(re-posted from Facebook, edited)
Completed New Music Week 8 through Tidal.
Each Friday release day, I’m going to download 5 albums with the only criteria being name recognition or the best pieces of cover art and review them. These are the releases of 2/22.
- Album: Lil Pump, Harverd Dropout
- Previous Knowledge: Spencer tells me he’s the worst rapper ever, which is saying something for a 10-year old that loves trap.
- Chosen: My son told me to.
- Review: The really nice thing about a lot of trap albums in the last six months or so, is that songs are always in the 3-minute or less range. In fact, many are in the 2-minute range. I’m assuming this is an indication that two minutes of the exact same beat and one, maybe two verses is really all these kids can really handle at one time but if there’s anything to actually like about these types of albums, it’s that. Songs are over almost before they start. Now if the next song wasn’t the same beat, it would be great. If you want to know how good or bad Lil Pump actually is, just listen to “I Love It” with Kanye West, or “Be Like Me” with Lil Wayne. Once again, if I could give young rappers one piece of advice, it would be never ever, EVER have guest stars on tracks that are so much better than you are.
- Rating: 4/10
- Album: Offset – Father of 4
- Previous Knowledge: I’ve listened to Migos records.
- Chosen: Mr. Cardi B!
- Review: Migos hasn’t been around for all that long but they feel like elder statesmen of the trap scene at this point and since Offset is very much in the news right now thanks to his wife, Cardi B. blowing up, what a great time to release a solo record.
But, I mean shit – I don’t know. I ask my son to listen to my 80’s music and try to enjoy it to try to bond with him over tunes. It’s not working. So I’m really trying to listen to all the trap I can to understand what he’s into. It’s also not working. Maybe we are just going to not bond over music until later on in life when he comes to his senses, trap dies off and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince make a comeback. That said, there’s way worse trap albums than this. It’s just like all trap – downbeat, minimal and without a whole lot of substance but it’s relatively well crafted here. However, this isn’t like the Lil Pump album above. These are four minute tunes and at nearly and hour runtime, it’s at least 20-minutes more than you really need here. Honestly, all trap would be more tolerable in EP form.
- Rating: 6/10
- Album: Candlemass – The Door to Doom
- Previous Knowledge: All releases
- Chosen: Name recognition
- Review: I’ve been a fan of Candlemass for a long time now but have always preferred the Messiah Marcolin records over any other vocalist. He’s just more dynamic and fits the style best. This one is interesting though because Johan Langquist is the vocalist – the same dude that sang on the legendary debut – Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. The novelty of that doesn’t make up for the fact that while many songs are in the typical Candlemass epic doom realm that you’d expect, there’s some less than doomy ballads on here too that just don’t work. It’s an average Candlemass record in the catalog from a band that really to me, should have stopped by now.
- Rating: 6.5/10
- Album: Feed Me – High Street Creeps
- Previous Knowledge: None
- Chosen: The cover – a man playing snooker with an ugly green monster.
- Review: Not sure what I was expecting here but it wasn’t that Feed Me was an electro house/dubstep DJ named Jonathan Gooch. I don’t know either genre beyond the pop versions you hear on the radio from Diplo, Marshmallow and guys like that, so I have nothing at all to really compare this to. It’s not my thing but it’s very catchy and listenable. If I had some acid to drop, it might be better. Though I don’t know what that’s like, nor do I even know if young people drop acid to this or ever, anymore. I’m so out of touch and this album proves it.
- Rating: 6.5/10
- Album: Good Fuck – Good Fuck
- Previous Knowledge: Hmmm….
- Chosen: Well, shit – I mean when an album shows up in your feed from a group called Good Fuck, you fucking listen to it.
- Review: It took me a while to figure out the right search for this on a work computer that wasn’t NSFW but I finally got it! And it’s a two piece band featuring Tim Kinsella – who was part of a group called Cap’n Jazz that delivered one record to me back in my WTSR music director days. Don’t remember shit about them but I’m guessing it was not the same as this. This is a minimal electronic album, comprised of keys, synth bass lines and programmed drums – working with very minimal soundscapes and mostly soft/whispered vocals. This is brilliant, creepy and mesmerizing. Frankly, if Trent Reznor still had a little creativity in him, this is what one of his scores would sound like now.
- Rating: 10/10
Albums ranked 10/10 in 2019 (in order of release date)
- Terror Jr. – Unfortunately, Terror Jr.
- Emily King – Scenery
- Good Fuck – Good Fuck
The Trusty Steed 