Rapid Fire Reviews: All E's All P's
As a wise woman once said on her EP's of the year list last year, "EPs are fun little guys full of fun little songs" and while they are so often overlooked sometimes when it rains it pours and a number of short form projects that I want to talk about all drop around the same time. so lets get caught up in the world of extended plays.
High Dragon And Universe - Alice Longyu Gao
Another Shot EP - Field Music
This Thing Of Ours 2 EP - The Alchemist
Earlier this year legendary underground hip hop producer The Alchemist released an enjoyable if slightly inconsistent EP featuring a number of high profile rap collaborations and this is the highly anticipated sequel. This time MAVI, MIKE, Vince Staples, Zlooperz and Danny Brown's Bruiser Brigade serve as the five vocals heard across these five tracks which add up to just under 12 minutes. Instrumentally speaking the EP is full of exactly what you'd expect, low key and lo-fi jazz rap beats rich with samples of classic brass instrumentation, drums and obscure vocal samples. The issue I have with the EP is that much like the first time around the actual rap performances are incredibly inconsistent. MAVI really surprises on the opener with a fantastic introduction to the project and Vince Staples wraps it up with a solid finale. Even the five minutes or so that encapsulates both the Bruiser Brigade and Zlooperz songs feature a number of verses that go for more zany theatrics than technical skill, with mixed results. The only really bad miss is MIKE whose appeal continues to avoid me completely but generally speaking I think this is a slightly better set of tracks than part one. A derivative as they are the paid or Brigaders who are clearly trying hard to be Jay Electronica and E-40 are incredibly fun and it's long overdue that I started paying more attention to MAVI after he continues to deliver on guest verses. This is just about exactly what you'd expect going into it and I can recommend it to almost any old school hip hop fans. 7/10
I've been looking forward to a debut project from Alice for a while now as she has continued to attract the attention of hyper pop fans and artists with her explosive and personality soaked personal style. While I'm not crazy on her biggest hit Rich Bitch Juice she did really impress me earlier this year on the Alice Glass collaboration Legend which doesn't appear on this EP. Like many new artists she is leaning really hard into what makes her unique and for the most part it works well as these songs are a distinctively Alice fusion of hard rock, trap, electronica and hyper pop. Occasionally this means that these songs are less actual songs and more just pastiches for her to show off something unique, evocative or impressive about her personal style. This isn't that crippling for the EP though and it's hardly the biggest problem. From a technical standpoint there are all kinds of issues here. The mixes are muddy and plodding to the point that her vocals, which should be the obvious focal point of the song, sometimes don't even stand out in the mix. The beats themselves are also just generally really stiff particularly with the percussion which sounds so flat throughout. Occasionally pieces of instrumentation in some of the records more easy going portions can sound quite beautiful but the bangers are held back from their full potential with uninspired club bass hits and poorly interpolated rock guitars. What the EP does do is work as a proof of concept for Alice as an artist. She is far and away the most fun and interesting thing about the project and while only a few of the songs really hit it's really easy to imagine this merely being an under-produced stepping stone to something great down the road. 6/10
Despite being one of the longest lasting bands of the 2000's indie guitar scene I still haven't found the right time to touch on the bands new record from earlier this year which I will hopefully get to soon. For those unaware the bands previous album in 2020 was, not the best. But by all means they seem to be working with a sharper sense of songwriting and clearer understanding of what makes their sound work on their newest record and this EP of songs that didn't quite make the cut. These tracks are about what you'd expect from the band, four increasingly long but never actually long indie rock cuts with those fragile vocals and folky with a hint of rock instrumentation. While not changing the world or anything they clearly prove why they belong and are still capable of thriving within their scene. 6/10
