Mike Dean – “4:25” review

This is the 6th studio LP from Houston, Texas producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & one of the greatest audio engineers of all-time Mike Dean. Pioneering the dirty south sound in the 90s as an in-house producer for Rap-A-Lot Records, one may also know him for engineering nearly all of Ye formerly known as Kanye West’s output up until his 2022 antisemitic meltdown calling himself a Nazi on InfoWars. 4:20 was a 90 minute exploration into progressive electronic & the nearly 2 hour sequel 4:22 continued towards that trajectory. Smoke State 42222 went for more of a straight-forward electronic sound with additional elements of space ambient & even Mike’s last LP 4:23 went head-on synthwave, landing a spot on my Honorable Mentions of 2023 list as a result of being more well-put together than his last couple solo efforts. Almost a year to day since 4:24, I wasn’t too surprised regarding 4:25

“In Paradisum” keeps the tradition alive hooking up these prominent synth-organ melodies that immediately grab your attention whereas “Scream” kinda gives me a progressive electronic vibe that I generally enjoy with this shrilling scream sample occasionally popping up. “Late Night” shows off the space ambient influences that’ve been prevalent since when he began making solo output 5 years ago.

Meanwhile on “Colour”, we have Mike blending elements of synthwave that’ve also been displayed on 4:20 just before what could probably be my personal favorite song here “Sax Sector” goes full-blown nu jazz & pulling it off as perfectly as I would’ve expected him to. “Trancy” gets back in his progressive electronic bag for roughly 3 minutes until “Messenger” embraces the synthwave elements once more as

“Bluey” not to be confused with The Walt Disney Company owned Disney Jr. hit series phenomenon in the midst of having a theatrical film set to be released in 2027 continues to bring a progressive electronic flare to the guitar including an electric guitar during it’s final moments, but then “Eyes Closed” swaps out the prog-rock undertones of the previous joint in favor of ambient to a similarly lesser extent.

The song “Half Awake” hits the backend of 4/25 maintaining the prog electronic edge throughout except now the hints of prog-rock & ambient are borrowing from western classical musical becoming not as a prevalent as the other 2 were while “411425” goes full-blown drum & bass to my excitement. As far as the closer “The End”? It’s an exciting collision between these guitars & synthesizers.

Halfway through the decade that he started carving a path for himself as a solo artist & 4:25 encapsulates everything that has made him stood out on his own individually from when he first started. His progressive election heavy production additionally pulls from synthwave, nu jazz & space ambient carrying on what Kraftwerk laid the foundation for half a century ago at this point.

Score: 4/5

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Mike Dean – “4:24” review

Houston, Texas producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & one of the greatest audio engineers of all-time Mike Dean continuing to further establish himself as an artist by releasing his 5th full-length studio album. Pioneering the dirty south sound in the 90s as an in-house producer for Rap-A-Lot Records, one may also know him for engineering nearly all of Ye formerly known as Kanye West’s output up until his 2022 antisemitic meltdown calling himself a Nazi on InfoWars. 4:20 was a 90 minute exploration into progressive electronic & the nearly 2 hour sequel 4:22 continued towards that trajectory. Smoke State 42222 went for more of a straight-forward electronic sound with additional elements of space ambient & even Mike’s last LP 4:23 went head-on synthwave, landing a spot on my Honorable Mentions of 2023 list as a result of being more well-put together than his last couple solo efforts. Considering that, I went into 4:24 expecting it to reach the bar its predecessor had set.

“Subdivision of Time” begins by incorporating these synthesizers that only get grander & grander in the span of a little over 3 minutes whereae “3 AM” goes into space ambient territory starting off reminding me of the scene in one of my top 5 shows of all-time Rick & Morty where Rick’s traveling universe-to-universe searching for Rick Prime, but feels like an out-of-body experience during the 2nd half. “It’s in the Water” gives off a straight up progressive electronic vibe that I can imagine hearing in a sci-fi movie trailer just before “Don’t Fast Forward Life” incorporates some jazz influences towards the end that I love.

Concluding the first half of the album, “Distorted Time” brings the synthwave influences back into full effect leading into “Space Brains” admirably venturing out into electronic rock a bit. “Black Holes Echoing” returns to the large, throbbing synthesizers & upbeat percussion that retro electro is known for that is until “Swimming Pools & Movie Stars” presents these cinematic synths for a minute & a half. “Fast Forward Life in Rewind” pushes near the end of 4:24 by going space ambient again for 6 minutes, but then “I Like” closes the LP shooting for a ghostly atmosphere.

Everything that made 4:23 more enjoyable than Mike’s first couple albums manages to make their way onto this new one here & I find it to be as tightly crafted as the predecessor over a year ago already. He puts a bigger emphasis on the progressive electronic style predominantly throughout his solo catalog once more in the midst of maintaining the synthwave & space ambient elements although in a lesser capacity.

Score: 4/5

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Weiland – “Vices” review

Weiland is a 21 year old rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & audio engineer from Tampa, Florida who came up in 2016 off his debut EP Insomnia. He would follow it up with his first 2 mixtapes Packrunner & Grimey Life but at the beginning of this current decade, Weiland wound up signing Victor Victor Worldwide & they backed his eponymous full-length debut that same fall. But for his sophomore effort over here, he’s decided to experiment with some new sounds & it immediately drew me in.

“Slipping Into the Void” opens up the album with a synthpop banger produced by Mike Dean asking why he’s still alive whereas “Can’t Save Her” tells the story of a hoe pretty much over some new wave production. “Broken Ego” works in some fast drumming with some synthesizers talking about suffering from such leading into “Dangerous Woman”, which has more of a Tame Impala influence to it describing the devil in designer clothes.

Meanwhile on “All the Same”, we have Weiland wishing for a change over some synthwave production just before “Still Chasing After Happiness” goes into coldwave territory asking his ex if she still thinks about him. “Better Place” keeps the synthpop going showing a side of him that’s never been shown before, but then “Hard Time” goes full-blown post-punk confessing that he’s been dealing with a breakup poorly. That being said, it is very catchy & you can hear the pain in his voice.

“Blaming Myself” fuses neo-psychedelia & hypnagogic pop together confessing his emotional dependence on a toxic relationship while the song “Wanted More” talks about the falling out of a relationship over some more synthwave beats. The penultimate track “Mellotron” perfectly lives up to it’s name with it’s colorful production expressing his love for the instrument of the same name & “Farewell” ends the album with 1-last coldwave cut detailing his drug abuse.

Given that his earlier work is deeply rooted into the trap/plugg sound, this wasn’t what I was expecting going into it. That being said, I’m blown away with what I heard & I’ll even go as far to say it’s Dawn FM on Steroids. No disrespect to Abel at all because I thought it was a great follow-up to After Hours, but Mike Dean was the perfect person to help Weiland go into that synthpop territory given the progressive electronic style of his 3 latest solo efforts only to go above & beyond in nearly every aspect.

Score: 4.5/5