James Blake – “Trying Times” review

This is the 7th studio LP & Virgin Music debut from Enfield, London, England, United Kingdom singer/songwriter & producer James Blake. Someone who would move over to Republic Records after making his eponymous debut in 2011 under A&M Records by dropping Overgrown, The Colour in Anything, Assume Form, Friends That Break Your Heart & Playing Robots into Heaven over the course of a decade. I can’t forget to mention when he & Lil Yachty got together for their collaborative album Bad Cameo a couple years ago, marking his independence from a major label in an attempt to make something that would help people overcome these Trying Times.

“Walk Out Music” begins with a neo-psychedelic synthwave intro singing about being no good to anybody whereas “Death of Love” fuses alternative R&B, post-dubstep, trap soul & UK bass sampling “You Want It Darker” by the late Leonard Cohen to describe the internet’s progressively dark downfall. “I Had a Dream She Took My Hand” combines singer/songwriter, alternative R&B, brill building & adult contemporary flipping “It Was Only a Dream” by Thee Sinseers sings about wanting to know what it means while the soulful singer/songwriter title track desiring to die & stay alive for this person after everything going on these past couple weeks.

Things kinda take an indie rock turn whilst suggesting to his partner that they “Make Something Up” leading into Monica Martin joining James for the 2-parter “Didn’t Come to Argue” singing about taking her hand with no plans of doing so. “Days Go By” experiments with chipmunk soul & post-dubstep passionately admitting he let the enemy get the best of him in the midst of nothing getting done the more time passes while “Doesn’t Just Happen” featuring Dave continues the 2nd half of the album singing & rapping about how falling in love doesn’t occur out of the blue.

“Rest of Your Life” after the vocally repetitive “Obsession” interlude kicks off the 4th quarter of Trying Times embracing an EDM sound wanting to know where this person’s gonna spend the remainder of their existence & wanting to spend it with them while “Through the High Wire” was originally conceived when one of my top 10 producers of all-time Ye formerly known as Kanye West were working on a cancelled collaborative album called War & I’ll still take this final version for what it is. “Feel It Again” incorporates these bare synthesizers asking himself if he really came all the way here to be someone’s friend & “Just a Little Higher” ends with him singing about adjusting your sights because we’re all getting played.

Spending the last quarter of a century waking up to do what he loves, James Blake commemorates 15 years of introducing himself with self-titled by dropping what the multi-talented recording artist himself would consider the strongest possible foot he could put forward & takes over Playing Robots Into Heaven’s spot as the guest thing he’s done in this ongoing decade. His production explores art pop, alternative R&B, alt-pop, post-dubstep, UK bass, trap soul, neo-soul, singer/songwriter, brill building & adult contemporary to confidently give us his experiences of being in love in the middle of him battling the limits of the self against a backdrop of global uncertainty.

Score: 4.5/5

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James Blake & Lil Yachty – “Bad Cameo” review

Here we have a new collaborative LP between James Blake & Lil Yachty. One is a singer/songwriter & producer from London, England, United Kingdom & the other happens to be a rapper, singer/songwriter & producer coming straight outta Atlanta, Georgia. Both of whom I’ve covered individually in the past ranging from projects like Assume Form to Michigan Boy Boat & of course Let’s Start Here., the latter being Yachty’s very own 808s/IGOR moment venturing out into a psychedelic rock direction. Neither one of these guys have ever worked with each other previously, so my curiosity around Bad Cameo got a hold of me needless to say. Especially after James’ comments back in March about streaming services devaluing music & has since been trying to help improve streaming rates for artists, hence why Pharrell released his latest album Black Yacht Rock: City of Limitless Access through its own web domain on his birthday along with ¥$ planning to release Vultures 2 exclusively through a YZY app & Metro Boomin’ recently saying his next album might be the last on DSPs. Those & Bandcamp are the best solutions.

“Save the Savior” starts off headed towards an ambient direction rapping & singing about the savior needing to be saved whereas “In Grey” hopes to be picked back up by Valentine’s Day if they fall by then bringing a future garage vibe to the table behind the boards. “Midnight” takes the neo-psychedelic art pop route instrumentally knowing that the shore will speak even though you’re the only one who saw while “Woo” fuses hip house & alternative R&B wanting to know if their partners really love them.

The title track produced with BNYX of Working on Dying goes ambient once again hoping not to head down towards a significantly dark path ever again just before the ambient house-infused “Missing Man” finds both of them vulnerably feels broken down into pieces. “Twice” continues the 2nd leg of Bad Cameo in the form of this perfectly balanced 2-parter describing a simple equation you can count on them for prior to the progressively ethereal “Transport Me” samples “The Vibes is Right” by Barrington Levy wanting to know your story.

“Run Away from the Rabbit” nears the conclusion of the collaborative LP that we never thought we needed to hear wanting to be blinded over an ambient instrumental & “Red Carpet” closes it out with 1 more ambient cut talking about never wanting to walk the red carpet on top of everyone seeing new versions of them right in front of us & late night thoughts make it hard for either one of them to sleep at night.

Yachty’s evolution throughout the last year & a half putting out some of the best material of his career has been one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed in my life especially when you had the heads who genuinely don’t fuck with him at all coming clean that Let’s Start Here. or “The Secret Recipe” are incredible & Bad Cameo stands as a historic crossover for fans of both him & James. It’s prominently art pop & neo-psychedelic with additional undertones of alternative R&B, ambient house, ambient, experimental hip hop, future garage & UK bass.

Score: 4.5/5

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James Blake – “Assume Form” review

James Blake is a 30 year old singer/songwriter & producer Enfield, London, England United Kingdom who made his critically acclaimed eponymous debut in 2011 under A&M Records. He would move over to Republic Records for an equally praised sophomore effort Overgrown & The Colour in Anything has been considered to be the weakest entry in his whole discography although it’s merely average, coming off the latter with his 4th studio album ahead of his forthcoming North American tour.

The title track starts us off singing to his girlfriend Jameela Jamil over a piano & some strings whereas the cloudy alternative R&B/trap soul single “Mile High” featuring Travis Scott is all about having sex on a plane over a smooth Metro Boomin’ instrumental. “Tell Them” by Moses Sumney is about how he doesn’t plan on staying with this woman over a skeletal Metro beat while “Into the Red” talks about keeping this woman in her life.

“Barefoot in the Park” by Rosalía is a powerfully minimalist ballad sung in Spanish while “Can’t Believe the Way We Flow” seems to tackle loneliness over some background vocals.the song “Are You in Love?” sees James asking this woman if she’s attracted to him over an ambient instrumental with some synthesizers while “Where’s the Catch?” featuring André 3000 talks about how they can’t be deceived over a dark electropop instrumental.

The song “I’ll Come Too” might be my least favorite track here & it has more to do with the stalker-ish lyrics than the mellow beat while “Power On” discusses how he was wrong about this woman over a soothing beat. “Don’t Miss It” talks about his depression over a fusion alternative R&B, art pop, alt-pop, glitch pop, future garage, pop soul & post-dubstep while the album lastly finishes with “Lullaby for My Insomniac”, which is mostly this choral ambient pop piece.

It might not be on par with self-titled or Overgrown, but I can say that I enjoyed Assume Form a lot more than his previous LP. His production refines the fusions of alternative R&B, art pop, ambient pop, UK bass, trap soul, alt-pop, glitch pop, future garage, pop soul & post-dubstep that made The Colour of Anything so different compared to both it’s predecessors aside except it has an upbeat twist to it & he brings a few high profile guests to join him for a look at the way he’s been feeling as of late.

Score: 3.5/5