Weiland – “Fall from Grace (When is Enough, Enough?)” review

Tampa, Florida rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & audio engineer Weiland releasing his 2nd EP of the year & the 4th in his discography altogether. Coming up almost a decade ago off his debut EP Insomnia, his first couple mixtapes Packrunner & Grimey Life resulted in Victor Victor Worldwide signing him for the synthpop inspired Vices to high acclaim. You Can’t Climb the Mountain in N.Y. came out a couple months ago to warm reception & Fall from Grace looks to up the ante.

“Crash” was a 55 second synthpop, hypnagogic pop & coldwave intro suggesting not to blame self justice when we live in this world whereas “The Man Who Last the War” could be my favorite on the EP singing about heartbreak. “Let’s Go to Bed” feels reminiscent to some 80s new wave synthpop with a more lo-fi approach to it while “She’s Got a Gun” ahead of “The Lovefix Purpose” outro finds himself having nowhere to run from a woman who didn’t mean to claim her love.

Fall from Grace carries over almost every sound that we heard throughout You Can’t Climb the Mountain in N.Y. except for the neo-psychedelic undertones taking a darker turn regarding the songwriting portraying himself as an individual trying to make sure everything in his life is in order & searching for purpose in the disorderly conduct. People have all felt lost, tired or broken at a point or 2 in their lives & those themes can heavily relate to many of us continuing to find a reason to move forward.

Score: 4/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

Weiland – “You Can’t Climb the Mountain in N.Y.” review

This is the 3rd EP from Tampa, Florida rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & audio engineer Weiland. Coming up almost a decade ago off his debut EP Insomnia, his first couple mixtapes Packrunner & Grimey Life resulted in Victor Victor Worldwide signing him for the synthpop inspired Vices to high acclaim. 3 long years later, he’s back with You Can’t Climb the Mountain in N.Y. ahead of him & Victor Victor alumni Summrs’ upcoming collab EP.

“Let You Go” featuring Summrs gives us a taste of what’s to come from the previously mentioned collaborative EP talking about being friend-zoned whereas “The Girl’s Not Mine” blends synthpop & dance-pop together to back off on rumors of a chick claiming he’s their boyfriend. “Promise” works in more synthesizers assuring that things won’t ever be the same going forward & the title track ends with Part Time relying heavier with the synths instrumentally asking if there’s anyone out there.

It’s already been a little over 3 years since Vices helped usher in an exciting new era of synthpop along with The Weeknd’s new trilogy of albums that already rivals his original mixtape trilogy & breaks free from Universal Music Group expanding on the sounds of his last album that marked a stylistic departure from his previous material & showcasing more coldwave influences to a lesser extent even if I prefer Hurry Up Tomorrow a bit more.

Score: 4.5/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

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