TIMELESS - KAYTRANADA: Review

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Review by Lav:

KAYTRANADA is a Canadian DJ and electronic music producer that I've been a fan of for a long time. It really got started with his 2016 debut 99.9% which was a car-radio staple of mine for years. The record had strong roots in dance music but expanded into the worlds of jazz and funk with a variety of excellent performances from special guests. His sophomore album BUBBA was a much more straightforward embrace of dance music that still featured some stand-out moments, but didn't quite live up to the extremely high expectations I had for it. 

His third album TIMELESS lands somewhere in the middle. I want to get it right out of the way, Kaytranada's production and beats on this album are consistently very solid. The drums in particular, which are the key to my heart, pop off on most of the songs on this album. His knack for compelling grooves and interesting textures is as strong as ever. But this album is also much more willing to wander off course than its predecessor, with a huge array of featured artists along for the ride.

Occasionally Kaytranada's excellent production is all that's required to make a song click. Of the 5 songs on the record Kaytranada handles without a credited feature Seemingly is easily the best. It feels like vintage Kay with a completely irresistible sound palette top to bottom. The other highlight is Stepped On, one of the grooviest cuts on the entire album. The song features Kaytranada himself on vocals (I think) and though I'm not head-over-heels for the performance it's still a strong cut. Occasionally the instrumentals are even good enough to overcome underwhelming guest performances. Call U Up has a strong opening verse from guest rapper Lou Phelps, AKA Kaytranada's brother. While it never really gets back in that tight flow throughout the rest of the song it still has a solid groove I like a lot. Drip Sweat is the same way overcoming a mostly mediocre Channel Tres appearance. 

Occasionally the instrumentals aren't enough to overcome the record's most underwhelming performances. The most disappointing cut of the bunch is Feel A Way where Don Toliver totally fails to deliver anything chilling or lethal on one of the record's spaciest songs. Video with Ravyn Lenae has almost identical issues. The only time I can say the reverse is true is on More Than A Little Bit where Tinashe turns in a great performance on a pretty underwhelming song. 

Thankfully though, there are plenty of highlights. When Kay is on the same page as one of his guests the results are absolute fireworks. The second half of the record is much better than the first, but it isn't without its early highlights. Spit It Out gets the record started off right with great slick refrains from Rochelle Jordan over an incredibly smooth dance beat. Still is a tragically short song but it features a simple and utterly delightful performance from Charlotte Day Wilson. 

Witchy is the Childish Gambino song Kay previewed a few weeks ago and I've been looking forward to hearing the full thing. It lives up to the hype with a versatile performance from Glover and an infectious instrumental to match. Hold On is another irresistible cut with a killer Dawn Richard feature that has the best hook on the entire album by far. My favorite song from Kaytranada's debut album, and my favorite song he's ever made, is GLOWED UP with Anderson .Paak. That's why I was thrilled to see Paak in the tracklist again on Do 2 Me and the pair hit yet another absolute home run. Even SiR who I've never been crazy about delivers a pretty decent addition to the track. 

TIMELESS isn't exactly a second stroke of brilliance in the way I've been hoping for from Kaytranada for 8 years now. But it also represents a return to both the style and format of that debut album and Kay feels just as at home now as he did then. Though his contributions to the record on production are consistently strong, his roster of collaborators is much more scattershot and he ends up being let down more than once. The highlights here are worth hearing for any dance, rap, R&B, or electronica fans, but as a full album statement it isn't as definitive or consistent as I wanted it to be. 6.5/10 

For more dance music check out my review of Iglooghost's Tidal Memory Exo

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