Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Listening Log Present - Volume 36



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!
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Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats | Unlocked
2020 | Hardcore Hip-Hop | Listen

COMIC BOOK VIGILANTISM, MIC AS WEAPON

Not only does Denzel Curry realize his prime years exist in the present, he's taking full advantage of the opportunity by matching quantity with quality. In the span of a year and a half he's dropped TA13OO, ZUU, 13lood 1n + 13lood Out Mixx, and now this; Unlocked, a collaboration with Kenny Beats. The brief, 17-minute LP wastes no breaths and misses no punches, as Curry revisits battle rap mentality of yore through Hardcore Hip-Hop and Boom Bap. The one-liners are, more often than not, provocative and clever. "Harry Potter clip filled with deadly ass hollows" ('Take_it_Back_v2'), "My bitch bad like battle rappers that make albums with no outcome" ('Pyro (leak 2019)'), and "If the game was a tooth, I'm a fuckin' pair of pliers" ('DIET_') are just some examples. For fans of this all flair, no substance style, there's a lot to love with Curry and his commandeering presence. Given the rambunctious, spur of the moment nature of Unlocked, the cheap brickbat assertiveness makes sense.

However, it also means that compared to those past four releases - and arguably any Curry release - it's the weakest, with limited variability and a narrow sense of purpose. Again, it's 17 minutes and has no ulterior motive like TA13OO, but even whence compared to ZUU, the latter's primed and prepared composition makes the standout performances like 'RICKY,' 'Speedboat,' and others that much more indelible. Nothing on Unlocked overstays its welcome, just as much as nothing invests resources to take that next step. Finale 'ꞌCosmicꞌ.m4a' comes the closest, with a layered and intricate beat from Kenny Beats that physically intwines the myriad of samples with Curry's bars. It's a clever take of sample-laden Boom Bap, and reminds me of MF DOOM's 'Hoe Cakes.' As for personal favorite, that has to go to 'Lay_Up.m4a' for its obvious banger status, constantly inverting moods for Curry to work with. Overall, hardly essential listening but enjoyable nonetheless.

C
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Floral Tattoo | You Can Never Have A Long Enough Head Start
2020 | Emo | Listen

CONTEMPLATING THE FAULT OF A FAILURE

Floral Tattoo comes from the breed of post-Emo outfits decrying the deterioration of middle class suburbia through the eyes of a young adult. Think The World Is A Beautiful Place, Car Seat Headrest, or Weatherday. Their debut's title, Approaching Bearable, says it all. Providing a tapestry of Indie-affiliated genres like Shoegaze, Lo-Fi Indie, and Noise Pop, the Seattle band's sophomore LP pours ambition and emotion onto a table that struggles to bear the weight. You Can Never Have a Long Enough Head Start comes awfully close, on multiple occasions, to pretension and arrogance, but manages to retain sincerity and gravity by placing passionate art first.

As with many releases donning the same principles, You Can Never Have uses the perpetuity of Shoegaze's obtrusive Noise element to represent anxiety and its leech-like suction towards the host. While some tracks, like 'Oar House' and 'Danny, Be Well,' clog a foreground equip with finite ideas, others like 'Julius & Ethel,' 'She,' and 'The Art Of Moving On' use the Noise - oftentimes sterile, tame, but steadfast - to enhance the swarm of instrumentation. 'She' in particular, with its glorious hook riff and twinkling synthesizers, wouldn't have been out of place on Joy Division's more hopeful cuts. Other times, Floral Tattoo borrow from various precursors to Emo, found namely in the 90's Indie Rock of Built To Spill, Sebadoh, or Dinosaur Jr., as seen on the more vigorous efforts like 'Life In Color' and 'Julius & Ethel.'

The one potential setback of You Can Never Have deals with the vocals and lyrics of Alex Anderson. They aren't bad, just merely a personal preference some might struggle to bear. Especially given the constant pessimism and general hopelessness, seen most prominently on the Spoken Word parenthesis tracks that practically mimic Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo. Closer '(My Life Fell Apart This Year)' is the most obvious example of that, landing a bit too on-the-nose and overt. But again, much like the entirety of You Can Never Have, the face is saved by impassioned production and intimate poignancy many could appreciate.

B-
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