Tag: James Blake

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, instrumentalist & producer from London, England, United Kingdom who released his self-titled debut in 2011. He would then go on to top this with his next 2 albums Overgrown & The Colour in Anything in 2013 & 2016 respectively. But now to start his 2019, he’s delivering his 4th full-length album.

Thing start off with the title track, where James sings to ex girlfriend Jameela Jamil over a piano & some strings. The next track “Mile High” with Travis Scott is all about having sex on a plane over a smooth Metro Boomin’ instrumental while the song “Tell Them” by Moses Sumney is about how he doesn’t plan on staying with this woman over another Metro beat, except this once sounds skeletal. The track “Into the Red” talks about keeping this woman in her life while the song “Barefoot in the Park” by Rosalía is a pretty decent minimalist Spanish-sung ballad.

The track “Can’t Believe the Way We Flow” seems to tackle loneliness over some background vocals while the song “Are You in Love?” sees James asking this woman if she’s attracted to him over an ambient instrumental with some synthesizers. The track “Where’s the Catch?” with André 3000 talks about how they can’t be deceived over a dark electropop instrumental & while the song “I’ll Come Too” has a mellow instrumental, the lyrics are pretty stalker-ish. The track “Power On” discusses how he was wrong about this woman over a soothing beat while the song “Don’t Miss It” talks about his depression over an art pop instrumental. The album then finishes with “Lullaby for My Insomniac”, which is mostly an alluring ambient piece.

I was pretty excited going into this & at the end, it’s one of my favorite albums from James yet. There are some cuts that feel like leftovers from other artists’ latest albums, but the upbeat production is a nice touch & the romantic concept is mostly well put together.

Score: 3.5/5