Mission: Infect – “epideM:Ic” review

This is the 7th studio LP from underground hip hop collective Mission: Infect consisting of Lo Key, Badluck, Dubbs, Fia Fawn, KruX 1, Madd Maxxx, Malaria, St. Sinna & 0. They’ve released their previous 6 full-lengths together in the span of nearly 2 decades including the Chemical Threats tetralogy, XterM:Ination & Asphyxiation with quite a few other members finding success on their own as solo artists in the wicked shit scene. Returning in 2024 with their arM:Igeddon extended play, they’re returning in time for an epideM:Ic.

After the “Incoming Transmission” intro, we get a sequel to “Throw ‘Em Up” off the 2nd installment of the Criminal Threats series performed by Lo Key & Badluck whereas “Body Drop” aggressively talks about the crew slaughtering all opponents over a boom bap instrumental. “Bring the Noise” explains that this is basically chemical warfare to Neon Sermon & Dubbs rather than another song while “Call 2 Arms” lets both Lo Key & Dubbs blow off some lyrical steam for a few minutes.

“Bullets & Spraypaint” starts the 2nd half talking about LOKE & Fia Fawn’s only purpose here being to infest the brains of those listening leading into “Soldiers of Death” explains the voices in their heads telling them to kill all enemies. “Contagion” after the “Message from Grey” skit takes a more conscious approach topically over an apocalyptic beat & once “Blackout” brings the revolution live from the frontlines, the outro “Starting Over” provides an anthem for the rebellious to grab their gas masks & march to.

Originally slated to come out a year earlier, Lo Key ended up temporarily scrapping epideM:Ic for due to the lack of involvement from all the other Mission: Infect generals & I’m surprisingly overjoyed that he was able to get 6 others who’ve been around since Day 1 to be apart of the final product alongside the 2 newest additions to the crew. They’ve even jokingly said the album probably doesn’t have anything to do with the ongoing hantavirus situation & not only does M:I lyrically turn brains into black cherry slurpees, but them hinting at recruiting more artists to join & more output collectively seems like a promising beginning of making up for being inactive for long periods of time.

Score: 4/5

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Lelo – “Mastiff” review

Detroit, Michigan rapper Lelo coming off his full-length debut New Detroit last summer to drop his 7th extended play. Signing to 10K Projects a couple years ago, he would make his presence known more widely in the local trap scene by putting out his 4th EP Nightingale not too long after landing a record deal & gained even more exposure a month later by dropping the single “No Contempt” on SoundCloud. LifeAfterDogshit as well as When It’s Over & New Detroit would further increase his profile, returning 10 months since the latter to drop Mastiff.

“Hollowed Bricks” begins with a luxurious backdrop, some hi-hats & 808s talking about living before sitting in the casket whereas “Blueprint” featuring Apolloscase brings a wavier Detroit sound to the picture so both of them can trade verses with each other. “Dialect” ends the 1st leg of the EP explaining that it’s a whole different kind of talk whenever one brings up money around him & not inserting himself around those who haven’t seen shit.

To kick off the 2nd half, things got for a pluggier vibe instrumentally so he can talk about staying “Hoodrich” until his very last breath while “Monetize” brings a subdued tone to the beat flexing his ability of selling this shit back to the trap like he didn’t already begin to make some chips off it. The closing track “Down to Earth” spends Mastiff’s final 3 minutes blending a soul sample with hi-hats talking about having bigger dreams & a few telling him to die by this chain he has.

It made me happy to hear that more ears got put onto Lelo the summer prior ditching the trap elements of When It’s Over so he could make a turn towards a cloudier Detroit trap direction & create something entirely new out of interpolating many of the city’s popular sounds, swapping out the cloudier influences in favor of standard trap for Mastiff & incorporating some occasional plugg undertones to further represent the Motor City’s past & present.

Score: 3.5/5

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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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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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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 while “fuck tsa” starts the deluxe run dissing the TSA over a jerk beat.

“mona lisa” talks about having bitches who’re works of art the way he see thems & money making their worlds spin while “u not a demon” calls back to both “plan b” & “paris hilton” off the last album. “forever never” might be my favorite bonus track of them all talking about his plans of replacing everything that’s was built & ironically, the weakest of the bunch “maybach” reserve my least favorite for last bulletproofing his luxury car in case he runs into some haters.

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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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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Weird Nightmare – “Hoopla” review

This is the sophomore effort from Toronto, Ontario, Canada singer/songwriter Weird Nightmare a.k.a. Alex Edkins. Known for being the frontman of METZ & Lids, he would also become 1/2 of the experimental rock duo Noble Rot prior to making his eponymous full-length debut under Sub Pop Records in 2023 to moderate reception. I did however appreciate the noisy indie rock direction Alex went for with it including the secondary influences of power pop & garage rock, so him returning 4 years later by dropping Hoopla was gonna be an interesting growth to witness.

“Headful of Rain” opens up with this alternative rock intro singing about wanting to write a love song without him ending up scrapping it whereas the 2nd single “Might See You There” gives off some power pop vibes portraying himself to be coming home from what I have to presume to be the road touring. “Baby Don’t” fuses elements of pop rock & alt-rock singing about this woman being everything he wanted out of her while the lead single “Forever Elsewhere” describes things to be darker by the night & love overcoming all soon.

Reaching the halfway point, “Never in Style” embraces a bit of a garage rock sound rebelliously singing about him never following what’s trendy just before the 3rd single “Pay No Mind” explains being so broke to the point where he can’t even pay attention to the time to begin the 2nd leg of the LP & assuring he’ll be done in the end. “If You Should Turn Away” however keeps it going forward with this gentle, summery aura realizing how it feels to love someone & fuck up his shot.

“Little Strange” winds down Hoopla’s last few moments taking some inspiration from The Beach Boys’ surf rock output during the early stages of their career particularly when the chorus hits & after “Bright City Lights” featuring Julianna Riolino finds the pair embracing the pop rock influences even further for this warm duet, the 4th & final single “Where I Belong” introspectively sings about wanting to be with his 2 children to send off the album.

Representing a huge leap forward in Weird Nightmare’s sonic palette & emotional vulnerability, Hoopla combines the aesthetics of 60s psychedelia & the 90s DIY movement to lean heavier on his power pop, slacker rock, jangle pop, pop punk, noise pop, garage rock revival & garage punk influences for a half hour statement regarding the love Alex Edkins still has for the world looking to shine a bright light of optimism in these dark times. The type of artistic development he displays here is what I love to hear & can definitely imagine it getting play over in the west coast this summer.

Score: 4/5

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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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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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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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