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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2020 | Abstract Hip-Hop | Listen
CRACKING JOKES THROUGH SNIVELING TEARS
Though the ambition and overall cohesion isn't up to par with what we've come to expect from Open Mike Eagle, Anime, Trauma, & Divorce neatly congregates the various personality ticks he has in abundance for an enjoyable assemblage that reflects his handling of upheaval through humor. They'll be no surprises for conversant listeners of Dark Comedy or Brick Body Kid Still Daydream, as OME jauntily flexes and jests behind eroded tears and daunting strife, like a jester whose home life yields a sadder tale than the tomatoes splattered at his feet. Take the three-track run of 'Everything Ends Last Year,' 'The Black Mirror Episode,' and 'Wtf Is Self Care' for instance. Setbacks in OME's career, marriage, and personal health occur, respectively, as exaggerated reactions bleak, nonsensical, and sarcastic dim issues OME's too fragile to handle with grace and sincerity. Artistically speaking, exposing one's fickle ego without posturing as artists tend to do is OME's greatest facet, and that can clearly be heard on Anime, Trauma, & Divorce.
At the same time, this incoherency leads to a jumbled project that suffers from aberrant tonal shifts matched by production both excessive and subdued. Without Paul White reigning in uniformity, as he did on Hella Personal Film Festival, OME's left in dire straits. Those aforementioned tracks are, once again, prime examples. But for the sake of this review, let's look elsewhere. Anime, Trauma, & Divorce's two best tracks, 'Headass' and 'Bucciarati,' excel with modest Soul that tip-toes around flavorful samples and subtle impishness. But elsewhere, like 'Asa's Bop' and 'The Edge Of New Clothes,' a slight Hardcore Hip-Hop tilt finds OME on foreign ground, as his braggadocio conflates with ancillary troubles that puncture wounds in his self-pride. No song, apart from the unnecessary but equally-as-adorable 'Fifteen Twenty Feet Ocean Nah,' outright misses the mark, but there are a handful that quiver under impuissant foundations. Still, Open Mike Eagle has a niche and, so long as he commits to such peculiarities, mediocrity won't be in the cards. Anime, Trauma, & Divorce is fun and sobering, what more could you ask for in 2020?
B-
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2020 | Electro-Industrial | Listen
SNATCHING UP STRANGERS FOR BACK-ALLEY BEATDOWNS
You know, I've always wondered why it's predominantly Hip-Hop that welcomes the concept of features. Though it's utilized as a gimmick, HEALTH's incorporation of other artists into their carnal Electro-Industrial showcases the sheer opportunity for fusion that's always been accessible, yet sorely uncommon. On DISCO4, each and every song - apart from the acid rain stunner 'Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.' - not only accommodates guest spots, but invites them into a harsh landscape whether they'll fit or not. Inclusive, DISCO4 has in spades. However, the rigid distinction between HEALTH and (insert guest here) is both a blessing and a curse. More often than not, ironically so given the album's concept, comfort crawls back into play. Tracks like 'Power Fantasy' with 100 gecs, 'Judgement Night' with Ghostemane, and 'Innocence' with Youth Code are sliced clear thin down the center, fractured and separated, as vocalist Jake Duzsik duets by imparting time for the opponent to gasconade companionless, before circling back to HEALTH's niche formula.
Other times, as seen on 'Colors' with Soft Moon, 'Hate You' with JPEGMAFIA, and 'Delicious Ape' with Xiu Xiu, integration is taken more deftly. The former, essentially a handout given the acclimating style of Soft Moon, works deep within Post-Punk territory, pressuring matters with some thrusting EBM that also manages to keep DISCO4 on the gas pedal for its 38-minute duration. In recent months, JPEGMAFIA has proved - much like his comparative predecessor Danny Brown - that he's capable of flaunting nihilism over any sound, be it with Flume's Wonky, Gorillaz's Synthpop, and now HEALTH's Post-Industrial. 'Hate You' is filthy because of him. Then there's 'Delicious Ape,' proudly supported by Jamie Stewart's insanity, circa Girl With Basket Of Fruit. Unlike the rest, Stewart's woven into the fabric as Xiu Xiu and HEALTH find commonality in stomach-churning unrest, crescendoing with rapturous calamity.
All that being said, what does it say about DISCO4's goal when the HEALTH-only opener 'Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.' stands atop the podium? As someone who's eagerly awaiting Cyberpunk 2077, their attunement with that pummeling, futuristic anarchy unchecks any biases I may have left at the door. It's a world crafted purely by sound, one that's both dire and engrossing, matched exquisitely by Duzsik's vocals lost wearily in the firefight. If it must be boiled down; come to DISCO4 for its opener, stay for stratagem worth investing in.
C
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2020 | Experimental Hip-Hop | Listen
HALLOWEEN MOVIE NIGHT, WITH THE PURGE OUTSIDE
Though they were recorded during the same sessions, There Existed An Addiction To Blood and Visions Of Bodies Being Burned have noticeably organic variations between them. Known for their innovative thematics, clipping.'s recent foray into Horrorcore has favored comparisons to cabalistic film genres. One listener put it more succinctly than I ever could: If TEAATB represented your grotesque, gory, barbaric Slasher film, VOBBB heralds the neurosis, the delirium, the idée fixe of Psychological Horror. Many efforts here, like 'Make Them Dead,' 'Eaten Alive,' and the various Field Recording interludes, aim for hair-raising dread in favor of blunt curb stomps. William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes have never been better, tossing out groundbreaking Experimental Hip-Hop ideas like candy on halloween. Daveed Diggs, while ever the eloquent showstopper, shies away from the overarching narratives of CLPPNG or Splendor & Misery in favor of situational dissection that hammers visual imagery over vulnerable heads like a doctor performing lobotomies. Preference be damned, Visions Of Bodies Being Burned is a triumphant of daring ingenuity and visceral aesthetics.
Though I praised There Existed An Addiction To Blood when it released in 2019, reservations were made that provided leniency towards atmosphere when enjoyability wasn't being rewarded. There is no issue of that on Visions Of Bodies Being Burned, as single-worthy bangers like 'Say The Name,' 'Pain Everyday,' 'Looking Like Meat,' and 'Enlacing' combine Diggs' flamboyant nonchalance with stilted dramatics that exacerbate scenes of injustice and asperity. Take '96 Neve Campbell,' which provides quixotical buoyancy to traditional Hyphy, as startling door knocks and unpredictable beat switches keeps Cam and China - guarded purveyors of street savviness - on their toes, with excellent results. 'Looking Like Meat' is another ludicrous example, simultaneously compressing and overblowing Hardcore Hip-Hop to such extremes that Run The Jewels feels docile by comparison. Ho99o9's bloodthirsty verse is one of the best of 2020, bar none. Who are these guys, reducing City Morgue's Trap Metal to a kiddie playground? Even 'Enlacing' feels awfully aspirational to hitting the club charts, like Kendrick Lamar when 'Swimming Pools' came out. "Get your ass down to the flooooooooooor" is one of the coolest vocal malfunctions I've heard in some time.
Though much of Visions Of Bodies Being Burned seeks to be clairvoyant, ushering in a new era of Experimental Hip-Hop that takes the former attributor literally (the Harsh Noise of 'Make Them Dead,' Musique concrète of 'Eaten Alive,' Ambient of 'Secret Piece'), there are a few regressive measures that find clipping. in their comfortable substratum. 'She Bad,' undoubtedly the album's worst cut, finds Diggs regurgitating his villainess obsession in much a similar fashion to 'Body & Blood,' while 'Check The Lock' two-steps boastfully with chainsaws, drills, and clanging chains similar to 'Work Work.' This is to say, Visions Of Bodies Being Burned incorporates every evolutionary step clipping.'s taken since Midcity. It's grounded in street culture, yet rigid with its artistic handle. Obsessive over unsettling through sound, yet capable of slapping in the whip. Emotive both atmospherically and lyrically. Mistakes are few and far between on what's arguably clipping.'s most impressive statement to date.
A
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