Edward Skeletrix – “Body of Work” review

This is the sophomore effort from Atlanta, Georgia rapper, producer, clothing designer, graphic artist & creative director Edward Skeletrix. Coming up during my high school years under the original moniker cight, he would go on to make his full-length near the end of 2023 with Skeletrix Language followed by The Perfect Background Music for Any Situation & the 2-disc Museum Music mixtapes last year. But after several months of delays, his newest Body of Work finally dropped & hopefully it won’t be his last.

“Everyone & Everything” made for a decent electronic/experimental hip hop intro talking about the masses wanting to listen to clones of each other whereas “Turn Off the Lights” blends cloud rap, wave, rage, Chicago drill, witch house & plugg yearning for his lover to let him see her body. The self-produced “정말많이정들었어요! Im So Attached” sung in Korean explores psychedelic folk, folktronica & bossa nova while the ambient plugg-infused “Ariana, Bella Hadid” talks about trying to get the bag.

We have Edward sampling “Lovefool” by The Cardigans and “Wet” by Mowalola & Deto Black during “Art’s Sucking the Life Out of Me Ok” prior to experimental hip hop, sound collage, industrial hip hop & wave music colliding for “House Party” so he can talk about wetting up the home of this person he has beef with. “Slavery” comes through with an art pop/experimental hip hop fusion including additional elements of alternative R&B & classic crossover venting his frustrations with label drama.

“Pain & Torture” after the heavenly “Art’s Sucking the Life Out of Me 6” intermission brings the ambient plugg vibes back in full gear talking about his inability of expressing his emotions properly while “Art’s Sucking the Life Out Of Me” takes a moment to discuss his views on religion. “Conference” has this experimental ambient plugg flare to it talking about needing more motivation to continue his musical career while “Let’s Take a Break From the Negativity” protects his energy.

North West gets a song of her on with “Let’s Have Some Fun” playfully looking to turn up over an ambient house, outsider house, hip house, hardstyle, lo-fi house, deconstructed club & experimental hip hop instrumental prior to “Art’s Sucking the Life Out Of Me..” ending the 1st half on a compositional note. “Love Me Not!” however kicks off the 2nd half shifting towards an experimentally & impressionistically ambient vibe admitting that he’s a fucked up guy himself.

“Guest List” after the “Art’s Sucking the Life Out of Me!” skit details his own likings for women over a beat mixing elements of ambient plugg, experimental hip hop, sound collage & neoclassical darkwave while the ambient “Art’s Sucking the Life Out of Me Wow” talks about him feeling like he’s drowning. “Luxury Delusions Aéronef” cloudily opens up regarding his experiences of being schizophrenic & after the “Art’s Sucking the Life Out of Me Fr” interlude, “Back Back” featuring Slime Dollaz decently gets on some gangsta shit topically.

After instrumentally repurposing the late XXXTENTACION loosie “elegant”, the song “Never Feel Again” continues to talk about his dwindling passion for music while “Mercay” discusses his relationship within the industry altogether. “Chaos in the Order” collides experimental hip hop, ambient, art pop, progressive electronic, spoken word & utopian virtual for a repetitive statement about his boundary-pushing music while “1 More Song Til I’m Famous” optimistically believing he’ll get more exposure if he drops anything going forward.

Putting the beef with his former mentee Brennan Jones to the side, Edward Skeletrix has always proven himself to be the most musically gifted of the 2 & Body of Work proves it by surpassing his debut. The experimental hip hop production amalgamates an eclectic number of sounds including electronic music, experimental music, ambient plugg, cloud rap, ambient, art pop, sound collage, epic collage, glitch pop, wave, rage, Chicago drill, witch house, plugg, psychedelic folk, folktronica, bossa nova, alternative R&B, classic crossover, neoclassical darkwave, ambient house, outsider house, hip house, hardstyle, lo-fi house, deconstructed club & progressive electronic to describe his love for the game fading.

Score: 4.5/5

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Nettspend – “him” review

Richmond, Virginia rapper & songwriter Nettspend surprise-releasing his 2nd mixtape on his SoundCloud. Blowing up in 2023 off his debut EP Kickdoor, he would also team up with Hooligan Lou for the poorly received collab EP 3rd Knock preceding him signing to Grade A Productions & Interscope Records a few months afterwards. His debut mixtape Badass Fucking Kid was welcomed to divisive feedback although I personally enjoyed it more than Kickdoor or Nettgenes’ eponymous debut EP. Coming off the introspective Early Life Crisis a couple months ago, him looks to prepare us for the next era.

“kriss kross” opens up with him talking about not having any friends & for his sidekick to slide back over a rage beat whereas “sumthin’ different” describes him taking 10s all day to the point where he feels like he’s spinnin’. “medicine taste like shit” produced by che sticks out amongst my personal favorites on the tape detailing his dislike of fentanyl & cocaine until “strong” samples “hey, hello” encouraging this person to take hard-hitting drugs with him over yet another hypertrap instrumental.

We get a cross between plugg & cloud rap on “bliss” suggesting the problem between him & this woman was him waking up & asking her which drugs he should take prior to “change on me” bringing the rage beats back into the picture talking about having the ability to steal hoes before becoming famous. “goin’ dumb” embraces a more prominent digicore sound discussing all the hoes knowing exactly how hard he’s been going while “team x” shifts towards a pluggier direction again getting on his gangsta shit.

“high off life” contains one of my favorite hypertrap instrumentals on the tape courtesy of gyro advising for this individual to never hit up his line again going forward & if I had to pick a least favorite track, “breesh breesh” takes the cake talking about having guns & drugs inside his bag. “$ MF” blends cloud rap & plugg again moderately flexing his cash flow while “H.Y.W.D.S. (How You Wanna Do Shit)?” goes full Chicago drill to talk about having no time for the power.

The rage lets itself loose once more during “young ho” detailing him being at the point in his life where he’s used to hearing gunfire & what he refers himself to be instead of an O.G. while the Early Life Crisis outtake “pocket bag” incorporates some jerk undertones confessing that he isn’t playing for keeps. “killin’” emphasizes the jerk influences with a bit of a plugg twist talking about being a real villain while “sallys” cooks up another outstanding hypertrap instrumental from CXO shouting out the place he dyes his hair.

“problems” spends almost a couple minutes colliding cloud rap cautioning for everyone near him not to test your luck since he has the ability to leave muhfuckas dead but after ”Snapchat” swaps out the cloudier elements in favor of standard trap music talking about women sending him nudes through the social media app itself, “sonder” experiments with mixing characteristics of emo rap & jerk asking if the chick he’s addressing meant what she said.

The last 3 songs all have their own rage-inducing auras to them, except “10k ona dogg” talks about his savagery & making out of the rap shit off the rap shit itself while “beep beep” calls out the crowd of individuals who stay envious of him experiencing the lifestyles of the rich & famous from his Range Rover to his fit. “shootin’” finishes him by posing the question of why things have gotten worse for him in the midst of trying to find a way out of this dead end.

Wasn’t anticipating Nettspend to drop again so soon, but I suppose it makes up for the delays Early Life Crisis faced taking a couple leftovers from those sessions & throwing some unreleased material in there ahead of his upcoming sophomore effort Slut vindicating why he’s been him. I’d even put him above 2slimey when it comes to that experimental rage style & there’s more variety between jerk, trap, cloud rap, plugg, digicore, Chicago drill & emo rap than the hardcore/pop raps of his debut.

Score: 3.5/5

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Ziggy Marley – “Brightside” review

Ziggy Marley is a 57 year old musician, singer/songwriter, producer, voice actor, author & philanthropist from Kingston, Jamaica notable for being the eldest son of reggae icon Bob Marley & his widow Rita. Beginning as the lead singer of The Melody Makers, they would drop 9 full-lengths together until disbanding & embarking on a solo career. He has since given his 8 albums of his own for over 2 decades, with his debut Dragonfly & the sophomore effort Love’s My Religion widely considered to be his best. More Family Time until now was the only thing he’s released in the 2020s & was optimistic in terms of his 9th studio LP being an improvement.

“Jah We Give Glory” fittingly begins with this reggae intro co-produced by his brother Stephen singing about praising God whereas “Racism’s a Killa” featuring Big Boi on the remix makes a powerful statement regarding the issue of racial discrimination only days after the Voting Rights Act was gutted. “Hey People Now” featuring Nikki Costa decently finds the 2 singing about us having the ability of setting ourselves free until the brass-heavy “Why Let the World?” featuring Sheila E. describes escaping the issues of our daily lives.

I felt that “Many Mourn for Bob” was a heartwarming way to start the 2nd half remembering Ziggy’s late father while “Sweet Divine” sing about a person who he can’t even find the right words to describe. “Make It Paradise” brings ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro into the picture yearning to spend time with his loved ones outside while the title track ties everything up by singing about the Brightside of the chaos happening around us globally.

Looking at everything that’s been going on throughout the past year & a half, Ziggy Marley’s return to secular reggae marks an introspective comeback for the creative approach in terms of songwriting & production that was unlike anything he’s done throughout his entire career & probably surpasses Wild & Free to become the best thing he’s musically done since his 2000s output. It’s unique for him & Stephen to use the 432Hz sonic frequency regularly employed for meditation & confronts the issue of mental health directly.

Score: 4/5

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Lucki – “Daysb4bad*” review

Finally getting the 10th extended play from Chicago, Illinois rapper & occasional producer Lucki to prelude his upcoming 4th LP. Beginning to turn heads in the summer of 2013 when he released his debut mixtape Alternative Trap to critical acclaim, he would later go on to give his fans 6 more tapes & a dozen EPs with the last one being the F1LTHY-produced Wake Up Lucki a week before my 25th birthday in December 2021. The full-length debut Flawless Like Me saw Lucki finding his style & the sophomore effort s*x mon*y dr*gs was the most I enjoyed Tune’s music in a while, coming off Gemini to drop Daysb4bad*.

“U Ready!” produced by LulRose begins with Tune talking about playing the game in order to ball & that the shit he does not being for show whereas “Sex Mula / Pete” featuring Lil Yachty fresh off helping Trick Williams become the new WWE United States Champion describes their preference of using weapons instead of fists. After freestyling over the instrumentals originally used for “All for the Love” by Jadakiss & “Made My Hoe Faint” by Future, the closing track “Capo 2x” featuring Kkanii finishes with both of them working smarter & trying to become rich.

Almost Woke & both entries of 2 Faced felt more like singles with an a-side & b-side than actual EPs but nevertheless, Daysb4bad* was a decent taste of what we can expect from what many can assume to be his final EMPIRE Distribution opus dr*gs r bad a couple weeks from now & expect it to be a lot better than what we got here. Excluding both freestyles & the outro, it sounds like he’s getting ready to let the world know how much of a student he is of this shit.

Score: 3/5

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PlaqueBoyMax – “Crash Dummy” review

West Orange, New Jersey recording artist, producer, audio engineer, media personality & streamer PlaqueBoyMax is back with his 6th extended play. Catching on to him at the beginning of the year after calling out DJ Akademiks for being a child groomer, he has since stayed busy by churning out 5 EPs in the quick amount of time he’s been in the spotlight signing with Field Trip Recordings & Capitol Records. 5 Forever almost last year wasted some genuinely solid production on Max’s weakly performed raps. The same can be said regarding Too Much Music, which didn’t raise my anticipation for Crash Dummy.

“Bussin’” made for an underwhelming intro talking about not needing any handouts whereas “Elastiboy” explains the new nickname he gave himself now that he’s got all these bands on him. “Break the Bank” reaches the halfway point redundantly talking about his wealth while “Get Off Me” tells a bitch to hop off his dick. “Different Bag” hilariously talks about being in a whole other category than everyone else & “Bad Bitch Addiction” produced by Internet Money Records in-house producer Rio Leyva details his obsession for baddies.

Since we got Too Much Music this past winter, PlaqueBoyMax has already comforted that he’s in the midst of working on his full-length debut Prince & an entire body of work fully produced by Metro Boomin’ afterwards. There’s only a few problems with that however: His rapping hasn’t improved at all compared to 5 Forever almost a year earlier or Crash Dummy’s predecessor 5 months ago despite his production choices & Atlanta proving himself to be better at curating.

Score: 2/5

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Isaiah Rashad – “It’s Been Awful” review

Chattanooga, Tennessee emcee & singer/songwriter Isaiah Rashad finally back for his 3rd studio LP. Coming up over a decade ago by signing to Top Dawg Entertainment & dropping his 2nd EP cilvia demo to universal acclaim the following year, the full-length debut The Sun’s Tirade as well as the sophomore effort albeit major label debut The House is Burning under Warner Records would continue to cement Zaywop was the most underrated weapon in the TDE arsenal. It’s Been Awful however could wake some people up since many would use that name to describe the past year & a half.

“The New Sublime” begins with this slow beat talking about wanting someone to pray for him & his family because of everyone going crazy whereas “M.O.M. (Man On a Mission)” rhythmically describes himself as the type who’s determined to get what he wants. “Same Sh!t” made for a tolerable trap single talking about the plan being to make money until he dies leading into “Boy in Red” featuring SZA coming through with this synergistically buttery R&B duet.

As for “Supaficial”, we have Zay further embracing a smoother vibe instrumentally asking if he & his lover can lay outside due to his dislike of lights in the ceiling while “Scared 2 Look Down” combines elements of cloud rap & trap to talk about him changing for the greater good. “Happy Hour” doesn’t shy away regarding him giving up on love from his side of things & sippin’ lean slowly just before “Do I Look High?” reaches the halfway point talks about dancing with the dark to fall in love with what he really is.

“Ain’t Givin’ Up” kicks off the 2nd leg of It’s Been Awful discussing his refusal of killing this high he’s experiencing while “G.T.K.Y. (Get To Know You)” produced by Wu10 talks about a desire of wanting a better understanding of his romantic interest from a personal standpoint. “Cameras” featuring Dominic Fike finds the pair pleading for their partners to pull up for a bit while “Act Normal” ponders what love is when he doesn’t trust men or women. 

Rounding out 3rd, the song “10 States Away” talks about getting fucked up during the middle of the day & planning his escape route while “Nuthin’ 2 Hide” admits to an individual killing his love through lying & pushing his limits in the evening without having a single thing to hide. “Superpowers” blends jazz rap & trap so he can talk about having extraordinary abilities of his own while the “719” freestyle samples “It Doesn’t Make Sense” by The Family Circle to speak of running back to his bitch.

It’s a shame that some closed-minded bigots will overlook Isaiah Rashad for the rest of his career all because of some asshole outing him as bisexual because he gets a lot of confessions & contemplations off his chest over the course of It’s Been Awful, possibly becoming the darkest material in his entire discography. The production in general feels like a different sound for him balancing conscious hip hop & contemporary R&B, limiting the amount of guests compared to The House is Burning to break down the Hell he’s gone through.

Score: 4/5

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Shoreline Mafia – “Bidness is Boomin’” review

This is the 4th extended play from Los Angeles, California duo the Shoreline Mafia now consisting of Ohgeesy & Fenix Flexin’. Originally a quartet, their debut mixtape ShorelineDoThatShit resulted in them signing to Atlantic Records for their next couple tapes & EPs as well as a full length studio debut. They would temporarily disband following Mafia Bidness so it’s members could pursue their solo careers, reuniting with half it’s members in 2023 & are coming off returning to Atlantic in tandem with 300 Entertainment for the sophomore effort Back in Bidness to explain how Bidness is Boomin’.

“Planet of the Apes” opens up by detailing the gangsta lifestyle over a nervous instrumental whereas “We Like to Party” produced by Hitmaka & Ty$ was easily my favorite single of the 4, interpolating “La Di Da Di” by Slick Rick himself during the hook. “Take U Home” gives off a more soulful vibe talking about their desires of bringing women back to their residences while the 4th & final single “Wood Wire Buffs” explains that the main reason women fuck with them is because of their professionalism.

The 2nd single “Out My Mynd” kicks off the latter half talking about having the ability to make wishes come true due to their statuses as stars while the hyphy-tinged lead single “Rockin’” samples “Funky Little Beat” by Debbie Deb so they can discuss their success. “Fine Shyt” winds down Bidness is Boomin’s final minutes talking about the women they’re seeing fucking their exes prior to the closer “Play Ball” ties things up with this gangsta rap/hyphy outro.

I wasn’t so much a fan of the Disco Mafia’s eponymous debut a few months earlier was a bit underwhelming, so the singles that were building up towards Bidness is Boomin’ gave me the impression of surpassing Party Pack 2 to become the Shoreline Mafia’s greatest EP. A lot of the same musical ideas we heard on Back in Bidnessover a year ago from nervous to hyphy & gangsta rap all bleed through the production once more, but it’s more polished.

Score: 3.5/5

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North West – “n0rth4evr” review

North West is a 12 year old producer, singer/songwriter, rapper, actress & music video director from Los Angeles, California known for being the eldest child of one of my top 10 producers of all-time: Ye formerly known as Kanye West. She would make her musical debut on “Talking / Once Again” & “Bomb” off ¥$’ full-length debut Vultures & it’s sequel respectively, the latter being my least favorite track on Vultures 2personally. I did however enjoy her appearance on “Childlike Things” off FKA twigs’ 3rd album Eusexua & the “blink twice” interlude she produced for Skaiwater’s 3rd album wonderful, signing to gamma. briefly after announcing it’s distribution deal with YZY SND to drop her debut extended play ahead of her own full-length studio debut The Elementary School Dropout.

The self-produced intro “H0w Sh0uld ! f33l” opens with this rage-inducing beat sampling “Monster” by Meg & Dia to talk about everyone only seeing her appeal because who her parents are whereas “D!e” fuses hypertrap & pop rap to discuss her rockstar lifestyle. The title track shifts gears with a full metal instrumental to end the 1st half of the EP, talking about having so much people around her except she feels like it’s all fake because of their shadiness.

“Th!s tim3” gets the 2nd leg of n0rth4evr going by embracing a more industrial sound taking accountability for fumbling when this person’s heart was on the line & having no one by her side other than some bands while “W0ah” gets on a kawaii trap metal vibe talking about signing autographs in elementary school as well as running the world. “Aishite (愛して)” ends the EP with a hypertrap ode to 愛して愛して愛して by きくお featuring 初音ミク.

It can a bit blatantly obvious that North West shows us who some of her artistic influences are like Playboi Carti as well as Molly Santana & Bktherula to only name a few, but I’d consider n0rth4evr to be a decent beginning to her musical career even if I think it won’t be until she’s a bit older when her full artistic potential fully reveals itself & gives us something more groundbreaking. Her production’s more rage, pop rap, rap metal, hardstyle & Jersey club rap oriented than the chipmunk soul direction she went for on “Punch Drunk” off her father’s latest album Bully & the boastful teenage angst throughout the lyrics was somewhat expected.

Score: 3/5

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American Football – “LP4” review

American Football is one of the most prolific midwest emo bands hailing from Urbana, Illinois comprised of guitarist Steve Holmes, drummer/trumpeter Steve Lamos, bassist Nate Kinsella & the latter’s cousin/frontman Mike. Exploding in 1999 off their eponymous full-length debut, they would make a moderate comeback in 2016 in the form of a sophomore effort although their previous album back in 2019 has been widely considered by many including myself to be right behind their debut. 7 years later, they’re starting off the month of May returning for their 4th studio LP.

“Man Overboard” begins by singing about feeling hopeless & Mike comparing himself to anchor being cut loose pondering life without this person  he misses whereas the 2nd & final single “No Feeling” featuring Brendan Yates fuses post-rock, indie rock, slowcore & dream pop to ponder suicide. “Blood on My Blood” featuring Caithlin de Marrais sings about the story of Mike’s existence being a murder mystery until “Bad Moons” combines post-rock, indie rock, dream pop, slowcore, midwest emo & ambient pop for an exciting lead single.

After the compositional “One with the Piano” intermission, “Patron Saint of Pale” starts the 2nd half looking to settle an issue by playing rochambeau while “Wake Her Up” featuring Wisp sings about a boy who fell in love with the girl at the bottom of the River Seine. “Desdemona” takes inspiration from tragic heroine who appeared in the Shakespearean play Othello & after the “Lullabye” instrumental piece builds itself upon a vibraphone & guitar, “No Soul to Save” ends with Mike likening himself to a magician making himself disappear.

It’s often a very special occasion when these guys put out new music because they don’t do it very often & the indication of LP4 becoming some of American Football’s darkest material becomes a reality almost 3 decades since their self-titled debut, landing right behind the latter for the 2nd best entry in the band’s discography. There’s more of a focus on the quartet’s indie/post-rock elements production-wise compared to than LP3 although we’re still getting whiffs of midwest emo, slowcore, math rock, shoegaze, dream pop & ambient pop tackling grim subjects including suicidal thoughts, shame, divorce, addiction, self-hatred & rebirth.

Score: 4.5/5

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Eric André – “Film Scores for Films That Don’t Exist” review

Eric André is a 43 year old comedian, actor, television host, writer, producer & musician from Boca Raton, Florida who I became a fan of when The Eric André Show was airing on the Cartoon Network late night block [adult swim]. It would become the greatest talk show of all-time & ran for 6 seasons, joining the likes of Smiling Friends as well as Rick & Morty and Loiter Squad as some of the greatest material they’ve aired. I also enjoyed Bad Trip & saw him do stand-up the night Ye formerly known as Kanye West did a listening party for Jesus is King at the venue next door, except some may not know he dropped an extended play on Christmas 2014 called BLARF. Fast forward to 2019, the full-length debut Cease & Desist under Stones Throw Records was a solid plunderphonics/sound collage album & he’s back for a sophomore effort.

“The Final Shootout” sets the tone of what’s to come by bringing in an orchestra for a composition that I can imagine hearing during a climactic scene in the middle of an old western movie whereas the only single “What’s for Dinner?” fuses symphonic music, orchestral, avant-garde metal, djent, metalcore & minimalism. “Stars Without Light” seems like it would fit in a future Star Wars show on Disney+ because of the emotional weight it carries while “Piano Concerto #0” ends the 1st leg on a more peppier note.

As for “Mercury Dripping Down My Spine”, we have Eric experimenting with a dark ambient sound for the longest number here clocking in at nearly 8 minutes just before “Run for Your Death” makes one feel like they’re in the middle of a chase scene in an action/adventure flick that only gets more & more intense. “Dead Ballerina” nears the end of Film Scores for Films That Don’t Exist with what could easily be the only track here that evokes a sad atmosphere & “1869 Overture” concludes in the form of a brief 64 second finale.

You’re not gonna get anything like Cease & Desist over the course of the half hour Film Scores for Films That Don’t Exist has to offer & I think that’s a very good thing, but the final product though is worth revisiting as someone who doesn’t listen to a lot of orchestral or classical music. Other than maybe “Symphony #9 in E Minor” when former PWG World Champion, 2-time WWE world champion & the longest reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther makes his entrances or the beginning of my favorite Ren & Stimpy episode “Stimpy’s Invention”. The secondary influences of symphonic metal, avant-garde metal, djent, metalcore, post-minimalism, dark ambient & progressive electronic & space ambient were all additionally executed properly & further states we won’t ever know what to expect from Eric André musically.

Score: 3.5/5

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