Jake's music reviews

Weekly track round up (24th Nov).

Welcome to the first official weekly track round up! I will be giving my thoughts about some of the music released this week (week starting the 18th). Quite a quiet week in regards to new releases, but some good and even great tracks regardless. There’s obviously a lot more than what I am going to talk about, but I’ve cherry picked the ones I wanted to talk about the most, so let’s dive in.

Lotus Eater – Second To None.

First off, one of my favourite up-and-comers of the past few years, and a front runner of the new northern UK metal sound, Glasgow metal outfit Lotus Eater, known for blending parts of Nu metal and Metalcore for a very grimy and distressed sound, came out this week with a new track ‘Second To None’, and sadly I’m quite let down by it. The track doesn’t pack the punch that most of their music hits me with, and for whatever reason the production just doesn’t seem as drenched in gloom and distortion as their previous tracks. They’re a very new band, so they will undoubtedly be trying new things, I just feel this has been a bit of a misstep in an extremely consistent, positively correlating release history so far. I also heavily dislike the rap rock/ spoken word inspired break down around the 1:30 mark, it’s such a jolt from the rest of the track. I did enjoy the outro quite a bit though. Much more to what I expect from the band, with the droning guitars and distant ambient effects. The track on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7lnaHS8m5NoKymmGlScARP?si=vDud-docRHCirOsN4bfdyw

Mr. Bill, Andrew Huang – Droppy.

A new track by producer and DJ Mr. Bill, featuring famed YouTube star and producer Andrew Huang, released a few days ago; the track is titled ‘Droppy’. It’s a very straight forward electronic song. Mixing some interesting EDM chord progressions with evidently dubstep inspired beats, with a little bit of chaos that is featured in most EDM and dubstep from recent years. I like the song for what it is. It is simple, the production is spot on; the sounds created, especially in the last minute or so of the track, could even be considered beautiful. Will I come back to it? Probably once or twice, then it will dissolve into the vast ocean of EDM similarity, but it’s a good, simple electronic song nonetheless. Listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/track/4AgMqloEOHdMFhsSvgG1CL?si=gcx4CvdGR32vkE_T3Rb9PQ

BluntOne – Brahmarandhra.

Lo-Fi beat producer BluntOne released an album titled ‘Brahmarandhra’ this week. There’s not much to say here. The album is what you would expect from a Lo-Fi producer, offering simplistic, dreamy beats and beautiful melodies, perfect for sleep or as background music. It’s nice, it’s simple, I would recommend if you are in need of something calm in the background that you don’t need to focus on too heavily. https://open.spotify.com/track/4AgMqloEOHdMFhsSvgG1CL?si=gcx4CvdGR32vkE_T3Rb9PQ

beabadoobee – Spotify Singles.

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and rising star in the indie-grunge scene, beabadoobee came out with a Spotify-released single this week; an acoustic rendition of her hit ‘she plays bass’, and a cover of Simple minds’ ‘Don’t you (forget about me)’ both feature on this two song single. I love these two tracks. ‘She plays bass’, off of Bea’s ‘Space Cadet’ EP that dropped earlier this year, is easily one of my favourite songs to have come out this year. This stripped back acoustic rendition makes the track very, very intimate. The Simple minds cover is equally triumphant. Bea and her cohorts form a version of this 80s classic reminding me a lot of late 90s, early 2000s post grunge/ guitar pop. That’s all I will say on these tracks for now, as they will most likely be the tracks I will review more in-depth on Wednesday (I am fully aware it’s not an album but these tracks have been my favourite from this week). The single: https://open.spotify.com/album/4aopXLUhE3lthQLauMTC8X?si=VeHoB7rRR0GNFGukJBotKw

Solange – Solo Star (instrumentals).

Solange blew me away when she released ‘When I get home’ in March earlier this year, a gorgeous mixture of alternate pop and R&B. So I was excited for about 2 seconds when I saw that the younger, often overlooked Knowles sister had dropped a new album this week. Sadly, it turned out to just be the instrumental tracks to her 2003 debut album ‘Solo Star’. The instrumentals to this album are so synonymous and instantly recognisable to the era they were created in, if you want to relive the album devoid of Solange, then enjoy to your hearts content. But, unless you have a serious issue with Solange’s classic early 2000s pop queen delivery, I doubt you will. All I can say about this album is damn you Solange. Damn you for getting me excited. https://open.spotify.com/album/4HqXaOMtXGjPbF2SloKsmD?si=VLwtzvaiT4qfCqNEkCFkMg

Harry Styles – Watermelon Sugar.

Previous One direction member Harry Styles dropped a new song titled ‘Watermelon Sugar’ this week. And I like it. I feel it is more mature and developed than his previous single ‘Lights up’, which is also featured on the single. It doesn’t blow me away in any way, but I think Harry is doing well to develop himself as a musician, and to show his versatility after his stint in a very, ahem, “one directional” boy band. He is no Freddie Mercury, which is where I feel Harry is trying to draw inspiration from in terms of his eccentric persona and soaring, chorus-like backing vocals, but if you want something that is easy on the ears and a bit danceable, go for it. I know I will definitely be looking out for more of Harry’s work in the future. There’s very little more I can say about the track. Give it a try and see what you think: https://open.spotify.com/album/659e2eKbsMH0vYCs5qgFmy?si=jPWeSHPuTGS-oDGRPQcFUw

Lewis Capaldi – Before You Go.

Scottish singer/song writer Lewis Capaldi came out with a new single this week called ‘Before You Go’, released in anticipation of the extended release of his album ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent’. This new track is one of the few new songs that will be added to the re-released version of the album. And it’s a Lewis Capaldi song. That is about as much as I can say. It’s not really for me, but I can’t be disparaging to people who enjoy the downbeat and easy to listen to temperament of his music. I like the chorus vocals on this song, and I like this song miles more than his hit ‘Bruises’, which, for some reason, is also on this single. I’ve been hit over the head with that track so much this year I can’t listen to it any more, but at least it isn’t Ed Sheeran. If you like Lewis Capaldi you will like this new track. If you don’t, you won’t. It’s as simple as that. Here it is: https://open.spotify.com/album/0488X5veBK6t3vSmIiTDJY?si=YWB1kOnBReivEbgM_B4J-w

Coldplay – Champion of The World.

There is a new Coldplay album out. I listened to a song off of the album. It is called ‘Champion of The World’. I wouldn’t recommend you do the same. https://open.spotify.com/track/6mf7BNgXs8JipPr2QILnyN?si=oAYhAvaQQzuZhy5KX8ylEg

Ozzy Osbourne – Straight to Hell.

The guardian of Metal, the lord of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne has ascended from the depths of hell to drop a new single this week. The song is called ‘Straight to Hell’, and it isn’t great. Ozzy is a bad singer. It’s quite simple. People don’t like to admit it, but his performance is, uninspired. The song reminds me of a Black Label Society song, albeit one that has been neutered, with all of the devil imagery in Ozzy’s lyrics, gospel-esque backing vocals, and the links between Slash’s solo on this track and any other Zakk Wilde solo, with the overused wah pedal and pentatonic runs, are glaringly obvious. Slash’s solo on this song seems soulless, which is sad because Slash has always been a favourite of mine when it comes to guitarists from that era of metal and rock. The track just doesn’t have a lasting impact. It doesn’t pack enough punch to bring me back for another listen. All aspects of it seem uninspired, from the performances to the production. Best skip this track and just go and listen to ‘Blizzard of Ozz’ instead. Nonetheless, here is the track: https://open.spotify.com/album/621f68tD6k8azl9FuQgxJT?si=qc8_YD5tRW-hmY8uQbQU9A

And that is about it for this week’s track round up! I have definitely not covered everything, but please take the time to investigate any of the music I have spoken about that has interested you. I’ll see you on Wednesday for a more in-depth review of my favourite track this week. Thanks for reading!

PlayThatBoiZay steps out of the dark with NOCTURNAL.

Florida rapper PlayThatBoiZay has recently released his new album NOCTURNAL, and whilst it can be slightly immature at points, it is a giant step in the right direction for the young rapper.

Album cover for PlayThatBoiZay’s ‘NOCTURNAL’.

PlayThatBoiZay is very new to the music scene, his first single being released as recently as 2018. That being said, he has managed to make a name for himself very quickly, most notably with his feature on fellow Miami native Denzel Curry’s track, ‘P.A.T’, earlier this year. With a hard hitting, almost scream-like delivery, heavily reminding me of rappers like the late XXXtentacion and a lot of cloud rap that has emerged in the last fews years, the album is full-on sonic assault for a good 80% of the 16 minute runtime, and whilst that can get tedious later on in the track listing, like on the track ‘IONEVENRAP’, when it is more pulled back like on the track ‘POISON KLAN’, it is a lot more effective.

Dark tone.

This album is dark. The instrumentals are at times spooky, with, in almost every track, a very distorted drum track, adding to that in your face attitude that is a constant in Zay’s music. Lyrically as well, this album has a much more solidified narrative than Zay’s previous music, opting for subjects of death, poison and other deadly things that add to the halloween-esque environment Zay tries to create, which is more interesting than the 2 dimensional, braggadocious subjects Zay often opts for. Whilst that is still very prevalent, and at times can get almost childish, He is definitely taking the rights steps in fleshing out the ideas he is trying to portray with his lyrics and tone.

Favourite track.

My favourite track on this album is easily ‘POISON KLAN’. With its extremely ambient, almost distant instrumental, it instantly presents itself as the most mature song on the album. This song features verses from rappers Denzel Curry and Anonymuz, helping to elevate the professional sense of the song even further. Both features are wonderful, fitting the dark tone of the album, but both keeping their own styles. I particularly am a fan of Denzel’s verse. His flow is perfect for the track, and his signature delivery is a personal favourite of mine. Anonymuz sits in the same camp as Denzel, having great flow and delivery during his verse. The problem with having such higher level features on a track like this is it can detract from the host’s verses and performance, and starting with a verse from Denzel sadly does this (also thumbs up to the ‘infected version’ of this song, which is the same track but slowed and more with more reverb. It becomes. Even. Creepier). As a track purely presented by Zay, I would have to say the track ‘HAUNTED HOUSE PARTY’ is my favourite. Zay’s screaming delivery that is prevalent on many of the other tracks is toned back, giving more of a distant and aggressive delivery, as the childishness from the more cloud rap inspired songs like ‘IONEVENRAP’ disappears.

Least favourite track.

My least favourite track on the album is ‘IONEVENRAP’. I enjoy the instrumental, continuing the horror vibe that is present throughout, and I like some of Zay’s delivery, namely the intro. Apart from that, this song is the most immature on the album, in its intense similarities to a lot of cloud rap, with the silly ad-libs (‘ay’ and ‘yuh’ being repeated over and over) and less refined delivery from Zay. It becomes slightly sloppy as the track goes on. I also did not enjoy the verse from DrownMili at all. His verse lacked punch, and his delivery had too many similarities to that of Playboi Carti, who’s baby voice delivery I find almost unbearable.

The takeaway.

All in all, I think this is a really positive step for PlayThatBoiZay. His work has improved on almost all fronts, having better flows, instrumentals and an interesting narrative and tone that stays consistent for most of the album. This album shines the best when Zay ditches his at times more immature, cloud rap sensibilities, and focuses on making hard-hitting, eery bangers. If Zay can continue to create tracks like ‘POISON KLAN’, he has a good chance to sky rocket as an artist. I do, however believe he needs to shed the more cloud rap characteristics that seem to, at times, anchor his development as an artist.

NOCTURNAL by PlayThatBoiZay – strong 6 to light 7/10.

The album on spotify – https://open.spotify.com/album/46zJNk1a1m0Gz7WqCGdxyN?si=Fr-db7vtKhtoTQW1wthw

Post Schedule.

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog. I am Jake, and I love nothing more than digesting and analysing music. I love doing this so much, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on some of the new tracks and albums that have come out during the week. My schedule will be as follows:

Sunday (weekly track round up).

Round up of some of my favourite, and not so favourite tracks and albums of the week.

Wednesday (album/track review).

A more in-depth review of my favourite album or track from the previous week, analysing what I enjoy about it, my favourite tracks and rating the album.

And that is it, Thanks for visiting!