Rapid Fire Reviews: Lollapalooza Bomb With Lil Durk, Coi Leray, Banks & MUNA

Lolla is this weekend and while the line-up feels kind of weak compared to other years there are still some artists I was looking for an excuse to cover, so here they are. 

7220 - Lil Durk

When you review as much music as I do there are literally hundreds of artists that come across your desk in a year and it's part of the job to determine what is worth picking out and covering. In terms of genres that drown in this over-stimulation, the worst offender is probably the endless parade of singer-songwriters who get a brief amount of clout from major publications, but not far behind are contemporary trap rappers which feel pretty dime a dozen these days. When I first heard Lil Durk I lumped him into that pile and I need to remedy that decision by covering him here. While I didn't have any reason to believe he would turn around and drop a classic with this album, he certainly deserves coverage more than some of his faceless contemporaries as he's now proven beyond a doubt both his staying power and unique elements of his artistry. The last time I covered Durk was on his collaborative record with Lil Baby last year where he brought my life to nearly every single song than Baby did. Given how long this record has managed to linger in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 it was long overdue that I give my thoughts on it. While Durk isn't going to re-define your perception of trap artists or trap music I do think there is a better selection of beats here than your average trap record and while Durk does fall into numerous lyrical potholes, he also manages to deliver some legitimately enjoyable bars here and there. I think the biggest shortcoming of the record is when Lil Durk tries to step out of his comfort zone vocally and do some singing or when he tries to match the vocal eccentricities of some of his guests like Future. Not that I think he could never pull this off well, it just isn't working great here. Also, while this complaint is by no means specific to 7220 these days, this record is heavily front-loaded with most of the biggest and best songs coming pretty early on. God bless you if you choose to listen to one of the multiple deluxe editions that already exist because even getting to the end of the record proper can feel like a trudge through the second half. Ultimately while there could be a lot of improvement here, it also could be much MUCH worse and I think Lil Durk gives plenty of reasons for fans to stick around in anticipation of what he does next. 5.5/10

Trendsetter - Coi Leray

Coi Leray is a rapper that has turned quite a few heads this year with viral songs on tik tok and a couple of high-profile collaborations, all of which has spawned a wide variety of opinions on her music. While the unbearably male-dominated online hip hop scene has been highly critical of her, clearly plenty of people are enjoying her work as she continues to generate streams and attention. While the title of her record may be something we have to wait and see about, she's certainly rising into one of the stars of the moment. If you've been reading my reviews for a while you know this set-up, an artist who gets hate from the patriarchy of hip hop fans online and the bad waves keep me off of their music for too long. Well it strikes again here because it might surprise you to learn that Coi Leray legitimately outshines a LOT of her contemporaries on the record. The record isn't perfect, the R&B flavored cuts are generally far less impressive than the songs where Coi really digs in to try her hand at rapping. Plus whoever at her label picked out that album cover should be fired immediately. But genuinely across this record, I see a lot of genuine talent, versatility and potential in Coi who not only does a number of contemporary styles well but also manages to bring out the best in some of her guests like Nicki, H.E.R, Fivio and Polo G. I like this record and I really don't feel like I need to be shy about it, everything that makes Coi good is really easy for anybody to see. While her uncompromising attitude and the method of her rise to popularity may rub some people the wrong way, musically I think she shows off a full toolkit on this record and I look forward to hearing more from her going forward. 6.5/10

Serpentina - Banks

Going into this Banks album my expectations were set by her previous couple of albums which I thought were alright and not by the massive amount of singles she dropped into the lead-up for this record which one after another started to blend together until I stopped listening to new singles as they were released entirely. If you didn't know Banks is a California singer-songwriter and Serpentina is her 4th album as she approaches a decade of releases. While I've caught a single here and there from her that I enjoyed I've also had trouble with her lack of a distinct style which makes it hard for me to even describe what she does beyond slightly nocturnal pop music. This time around you can contextualize the entire sound Banks is going for into just one word, Camila. While Camila Cabello has a pretty homogenous pop sound of her own save for the occasional song where she steps out of her comfort zone, much of Serpentina sounds like an attempt to mirror that exact sound as closely as possible. While you can point to moments on the record that are slightly more adjacent to a different pop star, one thing you can't do is point towards a sound that is definitely Banks. Another thing you can't find is many hooks that really dig into your brain. I know it sounds like I'm saying there's absolutely nothing redeeming to be found on the record, but that isn't the case. The album does a lot of things fine and it's clearly a professionally produced and assembled pop album. But all of the tropes and almost all of the themes you'll hear have been done better by other pop singers just this year. If Camila is your favorite pop star right now and you wanted to hear what a B-Sides collection from her might sound like, or if you just love this ever so slightly dark brand of pop music so much you have to hear absolutely all of it, maybe check this out. 4.5/10

MUNA - MUNA

MUNA is an indie pop group that has been around for a few years now but recently signed to the Phoebe Bridgers imprint label Saddest Factory which has generated quite a bit more hype for them than they had previously. I wasn't going into the project with much excitement mainly because I wasn't crazy about either of the band's first two records but also because the record's big single which features Phoebe Bridgers completely failed to land with me. One thing that really surprised me about the record is how little "indie" there is left to the groups pop sound. There's a lot you could say about Phoebe Bridgers but she does have a sound that is distinctly indie and sticks to it so every song on this record that felt like something you'd hear at noon during EDC was a surprise. What was less surprising was how low the records quality bar was as the lead single which I was initially pretty disappointed in comes out the other side looking like one of the highlights. My pursuit of trying to enjoy this record ended when I started paying attention to the lyrics and the overall lyrical sentiment which often comes off as so shallow and needlessly quirky that I can't imagine anyone authentically connecting to any of these Forever 21 ass metaphors about sadness and heartbreak. Anyway I've made it more than clear that I don't like this thing and while I don't think it's the worst album I've heard in 2022, I do think it's probably the worst one that I've reviewed in any capacity. 2/10