Do What Thou Wilt. - Review
It can be hard to take Ab-Soul seriously. For every deep line that he drops, there is one right next to it that leaves you scratching your head in confusion. Do What Thou Wilt. is an impeccably produced set of tracks, but gets bogged down with too much filler and weird lines that distract you from the message that he is trying to spit. There are a few tracks I really love here, I just wish it had some semblance of focus, and someone there to rein in Soul where he started to get a little bit off of the wall.
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' - Review
It has been a while since Cudi stood triumphantly atop his mountain of music. Last year’s Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven was disappointing to say the least, and Satelight Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon before that just didn’t reach as high as it should. With Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’, Cudi has tried to recapture some of of the magic of Man on the Moon 1 & 2, and while his throaty moans and oft-repeated hooks do conjure images of these two fantastic albums, they also highlight a lot of his weaknesses that still remain unaddressed.
Spectral - Review
All things considered, this probably should have been a really bad movie. It is ostensibly about a group of special forces soldiers fighting against a bunch of ghosts, and that sounds about as B-movie as you can get. But somehow it all managed to come together in a way that really surprised me. They tried to make a hard sci-fi, modern military film, and for the most part, they succeeded.
4 Your Eyez Only - Review
J. Cole can be a bit of a polarizing figure. To some, he can do no wrong, and his success with 2014 Forest Hills Drive (he went double platinum with no features) cemented that in many people's minds. To others, he is the shining example of generic rap music that can be found everywhere. He's never been a “visionary” lyricist, but his production has always picked up the slack, with stellar offerings in both Born Sinner and 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
FEIST - Review
It is hard to look at this game and not immediately think of Limbo. In many ways it is an apt comparison to the 2010 sidescrolling platformer. It's a pseudo-3D, atmospheric world with freakish enemies and light physics puzzles, and walking through the world brought flashes of nostalgia to games past. FEIST is gorgeous, with a more colorful world that legitimately feels dangerous. Everything can kill you, from a forgotten trap to a tumbling rock waiting to crush you; and over the course of the game, most of them will. Unfortunately, few of these deaths feel earned, and the simple act of playing can leave you wanting for something more.
Don't Call it a Christmas Album - Review
I like dumb things.
The very concept of Christmas-themed raps is about as dumb as DMX rapping Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Don't Call it a Christmas Album is technically not a Christmas album, but I'm going to call it one anyway. It mixes festive, up-tempo beats with more traditional rap tracks in one of the weirder 11-song sets that I've listened to in a while. But, it is December and it is the perfect time to dig into the weird world of Christmas music that, by all rights, shouldn't be Christmas music that now litters the shelves.
"Awaken, My Love!" - Review
I'll be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of Donald Glover. He's "Childish baby, Mr. talk-about-his-dick-again,” and I felt like he floated a little too close to "meme rap" for my tastes. I've listened to all of his projects so far, and I've been waiting for it to click with me, where I would start to like it like everyone else appeared to, but it just never did. So when he announced that his newest project would be something different, I was ready. It has been a hell of a year for music creativity, and Glover has had a pretty great one too. Because the Internet was certified as gold, he was cast in Spider-Man, hosting a giant listening festival, and releasing the show Atlanta, which has been fantastic. So my hopes were high for “Awaken, My Love!”
Starboy - Review
It is hard to capture lightning in a bottle. Even harder is to do it more than once. With Starboy, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, tried to follow up the smash success of last year's Beauty Behind the Madness, but amidst his ruminations on fame, sex, and drugs, he forgot what made the last project so great. Starboy is, at it's heart, stagnant; a too long collection of well-produced, pop/electrosoul tracks that fail to go anywhere new in their quest to make more chart topping hits. You can clearly see the Daft Punk influence, and the appearance by both Kendrick Lamar and Lana Del Rey stand out as highlights. The songs sound good, but they have lost some of that raw, emotional quality that felt so great, and instead take on a more manufactured feel that brings the album down.
Killing Floor 2 - Review
In the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of games like Call of Duty, which dilute their experience by trying to be everything for everyone. They become bloated with serviceable modes that all are perfectly adequate in their own rights, but don’t really excel in anything.
Conversely, games like Killing Floor 2, which come with a clear sense of identity and purpose, are becoming more and more rare.
Titanfall 2 - Review
It is not often that a shooter manages to get almost everything right. Every year we see so many games try and so many of them fail. The original Titanfall was a great game, that simply didn't last long enough to be fantastic. What was there was excellent, but there simply wasn't enough stuff packed in the box to leave many gamers, including me, satisfied. With Titanfall 2, we finally have what the first game promised to us and teased us with, and it is the best shooter of the year. It has a fun, if slightly ridiculous (in the best way) campaign, and a fantastic multiplayer mode that I've already dumped way too many hours into, that I can see myself playing for a long time. It is the most complete package on the market right now, and all signs point to its strength going forward.
We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service - Review
It can be really hard to talk about some albums. To get across exactly what is going on in the layers of music that the artist has built up. The better the album is, the more difficulty I have talking about them in a way that I feel does them justice. It would be the easiest review in the world to say that an album was trash, and convince you of it. But to say that an album is excellent? Amazing? It becomes increasingly difficult to make that point in a way that carries the full weight the album holds. I'll say this without reservations, We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service is hands down one of the best albums to come out this year, and if you care at all about hip-hop, you should listen to this album.