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Malibu by Anderson .Paak

I've held off writing about this album because despite being blown away on the first two listens, I had my doubts on the third. Today, I reluctantly listened for the fourth time, because honestly I was scared I wouldn't love it as much as those first two times. The reality is that this album has almost all the ingredients to make it one of my all time favourites, but is infuriatingly just short from being perfect.

I goes without saying that Paak is charismatic, very intelligent and has some brilliant ideas to bring to the RnB table. His vocals slip into so many different registers, from soulful heights and annunciated rap that the whole experience is seamless and confident. What makes this album really special is the way he unites his listeners by reminding us that we're all part of a similar generation, and honestly this album is surprisingly one of the most humble and comforting that I've listened to. But to the point: the first half is virtually flawless - it's honestly awe-inspiring. Ruthlessly funky with the perfect amount of 'blues' to keep you emotionally engaged. Even ScHoolboy Q sounds fantastic on a nu-disco track, and and it all so effortlessly falls together. Hearing Paak sing 'sweetness of a honeycomb tree' and 'knees to he floor, scream to the lord' is like nectar to my ears, an absolute joy. 'Parking Lot' is somehow soulful, upbeat and entirely melancholic while still making me what to play it on the dance floor - you simply can't find that combination anywhere else.

The problems start with 'Light Weight', a repetitive song that goes absolutely nowhere, and a 4/4 kick drum that has zero appeal after so many fun beats before it. 'Room In Here' fails to be much more than corny, and The Game adds absolutely nothing. 'Silicon Valley' and 'Celebrate' are fine, but as soon as 'The Dreamer' kicks in, which finally shoots us back to what was so great about the first half of the album, we realize what we were missing. 'The Dreamer' does everything right, Paak is in his element, the hook is catchy and its words are a mantra, but it's all thrown away by Talib Kweli's appalling verse that honestly sounds like he wasn't paid enough to do it - bored, rushed and uninspiring. "Used to be scared of all my fears, 'Till I woke up from this nightmare" - really Kweli? Scared of all your fears? As opposed to what? What a shitty way to close such a powerful song.

I'll certainly be following Anderson .Paak, because there's a huge amount of promise here. It's certainly still my favourite album of 2016 so far, and it'll have to be one hell of a year before this gets knocked out of my top ten. Still, it's thinking about what this album could have been that holds me off from giving it that perfect score.

**

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Hopelessness by ANOHNI

Political bluntness can ruin the fun of music. I don't like being preached to, especially if they're opinions I already hold. In just over 40 minutes, Anohni covers almost all the ground a political record could cover - global warming, discrimination, the police state, surveillance, you name it. Heck, there's literally a song called 'Obama' and it's literally about Obama.

Anohni tackles far too much, and in a way that's far too shallow to ignore. It's a shame, because 'I Am A Bird Now' is an all-time favourite of mine, and Anohni is one of my favourite vocalists. But where her previous work was about conflict of the self, this record is about conflict of the country. It's an angry album, but accomplishes nothing more than being that. People who aren't aware of the issues raised here aren't going to be listening to Anohni to begin with, so it feels like one large preach to the choir.

With all that said there are a some thick electronic melodies here and Anohni brings her usual fluttering vocals that are very rarely boring to listen to. The musicianship here works, and it's an almost seamless collaboration. There are some spine tingling heights and even some powerful lows, 'Why Did You Seperate Me From The Earth' is an incredibly powerful ballad, but then she starts singing about killing tuna, and it loses its power.

Hopelessness has received huge praise from critics, but really I can't imagine anything different. The online music scene is and always will be liberal journalism, and so they'd be dismissing the views their target audience believe in.

There's a very solid album here underneath some unfortunate lyrics that fall flat, rather than empower.

**

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Blond by Frank Ocean

2016 has been a sombre year, and perhaps coicindently (but also appropriately) we've had some of the more reflective, meloncholic albums of the decade alongside it. It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact its been four years since Channel Orange, an album that beemed with freshly enthusiastic sounds and tunes, yet the reason we all came back to it was because there was something unrestful at its core. Frank Ocean, alongside James Blake and Radiohead, has released an immensely mature and realized album. Instead of trying to feign a repeat of Channel Orange, Ocean instead takes that sense of unrest and brings it to centre stage. As a result, the entire album feels like an uninterrupted steam of Ocean's consciousness, and as a piece of work and craft: considered to and constructed near perfectly.

Doing away with impressive hooks and catchy melodies lends itself instead to a record that rides its mood and thoughts. Ocean, like many of us, is being defined by the Western 21st century, and if there was ever an album that so perfectly captured the complications that brings with it - unconvential relationships, commercialism, inadequacy, invasive technology, global connection - then this is it. 1st World Problems? By definition. But in a world where suicide is killing young men more than any disease, perhaps its time to explore that. Ocean keeps it personal and explorative throughout.

The final moments have the repeating organ melody playing as the sounds of you, friends and family have conversations, tell jokes, ask questions, walking home from the concert at 11pm. It brings me right there, to those moments when you realize all those troubles you've been keeping inside maybe aren't such a big deal, and a thick sadness hits you when you remember that these good times won't last forever. I'm sure not everyone will get the most out of this album, but those that do will find something incredibly relatable, and very rewarding.

***

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JEFFERY by Young Thug

I've had a fascination with Young Thug since I first heard his verse of Def Loaf's 'Blood'. He brought something new to the table - slurry, sporadic, melodic rap that consistantly surprised me. Yet almost all of his releases have left me underwhelmed, ranging from sounding aimless and rushed to borderline cringe worthy.

Yet he does something different with this record, and with it comes exactly the Young Thug I wanted to hear. Distancing himself from his moniker 'Young Thug', he makes this record eponymous, with helps give the album a much more honest sound, hiding behind no pretences. Best of all is the artwork, an almost feminine fashion piece donned by Thug himself, perfectly matches the playful, artsy tone rich in almost all the songs. The album sounds just as spontaneous as his other efforts, but as though Thug has had huge weights lifted from his shoulders, resulting in a piece that sounds effortless rather than rushed.

Above all, it's a hell of a lot of fun. Young Thug is the perfect candidate to be merging art pop with hip hop, and is bringing some really fresh sounds to the overly glossy world of pop rap. My faith has returned.

**

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22, A Million by Bon Iver

I've found myself fascinated by this album in just the last few weeks. After completely dismissing it on first listen, something has brought me back to it time and time again. The truth is, it's a satisfying listen. A nice beginning, a nice ending. I'm a huge advocate for shorter length records too, and this is a prime example: focused, no filler, and accomplishes what it needs to.

I applaud Vernon for always stepping into more and more abstract sounds. You can perfectly map his efforts on a scale of simplicity to complexity in chronological order. 22, A Million is an album that sounds like it took as long as it did to make. There's rarely a moment you aren't hearing something you haven't heard before. Every turn is something new, and rarely anything that doesn't work. And it's common knowledge such an album is fun to come back to. It's different each time.

The trouble is that this album is so soaked in itself, it fails to convey any kind of bigger picture, or ask any questions. How anyone could look at the album artwork, or the song titles, and think it's anything other than a pretentious mess is beyond me. It comes across and clumsy and self congratulatory. It pretends as though it's exploring themes of spirituality, mathematics, humanism, history, but it's message (if it ever actually had one) is so muddied by this thick and unnecessary jargon. It's too much. It leads me to think just how much better the album would have felt if it offered the most simple and clean song titles and artwork, that it feels as though I'm the idiot for not figuring out a kind of underlying message.

I can't turn away though. It's gorgeous. Vernon has an incredible ear, and and incredible ability to guide sounds in a way that sounds deliberate, but also very spontaneous. 22, A Million is a more developed and mature album than his 2011 release, and while even that album is teetering on the edge of pretence, it still fills you with that sense of sweeping American landscapes, locations, and scrappy postcards.

22, A Million fills me with nothing. It's baseless, with no feet on the ground. It's all just lost in Vernon's head.

**

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I See You by The xx

Seeking a balance between Jamie xx's solo work and the band's earlier efforts, 'I See You' manages to find that middle ground, but turns out that the middle ground is like a drunken dream - it makes sense at the time, but then you forget everything in the morning. There was always an irreistable apathetic haze surrounding the xx's music, and that's been lifted at times to something much more fun. The best songs here are the one's you could put on at a party without being lynched. 'Dangerous' left me wanting more xx with brass, and 'On Hold's' sampling, while nothing we haven't heard before, is a lot of fun.

But the xx have filled the already short album with directionless filler that shifts the tone from being that friend that's in a dark place you want to help out, to that guy that sits in the corner and you ignore because he's just always miserable. The theme of the album concerns itself with the nightlife, drugs, one night stands, and not really enjoying any of it. There's nothing wrong with that. However the record either choses to scratch only the surface of that mood, either because The xx want the album to feel universal, or because they actually struggle to write anything else. It's starting to feel like the latter.

I hope they one day produce a song about much a common cold gets them down.

*

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Volume 1: Flick Your Tongue Against You... Bedwetter

The best work in any medium speaks universal truths. It gives you something to latch onto, and own yourself. Travis Miller's latest release is so cuttingly personal that it feels like we're watching it all happen through a thin glass window. Miller offers no hope, no bittersweet truths, no connection. The problem isn't that the record is narcissistic, though it is, because at the same time it feels almost uncomfortably honest. Miller persuades us with his thickly scarring words that we've never been in the place he is now. It's a moldy bowl of pasta that time refuses to clean up.

It feels like a record he made for himself, not for me or you. And here it is, and we're listening to it. It makes you want to step in and offer a helping hand, rather than share the despair. But I can't, I don't know the guy. Instead, it makes me want to go and take a shower.

**

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Rap Album Two by Jonwayne

Jonwayne doesn't look like a rapper. He acknowledges this in 'LIVE From The Fuck You', a surprisingly entertaining interlude that reminds us how Wayne really just views himself as any other guy just trying to get by. And really that's his strength. Rap Album Two is honest and energetic. Sometimes alluded to Biggie, Wayne certainly shares some of his qualities. He's the better rapper, at times, albeit without the charisma or swagger. Wayne doesn't need it.

I've shared a similar sentiment to Wayne in 'Paper', where he describes wanting to be buried so as to grow into a tree. But Wayne takes it a step further, describing how the tree would be cut down to paper, used as storybooks for future generations, or as warmth for a homeless man. It's poetic, and sometimes beautifully grotesque, and it's been a long while since I've heard such a thoughtful Hip Hop record in a way that feels humble and relatable.

The album slips in the second half. It loses focus. Experimental moments teeter into sounding like directionless filler masked as something moodal. Wayne sounds less cohesive and less concise, and featuring artists dilute the core appeal of the album. The final three-songs demonstrate Jonwayne has a vision and a direction to build the album into something more of an experience, and it works, on a surface level, but doesn't get into your gut like the first few songs do.

'Out of Sight' and 'Paper' will certainly be some of the best songs of the year, the rest is a comfortable listen showing sparks that Jonwayne will either surprise us with greater things in the future, or whether this here is the extent of his exhausted self-expression.

**

[Skinny]

pls review stormzy
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2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

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