In Case You Missed It: May/June 2019
The last moments of spring bleed into summer, the days creep closer and closer to an unbearable morass of heat, and Old Town Road is somehow still the number one song in the country after what seems like an eternity of its unrivaled dominance. All other artists have pledged fealty to its might, and Lil Nas X has crushed all his opponents just as the song has seen fit to demolish the last remnants of genre divisions, even if it did so through sheer popularity as opposed to actually proving itself to be a country song through some arbitrary means. Listed below are a short selection of less celebrated projects that largely fell by the wayside recently, even if they do not exactly share the same listener base as Old Town Road or the new Taylor Swift singles. In the shadow of the pop charts' most influential figures, many artists are perfectly content to stick to their relatively niche genres and styles, and just because they can't get Billy Ray Cyrus on their singles doesn't mean they have any less merit.
Ari Lennox - Shea Butter Baby (Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B)
The token R&B singer from rapper J. Cole's label Dreamville, Ari Lennox largely fails on her debut album to prove that such an endorsement is justified. A few tracks standout from the rest, including those featuring J. Cole and fellow Dreamville up-and-comer J.I.D., but much of Shea Butter Baby cannot reach much further than bland, unadventurous neo-soul with feeble vocal performances. By the time the album has run out of creative instrumentals, cuts like the vapid New Apartment and the pointless, acoustic Pop stick out all the more egregiously; while Ari Lennox no doubt has talent and potential, very little of it comes through in an interesting way on her first project.
5/10
Elohim - Braindead (Electropop)
For as talented as the relatively unknown pop singer Elohim is, at least as interesting are the themes of depression and mental health that factor prominently into her music. Her newest EP is not exactly subtle with this motif (song titles include pills and metamorphine), but it does lend an appealing honesty to an otherwise short and fragmented project. The ambient production on tracks like running and tv doesn't exactly help her music stand out (though the latter cut is admittedly quite catchy); still, her songwriting is as sharp as ever, the title track being the best example of her personal, emotive poetics. Her small but devoted fanbase, whom she admirably bares her soul for more than perhaps any other artist, will no doubt devour the smattering of tracks on Braindead, but Elohim's self-titled 2017 album remains the most persuasive argument for her pop genius.
6.5/10
The National - I Am Easy to Find (Indie Rock, Chamber Pop)
While the indie rock outfit The National have certainly found success throughout the decade, the appeal of albums like High Violet and Trouble Will Find Me only stretches so far, and each new effort from the band seems less and less inspired. I Am Easy to Find attempts to find its niche through the constant use of outside vocalists (particularly Gali Ann Dorsey), but even the abundance of talented guests cannot make such a slog much more bearable. Many of its compositions are still more than capable, but not enough so to justify over an hour of melancholic chamber pop that constantly hangs at the edge of keeping one's attention. Ardent fans will likely find more than enough to stay invested, but anyone else's enjoyment is far from guaranteed.
6/10
Steve Lacy - Apollo XXI (Neo-Soul, Synth Funk)
Guitarist Steve Lacy, who ranks among the most well-known members of the popular collective The Internet, has continued to amass a considerable amount of clout after featuring on the projects of numerous artists in the past few years. Any respect built among his fans as a result of this (and his promising 2017 EP) has no doubt largely evaporated, however, after such a letdown of a debut album as Apollo XXI. Any enjoyment to be found in his accomplished guitar playing is washed away in a deluge of mediocre neo-soul and lackluster singing, with few cuts ever achieving anything more than listenable. Its more regrettable moments, including the crude N Side and the frivolous outro, only serve to prove that instrumental talent does not necessarily translate into the ability to put together a coherent, enjoyable project.
4.5/10
pronoun - i'll show you stronger (Indie Rock, Dream Pop)
The youthful energy that permeates throughout i'll show you stronger is strangely hypnotic, but any hold that the Brooklyn-based singer pronoun (real name Alyse Vellturo) has over the listener is lessened by her tangibly unrefined singing and sterile compositions. Certain tracks manage to overcome such shortcomings, resulting in wholly satisfying indie rock cuts like the uptempo single stay and the more melancholic run, yet the majority of songs present cannot help but feel in need of another few rounds in the recording booth. The appeal of Vellturo's style is disturbingly palpable, and for a debut record i'll show you stronger is more than promising; still, any definite claims towards Vellturo's talent will have to wait until her catalogue expands further.
6.5/10
100 gecs - 1000 gecs (Bubblegum Bass)
It is entirely certain that the vapid and annoying music present on 1000 gecs is designed to sound this way; such a seemingly inane and nonsensical project betrays, ironically, a deeply calculated approach that attempts to carve out its own niche by throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. As it turns out, however, not much ends of what 100 gecs come up with even passes as 'tolerable', while its most confusing moments (money machine, stupid horse, and gecgecgec) sound designed to make synthetic blips, autotune, and random noises sound as bad as possible. ringtone is sort of cute, perhaps, but far from enough to compensate for having to sit through the rest of this pointless slog. The one virtue this album has is that it knows not to overstay its welcome, even if one will likely spend most of its twenty minutes begging for it to end.
2/10
GoldLink - Diaspora (Hip-Hop, Pop Rap)
The discrepancy between the highest and lowest points of rapper GoldLink's newest album are quite staggering, especially for such a nondescript artist. Diaspora starts out quite strong; even if his infatuation with the most basic of trap beats and lackluster melodies can be grating, GoldLink's rapping and singing are both competent, and features from names like Khalid and Pusha T lend him a legitimacy he lacks on his own. At almost exactly the halfway mark, however, the record takes a sharp downturn as the blasé Caribbean influences and poor production overwhelm any charisma the rapper can muster. It's impossible not to be disappointed in such a turn, particularly when Swoosh (perhaps the worst song here) ends things on such a sour note.
5/10
MIKE - Tears ofJoy (Experimental Hip Hop, Glitch Hop)
That MIKE is an incredibly morose rapper who is often unable to emote in anything more than a dull monotone is vexing, but one of the only downsides of such a stellar mixtape. Tears of Joy covers many of the same personal, emotional themes that 2018's War in My Pen did, but rendered even more touching in the rapper's attempts to come to grips with the recent passing of his mother. Still, the most impressive aspect is once again his production, the abrupt, lo-fi style executed with an incredible flair and unrivaled creativity. Even in its less frenetic instrumental tracks there are moments of pure genius which shine through, and any future comparisons to the work of Earl Sweatshirt must recognize that MIKE is, to put it mildly, on a completely different level of artistry and brilliance.
8/10
Daniel Caesar - CASE STUDY 01 (Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B)
After the abundance of praise heaped upon his award-winning 2017 debut album Freudian, Daniel Caesar's inability to innovate on its sequel is upsetting, even if the difference in quality is only slight. The Canadian R&B singer's second album is largely more of the same, but CASE STUDY 01 lacks the charm and consistency of its predecessor, and the novelty wears off fast in the face of so much generic neo-soul crooning. Early highlights like ENTROPY and CYANIDE are quite appealing, but the album quickly loses itself in a sea of murky, uninteresting ballads, and even features from names like Brandy and Pharrell cannot pull the album back out of its slump in the same way as Kali Uchis and H.E.R did on Caesar's previous work.
6/10