What's a Listening Log? Well, the idea is quite simple. It's a weekly segment that consolidates all the mini-reviews Dozens Of Donuts has given on RateYourMusic over the past week, split between the Past and Present. A straightforward grading scale has been put in place, ranging from A+ to F-, with C acting as the baseline average. There is no set amount of reviews per week, just however many I get around to reviewing. And don't expect week-of reviews. I wait one month - with at least three listens under my belt - before I rate and review an album. Enjoy!
______________________________________________________
2019 | Alternative R&B | Listen
A PRODIGY LEFT PARALYZED BY THEIR PASSION
Jai Paul's story has been oft-told, and it's one that's entirely anomalistic to him. It's rare enough for an artist's first two singles - in Paul's case 'BTSTU' and 'Jasmine' - to gain traction in the Internet age. It's another for said inauguration to decisively alter the landscape of an entire genre, but that's exactly what happened to Alternative R&B following Paul's sudden emergence. But then, nothing. A leak of his presumed debut LP occurred in 2013, stopping Paul in his tracks, preventing any progress from being made.
Six years later and, to coincide with the release of 'Do You Love Her Now' and 'He,' Paul officially drops Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones), preserving the state of the project - with a robust number of unfinished pieces - and the notion that he truly shelved his venerated art after becoming discontented with the sequence of events that happened in 2013.
Leak 04-13 works well as a time capsule to the early 2010's when Alternative R&B began infusing itself with minimal Electronic patterns intent on presenting a new, apprehensive form of sensuality. Therefore it's tough, nay impossible, to gauge on its own merits. Many of the half-baked tracks ('Zion Wolf Theme,' 'Crush,' 'Genevieve') lack obvious mixing which detracts from the experience given Paul's high-fidelity, crisp futurism objective. When there's not much clutter and a distinct rhythmic structure to latch onto, like 'Garden Of Paradise,' '100,000,' and of course 'BTSTU,' Paul's isolated brand of Alternative R&B thrives. Apart from being an intriguing bit of historical art, Leak 04-13 doesn't feel definite enough to be anything more than a demo reel of what's to come..
C+
______________________________________________________
R.I.P. to another excellent album cover streak ended. Big Thief's day-in-the-life Polaroid covers became just as synonymous with their brand as the intimate, domestic music itself. Nevertheless, the band of Brooklyn outcasts perched somberly in an isolated meadow does the trick as well, since UFOF is the band's most folksy affair yet. As per usual, the band plays second fiddle to Adrianne Lenker's dominating performance as lead vocalist, this time crawling further into the recess with sparse, delicate acoustics that rarely deviate from their naturalistic instinct.
Unfortunately, it's more of the same without as many awe-inspiring moments as seen on Capacity and Masterpiece's standouts ('Masterpiece,' 'Parallels,' 'Mythological Beauty,' 'Objects') due to the stripped instrumentation. 'UFOF' and 'Cattails' represent the best of UFOF's material, as their blend of melody and substance is spellbinding. The latter, along with 'Century,' invite a gentle Country slant that is an absolute pleasure to wrap yourself in.
Still, a number of strict Singer/Songwriter ideas ('Orange,' 'Terminal Paradise,' 'Magic Dealer') slow the LP down without enough highlights to offset the lulls. Plus, wear is setting in from Big Thief's insistence on maintaining their schtick, down to the two name entries ('Betsy,' 'Jenni') that now amount to seven in their short career. An expected occurrence given their reliance on tradition and homely morals..
B-
______________________________________________________
In the early 2010's, OFWGKTA was my shit. Yet, with their robust artist collection that ran over a dozen deep it was easy to miss out on talents not named Tyler, The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, or Frank Ocean. Apparently, one such artist was Pyramid Vritra, if Burd - his collaboration Wilma Archer - is any indication. A highly-stylized breed of Abstract Hip-Hop that merges braggadocios with 8-bit Glitch Hop, all while bridging the gap between Tyler's beautiful Flower Boy/IGOR renaissance and Earl's knack for conscious clarity and witty incisiveness.
What prevents Burd from reaching greatness is the lackluster instrumental compositions that amount to half the LP. They're brief, rarely exceeding two minutes, and come equip with vibrancy and variation, but dishearteningly lack Pyramid Vritra's assistance. Some, like the 'put down' pairing, sound like dry background tones for Film Soundtracks, while others - namely 'earnie' and 'burds of paradise' - align too strongly with their influences, in this case MF DOOM's Special Herbs series.
All the best moments on Burd are fully-realized Hip-Hop ensembles, like 'Harness' and 'The Hill' which blend introspective reconnaissance with honeyed Neo-Soul, or my two personal favorites 'Targets & Digits' and 'Shallow Grave' thanks to their effusive production techniques that Pyramid Vritra moves through flawlessly.
B-
______________________________________________________
In some sense, Save Me feels like Future's cry for help. But given his boastful lifestyle - one expressed within the confines of these very songs, namely 'St. Lucia' and 'Government Official' - it's hard to take his solemn bouts of wallowed drunkenness seriously. Plus, he's just not talented and never has been. So efforts like 'XanaX Damage' and 'Love Thy Enemies' that place a greater emphasis on emotive vulnerability are more comical than surreal. Future's place has always been in catchy hooks with syrupy flows. Excusing that purport results in a rocky EP, one that mildly stabilizes itself on the minimal Trap gone Cloud Rap of 'Shotgun' and 'Extra.'.
D
______________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment