Lil Uzi Vert "Eternal Atake" (2020)

One to keep an eye on, mumble rapper Lil Uzi Vert has followed up his debut with a stylistic record of interest. Eternal Atake first caught my attention when brought into legal issues with the Heavens Gate cult the original artwork was stylized around. The new cover carries over a sense of something alien and different to throw into the Hip Hop scene but reality is, bar a handful of productions, this a pretty atypical Trap record. Its been fun, enjoyable but it doesn't feel like much here will last.

Uzi's style on the mic is a curious focal point. Deliveries and rhymes are almost tragic, seeming lazy, thoughtless and of the moment when agitated. He is however undeniably catchy and attention grabbing in a entertaining way. Its a strange tightrope he walks and I can't settle my mind, so ill default to the positive and say it works! POP is a great example where his spurious momentum of rhymes capture this driven energy that is lively and fresh yet the word of rhyme is simply one on loop in many occasion. Its got a cadence and charm yet is lyrically hollow and lacking.

This is the case for much of the record, slurred words and ridiculous rhymes come about often. Its ironic but the more focused on style over the substance Uzi is, the better his flow and energy feels, arising often in tandem with the abandoned of lyrics. When story and narrative can be comprehended its mostly a slew of braggadocios and lewd show boating. Nothing much of substance was extracted, Uzi mostly works as an expressive voice grooving and playing of the instrumentals.

Production is split into thirds, the opening of which is the most intriguing, dark and alien the samples experiment with tonality and unusual sounds that are a delight, especially when the groove clicks. The middle of the record gets fluffy and lighter with the pop appeal. Its final chapter steers closer to his previous sound and P2 rehashes his Tour Life hit. It ends on a re-imagination of a Backstreet Boys song, not particularly appealing. For me the first third of the record has merit and intrigue but it quickly fades into its own bloated runtime as the tone shifts to less curious sounds.

Favorite Tracks: Lo Mein, Silly Watch, POP, You Better Move
Rating: 5/10

Tame Impala "The Slow Rush" (2020)

With a simmering anticipation brewing, The Slow Rush has been warmly welcomed with open arms, taking its place as a glorious successor to 2015's Currents. This lengthy five year break has filtered out any mediocrity and filtered too us a fine selection of music to revel in. Although it may lack in any clear progression or shift forward in style, these twelve tracks sound like the sweetest fruits plucked from the crop of this particular chapter in Tame Impala's style. It's more of the best.

Given all I wanted was more of the same, I have absolutely adored this record! Its gorgeous, organic, oozy fusion of Psychedelic Rock and Electronic music is a textural lavishing of sound. Its mood particularly sunny and uplifting this time out, a spirit positive and reflective on the river of time. Kevin Parker clearly spends a portion of the record musing over changes in his life, growing up, moving on, embracing it all with a kind warm soul as he matures as a person and musician.

The way the album opens up is grabbing and immediate. A warped vocal manipulation get twisted into a melody and spliced with rhythmic timing, entrancing as the beat steadily fades in. It sets the tone of whats to come. Kevin deploys his uniquely soft and easy voice to effect with an expressive energy that boils every time it realigns with the vocal manipulation. In between 90s Dance pianos jives, a reoccurring instrument and synth solos embrace us for whats to come on the adventure.

 Moving throw its various shades and temperaments, bright punchy instruments stomp out grooves and melodies with a fun sense of freedom cruising alongside Kevin's charming reflections. Tone, texture and taste feel so effortless and freeing. The organic, oozy feel his music has is embellished through these sweet and succulent instruments. While it often feel thick and engulfing, a closer inspection of the layers at work are not all to complex. Its the way they come together that is wonderful.

I've enjoyed The Slow Rush immensely and will continue too but just like Currents I feel there is certainly some slower and calmer songs that may dull a little with time and repetitious listens. That is one strength the upbeat and catchy songs have that doesn't quite translate to its less energized songs. Either way its a stunning record delivering more of this stunning fusion, fueled by real inspiration and expression that is endearing and lasting. This could just be one of the best I'll hear this year!

Favorite Tracks:One More Year, Tommorrow's Dust, Lost In Yesterday, It Might Be Time

Rating: 9/10

Yagya "Old Dreams And Memories" (2020)

Given my utter disappointment with last years Stormur, I almost let this one pass me by but alas I had to find out if the Icelandic musician Yagya would kindle his particular breed of calming magic again. I'm please to report the answer is yes. It is a return to form but also no measure of anything unheard before. After much consumption, it essentially confines Old Dreams And Memories to the playlist along with his other works when seeking the relaxing mood of his soft and dreamy atmospheres.

Toying a little with tense strings on occasional tracks, the usual remedy of dub baselines resonating slow club grooves below cloudy synths gets a little flavor to define it. Many of the usual tones, synths and drum sounds in his pallet resurface alongside these Classical elements, bringing about a sorrowful and saddening tone to otherwise carefree and indulgent sound. Its rainy, glum, yet entrancing and beautiful as  sombre violins usher in a seriousness on its select tracks.

The voice of what I presume to be a Japanese woman crops up throughout the record. Her soft spoken word creates an intimate feeling of something serious. Given the nature of the music it has less of a manifestation into theme but adds a little mystery to the records vibe. All in all the new songs have provided the Yagya experience again but with nothing remarkable going on. As always this music is fresh on first listen but quickly its ambience and atmosphere confines it to the background.

Rating: 5/10

Queen "A Kind Of Magic" (1986)

Kicking off with two utterly phenomenal tracks, Queen's twelfth outing proceeds to play like a series of bad choices where the groups eclecticism and willingness to follow the sounds of the time leads them astray. Its actually Freddie himself who gets the better of me, a rarity for his glorious voice. The played out slow ballad sound of One Year Of Love and the utterly cheesy Pain Is So Close To Pleasure have him steering his voice into a high pitch ranges that I just found discomforting. A couple of proceeding tracks play up an expectant Queen approach to songwriting before the album switches its last three songs into a soundtrack for the movie Highlander.

Gimme The Prize amps up the Arena Rock vibes with some Heavy Metal guitar leanings. Its big Industrial thumping drums bring things together. A little cliche but it has an attitude. Samples from the movie tend to break up the flow and cause fillers that sound trashy as evil laughs, explosions and sword slashing sounds do little for the music. Continuing on themes from the movie, Don't Loose Your Head has an typically 80s synth tone but the lyrics and sample inclusion makes it feel forced. With Princes Of The Universe they pull together many classic characteristics but to no avail.

Its opening two songs are all too well known due to use in pop culture, however giving them some up close attention I appreciated them a lot more. One Vision's use of synth and electronic manipulation in its opening sets the stage and gives a brilliant tone for Heavy Metal funk to jive in a futuristic feeling. The aesthetics are brilliantly constructed and the following Its A Kind Of Magic reinvents another Queen formula with those pumping baselines, rigid drums and atmospheric synths. This albums problem is that of many Queen records for some time now, the eclecticism that once made a brilliant album experience now seems rather tacky and without substance. They still make fantastic music but as the track record proves it comes in spurts that make for a good song or two each album. With some particular lows, its peaks can't save this from being their worst output to date.

Favorite Tracks: One Vision, Gimme The Prize

Rating: 4/10

Clipping "CLPPNG" (2014)

Now here is a remarkable group that may draw unfair comparisons to Death Grips. Also an Experimental, Industrial Hip Hop trio the link might seem strong at first glance but the reality is Clipping are a rather different beast. Breaking the music down to its two core components, a chemistry exists unlike anything Ive heard before but I can't say it does it for me around the clock. I can however appreciate the artistry and skill on display. The music however, tends to shy from cheap tricks, groove and flash but keeps itself closely guarded by an unforgiving, cold presence.

The instrumentals are something to be adjusted too. Often minimalist and sparse, its atmospheres are birthed through textural snippets and samples that stray away from melody and rhythm. Cold mechanical sounds, sirens, noise and distortion loosely cling percussion that is barely present. Many of the songs reside in a dystopian, life drained state, barely growing or evolving from its initial inception while Daveed Diggs wilds off on the microphone. Get Up is literally two minutes of rapping to alarm clock before anything musically happens. Its conceptual, clever and jarring. I can't help but feel the goal is to paint an un-glorified picture of the subject matter.

Diggs is a phenomenal talent. Precisely enunciated, daringly swift and churning out the words at a dizzying pace his crisp and clear voicing is entrancing. With a lenience towards rhyming, his cadence cruises over multiple bars before looping back round to a rhyme of groove in the delivery of his words. Quite often he musters a dizzying momentum, blasting through very competently articulated story telling. Following his words can be intense to keep up and immerse in the vivid nature of his words. It borders with something akin to spoken word at times but the pacing and glue to the instrumental is firmly Rap, along with the themes of course.

Together they form a bold statement. This album plays through its themes of street and club life with an unforgiving coldness brought to life through its instrumentals. Its remarkable but the lack of relief and fun makes it quite a heavy and burdensome listen. Its more of a remarkable spectacle than something to throw on and jive too. Its only on Body & Blood that a semblance of bounce and groove is exploited. Its also one of the darkest atmospheres the album offers. I've found it hard to enjoy this on an emotional level but I can't flaw its artistry, very unique and focused, especially the story raps!

Favorite Tracks: Body & Blood, Story 2

Rating: 5/10

Ihsahn "Telemark" (2020)

Norwegian musician Ihsahn is the genius behind one of my all time favorite bands, Emperor. Ive been meaning to follow his solo work more closely and so I lapped up this new release, which turned out to be just three original songs alongside two covers. Not bad considering it was dirt cheap even for digital music standards! It clings closer to a traditional Black Metal atmosphere with thrusts of aggression, blasting drums and snarling screams to forge its darkly mood. Although a return to roots and departure from his more progressive approach, the music finds itself intermingled among subtle saxophones, trumpets and synths that give the Nordic flair a little textural flavor.

Its a chemistry not to remarkable but competent. The opening track brings forth marching chug riffs aligned with the strikes of horns elevating the tensions on a metallic crusade. Nord pivots to a slower pace. Shimmering hazy guitars birth a scenic vision of a cold Ethereal move nature elevated to a beautiful peak when its clean backing vocals bring in the soothing harmony. The title track hinges on a rather folk vibe. Its tricky, swiftly meandering melody has the groove and jive of something native and cultural. The tune drifts into a darkness that gets chopped and churned as the music searches for a crescendo it doesn't quite reach.

Its covers split the mood. Rock And Roll Is Dead jives out its funk with a Jazz band, the screams and distortion guitars playing second fiddle to the dominant instruments. Its almost gaudy but somehow seems to work. Wrathchild does something a little similar in moments, taking the classic Iron Maiden song and throwing in some saxophone led spice into the mix. Its good but its metallic aspect doesn't give much the original can't. Its been a fun listen, a well executed set of songs with an interesting inclusion of instruments not traditional to metal but not something to rave about.

Favorite Track: Nord

Rating: 5/10

Algiers "There Is No Year" (2020)

The southern American outfit Algiers have been on my radar since their remarkable The Underside Of Power. This retro intensive sound has the hauntings of Soul and Gospel playing out in a Post-Punk aesthetic that has been remarkable in the past. This third chapter is inherently bleak and downtrodden, a clear stylistic aim into an oppressive darkness. Its rather burdensome with little relief in its run time. Gloomy depressive atmospheres play out with a sense of unyielding dread looming.

In its intelligent self realization, this record fails to give a little leeway on groove and melody for any uplift or reprise in pursuit of its vision. Instead it plays like a grey rainy day without an end in sight. Its damp and miserable, the fog never clears and the injustice mounts. Its mechanical pattering percussion, atmospheric upheavals of guitar noise and the pained soulful singing of Franklin Fisher keep the harrowing mood sharply focused on its descent, the feeling they forge forever grieving.

The tracks roll out with various themes and temperaments. The degrees of desperation tweaked and any composition or aesthetic of interest feels chained too its sunken, defeated feeling. Its a beautiful vision into a shade of darkness but without that uplift my appreciation could only go so far. It took a while for me to make sense of my lack of enjoyment. A lot of the dark music I like channels these things with energy and a counteracting force but There Is No Year is too consistently bleak for me.

Rating: 5/10

Grimes "Art Angels" (2015)

Wildly individual yet accommodatingly familiar, Canadian singer and composer Grimes has blown me away with this critically acclaimed record I'm just catching up to. It was her appearance on the Mindscape podcast that prompted me to finally get around a name I've been hearing over and over this past decade. Definitively self-taught and devilishly expressive, her music in this instance is a free formed tapestry of creativity, musical ideas colliding yet landing with grace. Everything eccentric, experimental and fun works its way into the cracks of commonality. Given its her forth album, it might have been a journey to arrive at this exceptional moment. Something I'll learn soon.

Opening with a couple mysterious machinations of obscurities, best exemplified on the jaunting Scream, Art Angels drops into swooning currents of uplifting Dream Pop, rolling out cheerful, chirpy and artistic pop songs one after the other. With a unique flavor, she unexpectedly rolls out experimental and otherwise unusual constructs, often percussive, that gel effortlessly. Occasionally Ethereal, often grooving, the music's sea of influences swell in the later half with these Club music temperaments of Dance and Rave propelling this mesmerizing and indulgent atmosphere.

Grimes brings in her sometimes childish, playful and innocent voice that transforms to a mature and spirited swoon, ascending to a heavenly dimension as she soars with a freedom in the crescendos. Cruising through the clouds and leaving all earthly weight behind, she births many an entrancing passage when reaching to the peaks of her singing. Its in these climatic moments you'll forget everything. Its liberating.

My journey into the record was interesting in retrospect. What just seemed like good and cheery music in the beginning steadily indulged with familiarity and blossomed into a wonderful experience that I can't get enough of. I'm so impressed by the individuality of Grimes, in her compositions and singing she can be so welcoming and warm in tone it almost masks the beautiful and intricate world of her music that you end up trapped inside of. All to easy to hear it as generic but with a closer ear you'll get locked inside her imaginative realm, never wanting to leave.

Favorite Tracks: Scream, Flesh Without Blood, Artangels, World Princess Part II, Venus Fly, Buttefly

Rating: 9/10

Opeth "In Cauda Venenum" (2019)

I've spent a healthy helping of time getting to know this record and the indulgence won't stop anytime soon. The gravitas of Opeth has not sucked me in quite like this in a long time! I wanted to get deep into this album and the time invested suggests this may just belong alongside the best of their works like Damnation and Deliverance. A bold statement but in this post Death Metal era for the band they seemed to of finally channeled the vigor and sheer power of brutality into swells of luscious Progressive Rock successfully. It swoons in its own glory, the style and voice of the band feeling rooted as their heaviness arrives in its powerful layers of instrumentation that may be a bit much to those unfamiliar with Metals bombast. This has both might and delicacy.

With surges of strings, synths, empowered basslines and the soaring of Akerfeldt's clean voice, the percussion batters out the groove and momentum once propelled by distortion guitars and guttural screams. Its a beautifully executed pivot where the swoon of songs yield over and over as the music gushes from its gentle acoustic build ups into these upheavals of beautiful emotional out pour that reign supreme. It carries what made this band wonderful forward while also opening up new avenues with strings and pianos playing an enthusiastic role. The song Lovelorn Crime is a keen example of King Crimson alike influences taking hold the soft expressive side emerges, shimmering in the truly delicate and sublime, a moving presence.

The songwriting is wonderful, the themes are explored in true progressive nature as the bleeding cries of Pink Floyd alike guitar solos climax the lengthy epics. With most the songs being six to seven minutes there is never a dull moment, things don't get drawn out and the melodies speak to the soul, lingering in the mind. Beyond the music, its aesthetics hold up well too. The strings are especially gorgeous and there mixing with the vocals are just awe inspiring. It feels like a lot of craft and care went into getting their chemistry right as one can revel in even the simplest of moments given the utter luxurious tone they muster together. On both fronts it excels, bridging the new and old alike, Opeth have finally landed their ambitions.

Rating: 9/10

Örnatorpet "The Heathen Kingdom" (2020)

In the mood for a moody Dungeon Synth adventure, I picked up this pairing of fifteen minute treks through gloomy forests and stoic castles of fantasy, music steeped in heuristic mystery. Its a departure from the icy, snow swept minimalist atmospheres of Hymner Från Snökulla. The Heaven Kingdom has a more traditional sound, drifting through its moulded layers of Casio or Korg keyboard instrumentation, shrouded in a mystery thanks to its nostalgic production utilizing low fidelity aesthetics.

The songs themselves aren't particularly remarkable. They find a few passages that sparkle as layers of synth, culminate, often arising with glistening bells delivering spell bounding melodies. Its a friendly affair that doesn't drift into the available darkness. The air of gloom and grief taints the second track, it grows to quite the scenic song, its rich airy strings holding a sense of grandeur that never settles on steady ground. It may have a hint of menace of foreboding presence but doesn't delve into that avenue.

So both these songs establish mood and tone well. The Dungeon Synth sound is one I know all to well by now. Its a fun listen but little felt remarkable in the sense of rising up, grabbing ones attention or finding a climatic moment. The shifts in instrument pallet were common and well executed, the variety on hand decent but beyond background music it didn't accomplish much which may be more of a testament to my familiarity with the sound, which this record doesn't inch away from with any creativity. Solid, but somewhat predictable, lengthy winding songs that end up meandering on a theme.

Rating: 6/10

Bolt Thrower "...For Victory" (1994)

I didn't feel like getting deep into another Metal bands catalog. This may be the second and last Bolt Thrower record I write about here. To be frank, there is little of surprise here but its also everything I love, just some good old punishing brutality and mid tempo grooves to head bang too! I picked out ...For Victory as it felt like a sister album to Mercenary. The fidelity is a notch better overall, strange considering this was recorded four years earlier. Heading into the future of their discography, newer records sound a little sterile and thinned out. Looking back, earlier releases suffers the fate of many Extreme Metal records of the time, producers had yet to figure out how to make this music sound decent, something Carcass's Heartwork would change forever.

This album leaves me with just about all the same thoughts as last time. Its Death Metal with an edge for groove and mid-tempo sways of bounce that erupt from the punishing atmosphere. Its a constant barrage, a mighty onslaught of battering drums and dense distortion guitars that churn and grind away, leading onto these out bursts of guitar groove which peak the songs. Its temperament is mean and unending with the intensity barely slowing down, its ten tracks continuing on the same warpath from start to end. Karl Willets barks and houls as the guttural front man is again a take it or leave it situation for me. His presence just tends to drift into the mood of aggression portrayed. Overall its a cracking record if you want that mood. Bar one or two songs having a riff I'm particularly keen on, its a solid, well rounded album that just delivers.

Favorite Tracks: ...For Victory, Lest We Forget, Armageddon Bound

Rating: 7/10