely Blue”), and trip hop “wops” (“Czech One”). When coming all together, The Ooz results in being a well-crafted progression of King Krule as a musical artist. And though the album may be long for some listeners’ tastes (timing out around 66 minutes long) or too depressing, I believe the length was not to the project’s detriment and the sadness was beautiful in its own way. A definite “good listen out of “for you to glisten,” in my opinion.
BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION III
You guys. It’s here. It’s finally here. The SATURATION era is finally ending and our boys BROCKHAMPTON are closing it with STR8 FLAMES.
For anyone who’s been living under a rock for the last 6 months, BROCKHAMPTON are a Los Angeles-based “boyband” consisting of 14 members, half of whom are vocalists while the rest are very talented producers, creative directors, and visual artists. BROCKHAMPTON exploded in popularity this summer with their debut studio album SATURATION back in June. Three months after that critically acclaimed project, the group released a followup record, SATURATION II. Now, the final album of the SATURATION trilogy has surfaced, and boy oh boy is it some HEAT. Tracks like the opener “BOOGIE” and “ZIPPER” are instant bops, with pop-infused instrumentals along with unique samples, including a police siren, and the song(s) “SISTER/NATION” feature deep synths and a very strange overall mood, and vocalist JOBA speaks about his experiences with dissociative-identity-disorder: “They gave me mood stabilizers but when I came off 'em I was violent/Took the drugs that I wanted which didn't help with the voices/They just grew louder and louder/They called the people who'd just chatter and chatter”. “RENTAL” is a much more chill song from this record, which addresses the ending of this BROCKHAMPTON era. The music video for this track opens with member Robert Ontenient stating, “Me llamo Roberto, y este es el fin de una era/Muchas gracias a todos, les quiero mucho” (My name is Roberto, and this is the end of an era. Thank you very much.) BROCKHAMPTON is objectively the most iconic hip hop collective of the last few years, if not of this century so far. I’m feeling a strong 10 on this masterpiece.
Eminem - Revival
Eminem, a firmly planted figure within the mainstream music industry, has, in this writer’s opinion, taken a turn for the worst in his near thirty-year career. With his ninth album, Revival, the Detroit-hailing MC delivers what I believe can best be described as “eehhhhhhh… ughhhh… geez.” In other words, the project was quite lackluster, being neither impressive nor unbearably unique. Instead, Revival comes across to me as run-of-the-mill, displaying Eminem’s stagnating discussions of the same topics since his 2009 work Relapse. Essentially, he continues to express contrasting moments of grief over former days and gloating about his success. And while such topics are not necessarily bad, their repetition shows a lack of artistic ambition or exploration from Eminem. Also, while the rapper continues to display cases of decent lyrical flow and technique on Revival like his previous projects, there still exists many instances of questionable bars, to say the least (from “Like Help”: “‘Cause this type of pickle that we’re in in’s hard to deal” [get it???? Dill pickle?? Oh Eminem… tsk tsk]) and an overall thematic lack of focus that left me disappointed. Additionally, to top off these complaints, the backing production led by Rick Rubin is quite bland. With Revival, Eminem and Rubin continue to push a rap rock vibe that wears stale. Their lack of stylistic variance highlights a disconnect between Em and Rubin’s sound with the route that hip hop genre has taken over the last few years. In summary, I did not enjoy this album, but that does not mean that you will not, as well. Give Revival a listen, if you so desire. But in my book, I am feeling a soft “No” out of “Yes.”
