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Showing posts from July, 2019

Ed Balloon, The Dubs, Album Review

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Ed Balloon The Dubs Album Review Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Music This album came along to me, completely out of the blue. Much like many other albums that have been recommended me only through spotify such as Nightmares On Wax's Shape the Future or Jafaris' Stride . This album is my newest musical discovery, provided by the music streaming platform. The first thing about this album to get my attention and ultimately get me to listen to the thing full-length was the production, that seemed somewhat whimsical, luminous and surreal at first listen. When listening to it in full, said production remained as whimsical as it initially came across. I was getting a strong similarity to Travis Scott's ASTROWORLD  musically. Vocally, Ed Balloon has a very unique vocal style, which did take a short while to get used to, but I have learned to love it recently. The best way to describe the vocal style is somewhere between Kele Okereke and Bakar.

Slaves, The Velvet Ditch, EP Review

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Slaves The Velvet Ditch EP Review Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Music I have been very fond of east-end London punk duo Slaves ever since they made a torrential splash with their 2015 album Are You Satisfied? , which I would regard as one of the most impactful albums of the decade. Since then, the test of time has unfortunately not been too kind to Slaves, as their two following efforts, 2016's Take Control and 2018's Acts of Fear and Love seemed very promising on the surface when I first listened to them, I found that both eventually went very stale, very fast. I could appreciate these two albums for trying to evolve a little more stylistically, but it still felt quite unnatural and a little all-over-the-place. To accompany their upcoming UK tour (including their first Brighton show in years), Slaves also dropped a four-track EP, titled The Velvet Ditch , which continues down the path of experimentation, but somehow feels much more true to

Blood Orange, Angel's Pulse, Album Review

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Blood Orange Angel's Pulse Album Review Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Music British singer/songwriter Dev Hynes (more widely known as Blood Orange) made quite the buzz last year. With the 2018 masterpiece that was his fourth studio album Negro Swan , I instantly fell in love with his enchantingly jazzy sound. Given that Negro Swan was a critically acclaimed 16 track album which was one of my favourites of last year and clearly had a tonne of careful thought an effort put into it, it was safe to say that Blood Orange was deserving of a small break, and I wasn't expecting to hear more from him this year. Despite this however, I was surprised to find that yet another album had been dropped by the artist last Friday, less than a year after his last LP. Given that this "album" has technically been described as a mixtape, It makes sense that this album does indeed feel very similar to Negro Swan aesthetically. In-fact, I would compare it to the li

Machine Gun Kelly, Hotel Diablo, Album Review

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Machine Gun Kelly Hotel Diablo Album Review Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Music Machine Gun Kelly was somebody who I discovered at what could arguably be one of the worst times to do so. MGK had a pretty eventful 2018, in which I enjoyed his feature on Mike Shinodas "Blast Off" from last years album Post Traumatic . However, the most notable part of MGK's year last year was his brief diss track battle against none other than Eminem. This began with the legendary rapper calling out MGK on his (not so legendary) album Kamikaze . Kelly then wanted to strike while the iron's hot and release an Eminem diss track titled "Rap Devil". I've never been a massive fan of diss tracks in general, but as far as Rap Devil went, I found it okay to listen to. Eminem then clapped back with a diss track of his own titled "Killshot", and while I found this track equally as average, the Eminem stans regarded it as "career ending

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Bandana, Album Review

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Freddie Gibbs & Madlib Bandana Album Review Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Music Bandana is a new collaborative project from Indiana rap artist Freddie Gibbs and Californian producer Madlib. While this album serves as my first true introduction to both of these artists, I have heard a lot of high praise towards the two, and especially Madlib. What ultimately enticed me into listening to this record is the insane line-up that makes up the features. With artists such as Anderson .Paak, Pusha-T and Run The Jewels' Killer Mike, how could I say no to this album? Upon skimming across the tracks, I already knew that this album had a very professional and classic style that reminded me a lot of the lates Nas cut NASIR , released roughly this time last year. The beats initially came across as carefully crafted blends of minimalism and layering that you could find on many of last years album with stylistic similarities. I also noticed a number of production s

The King Blues, 38 Minutes, Album Review

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The King Blues 38 Minutes Album Review Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Music To this day, I would still regard British Ska-punk group The King Blues as possibly one of the most underrated bands in recent memory. They have been making music since 2004, which means 2019 marks their 15th year in music. With fantastic previous efforts such as Save The World . Get The Girl , and more recently, 2017's The Gospel Truth , The King Blues had already proven themselves as an incredibly talented band with a good knack for giving each track of theirs a great story behind them. This storytelling aspect come into full-play with the release of their newest album 38 Minutes. The theatrical nature of this album shone through recently. You can tell that the band really focused on concept just by this albums title, as not only does the full album last 38 minutes, but it also reflects the storyline of this album, that being the false missile alarm in Hawaii back in Ja