What I Listened To: August '24

A new monthly collection of every new album I've heard in August this year.

I’ve been struggling to find a way to incentivize people to subscribe with their hard earned money. I’ve always said I would do this thing for free, no matter what happens. This is still true. But my dear friend and writing giant Jeff Weiss always told me to strive to write a little something everyday. Keep the pen sharp so I don’t run into massive hurdles later. He’s right per usual.

So I’ve spent the last month, jotting down all my thoughts about every new album that comes out that I take the time to digest. In addition to my current news writing gig, I feel like I can burst into Writer Mode™ at any moment. Admittedly, I still lack coherent thought for some music/film/sports/TV I consume. But rather than sink, I’ve decided to share them with you.

For a small monthly fee of $5 or a $50 for an entire year, you can read brief reviews and excerpts I jot down in my Notes app upon listening to an album. Hopefully, you’ll find something you’ve never heard before or you’ll read something that makes you shake your fist at the screen. Regardless, for a soda and a bag of chips, you get my unfiltered thoughts.

This first edition will be free so you get a feel for the style and format. Then, you’ll see if you’re willing to part with your $5. If anybody understands, it’s my stingy ass. Additionally, I’m looking to send paid-subscriber exclusive polls for monthly reviews and retrospectives. I’ll probably roll that out next month when I see how I want to format that kind of content. Anyways, here’s the first monthly installment, I started with a boring piece of crap people seem to enjoy.

JPEGMAFIA- I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

"If I was an NBA player, I'd be Dillon Brooks but worse." That says plenty.

The punk and black metal aesthetics leave me pretty bored. Artistically predictable and not very engaging on an atomic level. It lacks grit and texture, favoring cleaner Guitar Hero type riffs instead. He's not a particularly commanding or intimidating rapper either so his defiance often plays as shallow barking.

He's certainly not without value. Sometimes, he'll alter the DNA of a song's chorus and funnel it through the sample itself, a pretty witty trick I've grown to appreciate. Similarly, offhand barbs at industry contemporaries can be incredibly sharp jabs at our modern standards. However, it's those same standards that handicap him in his pursuit of prestige. The ambition for musical correctness leaves a lot on the table for more interesting

Charley Crockett- Visions of Dallas

Visions of Dallas doesnt strike me nearly as potently as $10 Cowboy. Still, I adore an artist who brandishes country's past glory the way Crockett does.

Baby Osamaa- SEXC SUMMER

It’s growing a bit tedious to comb through all the sexy drill variants, tapping the essence of what Cash Cobain does naturally (and horned up vs some of the sexless alternatives). Baby Osamaa doesn’t have this issue, but she swaps out deranged horniness for a fiery, throbbing yearning.

Navy Blue- Memoirs in Armour

I love talking with friends like Zay who question artists I generally like Navy Blue. How great are they truly if they only create within their role? How much growth is really there?

Memoirs in Armour certainly begs interrogation in a way I hadn't before. He doesn't sound inherently worse than any other times. He still thrives by poetically tackling grief on ghostly soul type beats. But it certainly doesn't stick in the way past efforts have

Maybe I just don't need Navy Blue in this way anymore. Selfishly, I loved Ways of Knowing and how it guided me in muddy, uncertain times of my own. However, it's more than fair to ask how truly great a piece of music is versus how it works as a personal function.

DORIS- Ultimate Love Songs Collection

Admittedly, I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one. Regardless, it’s such a cool compilation of records, hazy, minute long excerpts of everyday life. Romantic and mundane all the same.

MESSIAH!- the villain wins

I think it’s a cool listen just as an exhibition of potential from MESSIAH! It feels like I’m an NBA scout and I’m sketching a mid to late round 1st rounder with star potential. Tyrese Maxey type beat. Lots of strong rapping, some flexibility in terms of what kind of production you could expect him on. No obvious standouts personally but there’s some spark here.

Chase Rice- I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell

I love this new wave of neo-traditionalist country music. Unfortunately, this only delivers in flashes. There are some very heavy-handed storytelling instincts that isn’t always charming; other times, Rice’ll indulge in some very 2012 specific synthetic sounding production. Perhaps I just take issue with country with no twang on it. There’s certainly some flash here (see: For a Day, All Dogs Go To Hell) but it’s not as attention grabbing as the title suggests.

Larry June- Doing It For Me

Larry June teeters into E-40 territory on Doing it For Me. That’s not saying he’s on that tier of rapper. These Whole Foods grocery shopping tunes are far too casual and breezy to make a dent into massive all timer consideration. Rather, he’s at a point where an album feels closer to a checkpoint than a vital listen. When he said he's trying to make a billion dollars, the mindless repetition really starts to seep in here. Occasionally fly but unfortunately vacant in most of its motivational raps.

Latto- Sugar Honey Iced Tea

I always wish I liked Latto more. She’s super southern in a way that suggests plenty of animation to love. She has the hustle that should make the raps feel invigorating.

Unfortunately, Sugar Honey Iced Tea is so boring. Latto thrives within the pocket of vaguely hard anthems that smooths over the brain at functions that serve very expensive oxtails and bad chicken wings. Sugar Honey Iced Tea is often caught within thresholds of big breakout albums without any of the interesting decisions that come with it. Chicken Grease is the best of all the records, if only because half the workings of a good song is already in its tapestry via T.I.’s 24’s. It could always be worse though. At least she hasn’t gone full Saweetie yet.

MAVI- shadowbox

One of those records where you just wonder if bro is okay after all that. I know what it’s like firsthand to let your soul bleed on wax and you’re left with the remains. It doesn’t inherently fix anything but the act of putting it out into the ether, the repetition of that, it’s powerful.

I remember watching MAVI tweet about future or he’ll like a tweet of mine about future. That sort of explains pretty harrowing parts of this album about addiction, particularly a record like i’m so tired. It’s cool to see him split the difference with allusions and metaphors and very direct haymakers. He’s an incredible writer in that way. You can always write around something in very cool, nutty ways but to tell it direct, there’s no mistaking what he means there.

Ravyn Lenae- Bird’s Eye

Very delighted to say this is as fantastic as advertised. I still find Hypnos to be a bit tepid personally; it often relies in the faith that the ambiance alone will keep everyone at the dance. Similarly, the songwriting doesn't feel nearly as tight or playful as her Crush EP.

Here, she manages to split the difference between both records. Her trademark wispiness doesn't vanish but they often thrive in pockets rather than expansive dreamscapes. She glazes atop old soul standard drums (Love Me Not) or grassy, flowery guitars (Dream Girl) with syrupy sensuality.

Asake- Lungu Boy

American music industry standards keep ruining some pretty cool artists. I can't quite pinpoint the issue since he's always been under EMPIRE. But there's something distinctly unseasoned about Lungu Boy. It says a lot that Travis Scott manages to be a positive/neutral factor on the album's best song.

Post Malone- F-1 Trillion

It's almost like he should've always been doing this. It's devoid of the half hearted croons that predominantly fills his previous records. Here, he works hard to embrace Nashville across the decades: 80s Keith Whitley yearning, 90s Brooks & Dunn, 2000s Toby Keith and Brad Paisley bombast, and its modern embrace of the unconventional country boy like Morgan Wallen and Jelly Roll.

Speaking of Morgan, F-1 Trillion often plays as the platonic ideal of a Wallen. In other words, it isn't backed up with 25+ inessential records. Instead, he magnifies the warmth you can only found in pedal steel and country's general twang. By no means is it perfect though. Some of the production can predictably play like plastic and the Jelly Roll record is exceptionally lame and cliche. But as a complete collection, it plays the hits very well.

Hopefully, this success encourages him to stay in this space. More importantly though, I hope this persuades consumers to ignore the disingenuous rather than quote tweet it to death. That way, we can more effectively transition guys like Post in another direction.

Coffee Black & Wan Go- No Fakin

Some of the most fun I've had with rap all year. Coffee Black is particularly sly and clever with how they weave samples into the fabric of some really sick, textured beats. Wan Go matches that energy by playing the straight man in the dynamic but never forsaking some wild flows and hefty bars ('Lil bruh I ain't a role model, I'm a murderer')

WB Nutty- For Hustlers Only

This is the real trap music. Fuck the tinny hi-hats and Travis Scott 808s. If it doesn't sound like '05 Shawty Redd beats or 98 No Limit, it's a wash. This shit almost got me to throw a Hanes beater on and hit the corner looking like Bubba Sparxx.

Cash Cobain- PLAY CASH COBAIN

One of the better examples of the ‘I’m Here’ statement type albums we’ve had in recent memory. It’s not as decade defining as 2 Slizzy 2 Sexy might be but it does well at defining what makes Cash such an alluring, in demand producer. At his best, he distills pure sensuality and sexiness of his favorite records with hookah smoke, club lighting, and boozy breath.

Luh Tyler- Mr. Skii

That boy can rap man. Unfortunately, I think it’ll fizzle away the same way most modern Major Label projects do nowadays. It can play a little drab and predictable musically. But his flexes are very playful and buoyant I can’t help but love.

skaiwater- #gigi

I ducked this album for months. How else are you supposed to react to a record with 2024 Lil Nas X features? But this shit is fantastic man. skaiwater sketches an interesting portrait of what the modern pop record should sound like today. They never cower from bizarre textures in the mix. Different regional production choices splatter all over the record, from humid, Floridian synth and Jersey Club breakdowns to jerk era synth and NOLA bounce. But it always centers back on very elastic, addictive pop rap, ear worms that swirl around for days.

It’s a miracle skaiwater doesn’t lose the plot and it comes off like a cynical attempt at being the musical everyman. Yet, this doesn’t reek of the kind of algorithm gaming that pollutes the editorial playlisting today. Instead, skaiwater sits peerless, sampling familiar flavors into something new.

Lainey Wilson- Whirlwind

I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed. She certainly has the voice of a dynamic country singer. Unfortunately, she's very bogged down by modern Nashville standards in writing and production. For every clever play on a cliche, there's a very belabored allegory or metaphor around the corner. Comparing women to horses on Good Horses might just be country jargon but it plays like a man spitballing on a ranch when his wife hangs out with her girlfriends.

It also suffers from the kind of country production where you sit on a porch for peace and quiet and then you hear city workers fixing the roads. I don't know how much to blame Lainey's tastes or just industry practice. But it remains interesting how Zach Bryan goes as barebones and sees more of the country crossover success than what the hicks kn the boardrooms suggest. Lainey on one of those harmonica solos would rip.

NoCap- Before I Disappear Again

Devastating in some portions, a little tedious in others. But man, when he's on, he's one of the most harrowing rappers around. Yacht Party might be his darkest song.

Tyrese- Beautiful Pain

They never take Tyrese seriously. Sure, he places a lot of it on himself (see the last Breakfast Club interview for a brief example). But I deeply appreciate how much he never shies away from his emotions.

This bleeds prominently on Beautiful Pain. Songs like Don't Think You Ever Loved Me or What Happened to Forever play like Tyrese wiping away tears as he records. Exhausted wheeziness in his voice, despondent sighs, bitter wails occupy much of the record. There's never a moment where it feels like Tyrese is merely putting on a role.

Sure, Beautiful Pain is essentially just a replay on Marvin Gaye's Here My Dear or Just To Keep You Satisfied-- the red beanie and wig combo makes this evident. Still, its incredibly lavish and intricate on a music detail we don't get otherwise. People likely won't follow his lead on this brand of traditionalist R&B for a variety of reasons. Regardless, Tyrese sets a standard for what the genre should still be today.