Cordavision Music Reviews

Still mad that I never got the vinyl release of his last album. Every time I review something that ended up being a surprise release, I always talk about how nice surprise releases are. Even if it’s by an artist you’re not a giant fan of, a surprise drop is always something cool. Memphis rapper Cities Aviv is one I got real excited about. Then again, I was always gonna be excited to see what he did next after his two-hour-long epic MAN PLAYS THE HORN , which is in my top 10 favorite albums of this year. I would’ve never expected there to be a new album so soon given just how large his last project was. Now, we have Working Title for the Album Secret Waters , a damn good surprise release that genuinely caught me off guard. Knowing that this project is only a fraction the length of HORN , does that addictive, hypnotic sound translate into a shorter project? Let’s tread into Secret Waters . What I think stands out here the most is the production, more specifically the sampling done here. ...

Well, it’s time to peel back some layers. billy woods is yet another reason why I changed up my review schedule. If you’ve heard anything by woods, you know that you’re gonna get into more of a deep listening experience. I don’t mean to sound pretentious, but that’s really how it is. woods’s lyrics are cryptic and coded, and the songs themselves are pretty out there and experimental. Listening to a billy woods album usually means that it isn’t a background listen, it’s gotta have your full attention. Earlier this year, woods dropped Aethiopes with Preservation, one of the best albums of the year that I’m still trying to dissect. Every now and then, he drops two projects a year, whether it’s a solo project or an Armand Hammer release with Elucid, and this year’s no different. Entirely produced by Messiah Muzik, Church might be one of woods’s most rich projects yet. Let’s get into it. Like his last album, I’ve given this multiple listens. I’m still diving into the lyrical content and p...

The moment I found out that this guy has a song called “I Personally Wouldn’t Revive Queen Elizabeth (Pack Watch)” was when I knew I’d like this guy. Most of this new set of reviews is gonna consist of two things: Whatever I heard in my backlog or a newly-released project that I’m excited about. This one lands as more of a backlog entry, but this dropped this past summer and I only found about it last month. I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but Anthony Fantano’s pretty positive review of this gave me the motivation to finally give this a shot. I pretty much have no idea who Ghais Guevara is, and both the title and cover of this already show something unique with the project. Let’s talk about There Will Be No Super-Slave . Right off the bat, I adore the production on this. It’s grimy and tinged with industrial undertones that really began to stand out as I was hearing the project. Even the wild, frantic samples on the intro track introduce Guevara as a producer in an interesting way. S...

Honestly, this is one of the best album titles I’ve heard in a while. If you don’t know who Domo Genesis is, that’s perfectly fine. He’s a part of the now-dormant Odd Future collective, which jumpstarted the careers of Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, and Earl Sweatshirt. Other members have been coasting along for a while now, but Domo Genesis really caught my eye now. I don’t even know what he’s been doing outside of featuring on Tyler’s last album, but now he has an album entirely produced by Evidence titled Intros, Outros & Interludes , where he goes in a drumless, more abstract direction with his music. Let’s get into how I felt about it. I think the idea of Domo Genesis doing more experimental rap is a great idea. After being in the industry for this long, it’s great to see him make something that’s finally caught my attention. Evidence’s beats are very dusty and match Domo’s cadence well, alongside the great features from Navy Blue and Boldy James. Obviously, I think Domo’s w...

Ther's a great Hulk Hogan bit on here. Quite frankly, I have no idea who The Koreatown Oddity is. I’ve heard his music, especially one of the best albums of 2020, Little Dominique’s Nosebleed , and that certainly grabbed my attention for his career. To put it in perspective, I think Nosebleed is one of the best releases on the Stones Throw label, which includes classic albums like Madvillainy , J Dilla’s Donuts , and Yes Lawd! from Knxwledge and Anderson .Paak. It’s in very good company, and now, we have an official follow-up to it titled ISTHISFORREAL? , so let’s not waste any time and get into it. I should most likely state that I’m not looking for this project to top Nosebleed in any way, mainly because I think that project’s the closest thing we have to that lightning-in-a-bottle feeling in rap this decade. That being said, I still really fuck with this album. No matter if it’s an entire album or a feature, you can tell that a lot of passion has been put into this and cares ...

I mean, we all need a good warm-up every now and then. The fact that I’ve covered him on this site five times should say how I feel about Westside Gunn. I don’t even think he needs a proper introduction at this point. For the past few months, he’s been teasing his next album, Michelle Records , but after attending Fashion Week in Paris, he decided to make a new project titled Peace "FLY" God simply because he wanted to. He was so hyped about this project that he released it without mixing or mastering, which God knows what that means at this point. Either way, let’s get into Peace "FLY" God and see how I felt about it. I don’t really mention mixing and mastering and all that because I try to keep these reviews understandable to the masses; I especially don’t want to come off as pretentious or have a holier-than-thou attitude because I know how it works. However, it has to be mentioned here because it could completely affect how you react to this project. Because o...

Is it bad to say that I want Moor of this? I’ll see myself out... I’ve spoken about Moor Mother on here before, and I think she’s one of the most important artists working right now. Her last album, Black Encyclopedia of the Air , was one of last year’s best albums and I continue to go back to it every now and then. Now, we have Jazz Codes , which could be seen as a love letter to jazz, and every section of it is written by one of the mystifying artists of this decade so far. Let’s get into what I thought about Jazz Codes . Let me just say right off the bat that, like most of Moor Mother’s records, this isn’t that much of an easy listen. While it’s still very much an abstract rap album to its core, there are many more genres of music at hand here. Multiple subgenres of jazz like spiritual jazz, free jazz, and avant-garde jazz are just as prevalent as abstract and jazz rap. Even the ambient undertones here add more and more layers to this project. Many tracks on here feel uncanny and et...

Look, I bet Zion would be real if it weren’t in Utah. I’m not gonna lie, I have an on-again-off-again relationship with Lupe Fiasco’s music. The nostalgia glasses come on with Food & Liquor and The Cool since I grew up with some of those tracks on the radio, but I’m also in the camp that I don’t think that the infamous Lasers is *that* bad. I even thought that the two DROGAS albums that he dropped were pretty cool. However, my favorite album of his is Tetsuo & Youth , and it’s not that close to me. I’ve been waiting for a hot minute to see what he does next, and we now have that with Drill Music in Zion , which is apparently a sequel to Tetsuo & Youth . The hype is already there for that alone, so does it live up to the hype? Let’s get into Drill Music in Zion . Honestly, this is just a great experience of an album. Also, I say ‘apparently a sequel to Tetsuo & Youth ’ because it is one in concept. I’d actually call it more of a sister album than a direct sequel. I r...

I honestly hope the dog’s okay. Admittedly, this is the first time I’m listening to an Elucid project when it drops. I’ve always been a fan of his, but outside of his last solo outing, Dirtee Deacon , I don’t know much of his solo work. Of course, I’m a fan of Armand Hammer, his duo with billy woods, and I’ll always be tuning in to whatever they drop. Now, we have the latest from Elucid, I Told Bessie . Let’s get into how I thought about it. What I think shines here the most is Elucid’s writing. It’s pretty dark yet beautifully haunting and the intricacies of the lyrics are only matched by his Armand Hammer counterpart. His flow on here is pretty out there and unorthodox, and that makes for a pretty surreal listen. The experimental, sample-laden beats are also insanely experimental and grimy, which also shows how in-tune Elucid’s beat selection is throughout. The abstract feeling of the album and the loose concept of tackling his own identity is compelling from that standpoint as well....

The joke of the title and the great cover is a great combo. I’ve covered Your Old Droog before on here, and while I’ve enjoyed most of what I’ve heard, I’ve realized something about his discography. It might just be me, but I want him to stay focused on a project and flesh something out. Of course, I love the content he’s been dropping, but it’s just a personal wish of mine. Either way, I’ve been excited for YOD Stewart since I’ve been a fan of his for a couple of years now. Let’s get into it. While YOD is continuing to have great flows and writing, I feel that the best part about this project is the production. It has a more abstract vibe than his last project, the Nicholas Craven-produced YOD Wave , and I personally prefer that kind of production. YOD’s lyrics are more personal here as well and that gives the relatively short project a more intimate experience, at least to me. I also think I’ve realized that I like Droog more when he’s charismatic, and we really don’t get that side ...

“ Yo Gabba Gabba MCs” is one of the best insults I’ve heard in a while. In my opinion, Quelle Chris is one of the most unique rappers working right now. While I haven’t taken the deep dive into his discography yet, I’ve listened to his most recent albums Guns and his Chris Keys collab Innocent Country 2, and he’s impressed me with both his pen and voice. After some great features on some of my favorite albums from last year, I had to get whatever he was gonna drop next on my radar. We now have that in the form of DEATHFAME , which was mainly produced by Chris himself, with extra production from the aforementioned Chris Keys and even Knxwledge in the mix. Let’s get into DEATHFAME and see how I felt about it. Since I had Guns fresh in my mind, I noticed an interesting connection to one of the final tracks on that project to this one. “WDYM” touches on if he’s gonna leave a legacy or be remembered by anyone. This album is that question being expanded upon, which makes for Chris’s dar...

Keep shining. There are always albums that we don’t think will ever see the light of day. Some may not even exist, but the one inkling of knowing that it’s possibly out there is enough. Dr. Dre’s Detox , a solo André 3000 album, Ms. Lauryn Hill’s second album, the Child Rebel Soldier project with Kanye West, Pharrell, and Lupe Fiasco…I could go on for a while. For the longest time, a second Black Star album was one of those. A duo consisting of legendary rappers Yasiin Bey (f.k.a. Mos Def) and Talib Kweli, their first album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star essentially kicked off their careers and is considered a classic by most hip-hop heads, and I believe that too. Now, 24 years later, Black Star is back with No Fear of Time , entirely produced by the one and only Madlib. How does it stack up? Let’s find out. I’ll start off with Madlib’s beats, and they were much more abstract than I thought they were gonna be. I actually dug the vibe that Madlib was going for with it, but i...

Why is this the most fun album name to say out loud ever? Action Bronson has been an artist that’s only been getting better and better in my eyes. While I really don’t care much for his earlier work, everything since 2018’s White Bronco has caught my eye and ear. His Alchemist-produced EP Lamb Over Rice and his last album Only For Dolphins were the two projects that made me a fan of his, and I’ve honestly just been waiting for him to drop since then. We now have that in the form of Cocodrillo Turbo , with The Alchemist, Conway the Machine, Roc Marciano, Daringer, and more coming along for the ride. Let’s get into how I felt about it. Let’s just get the one thing out of the way, and that’s that the production is incredible here. I adore all of the surf rock samples and the sax solo on the final track is insanity. Bronson himself, though, is sounding the best he’s ever been on here. He sounds hungry and it feels like he genuinely wants to go the extra mile in music for the first time....

Why not continue to be great, you know? For how busy this week is for music, this is by far one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Ever since I saw Armand Hammer live, both Billy Woods and ELUCID have shot up some of my favorite artists working right now. When it comes to Woods specifically, it’s always been interesting to dissect what he’s speaking about in his music. It even began earlier with the announcement of this album, Aethiopes , where I discussed what the cover was with some friends and researched the topic. It sounds a little nerdy, but I think it actually helped me prepare for what kind of project we’re gonna get into with this. Aethiopes is produced entirely by Preservation and the features include ELUCID, El-P, Quelle Chris, Denmark Vassey, and Boldy James, among others. Let’s get into Aethiopes . I’m not gonna sugarcoat this statement, so I’ll just say it: I’m pretty sure I’m not smart enough to get the whole concept of this album just yet. I’ve typically run ...

Zappa? Ocean? Sinatra? Even if I don’t know much about him, I’ve been pretty excited for Fly Anakin’s first big debut album. It may not be his first album, even his first solo album, but this is his major-label debut. The first time I had heard of him was his work with Pink Siifu, especially on the FlySiifu album and the $mokebreak EP, and they’re both pretty good. I’ve been waiting on Frank for a while, and I’m very glad that we have it now. Let’s get into it now. Like most of the songs he’s involved in, I just love Anakin’s voice. His animated voice really breathes life into some already unique production too. Beats from Madlib, Jay Versace, Evidence, DJ Harrison, and more give this a unique identity, and it’s a good plus to see Pink Siifu keep up the collaborations they’ve been doing. It’s also worth mentioning the album cover, which might be my favorite of the year so far. I’m very glad that Frank has lived up to the expectations I’ve had. Fly Anakin deserves your time with one...

Based on the title alone, that man can do more than me. Throughout nearly two years of writing and reviewing music on this site, this is the first time I was actually hit up by random people on Twitter to review something. To my knowledge, Cities Aviv is a rapper and producer from Memphis. He’s been around for about a decade now, and it seems like this album here is finally going to be his breakout album. Right out of the gate, the cover art for Man Plays the Horn stands out to me. I can’t really make anything out of it, so if there’s an official description or reason said by Aviv about it, I’d love to see it. Either way, let’s get into Man Plays the Horn . Given the cover, I had a general idea about what this album could sound like. It’s an abstract rap album in the vein of MIKE and Navy Blue, but there’s something very unique about this one. The production on this is incredibly immersive and lures you in so much that it eventually becomes suffocating. It’s also taking much more insp...

If an album title ends with an exclamation point, you’re in for something else. Look, I gotta throw something out there. Out of all the artists that I’ve been waiting to drop, this is on the level of Kendrick Lamar dropping to me. I’m so fucking pumped for this album. It’s no secret that Earl Sweatshirt is one of my favorite rappers in recent memory. The one-two punch of Some Rap Songs and Feet of Clay is some of the best the 2010s have to offer. Recently, he’s been on a hot streak of features on songs mainly from The Alchemist, Boldy James, Armand Hammer, Navy Blue, and Roc Marciano, among many others. Now, nearly four years (and a scrapped project titled The People Can Fly) later, we now have Sick! , the first official full-length album from Earl since 2018. How does it sound? Let’s get into it. Along with quite a few artists, Earl has become an artist that I need to listen to a couple times before forming my overall thoughts on an album. Like his past two projects, Sick! is no di...

Y’all have to keep me up to date on these surprise drops, I’ve been busy these past few days. Mach-Hommy is a bit of an enigma. Even after what’s considered his highest-profile drop and highest commercially successful project yet in the form of Pray for Haiti earlier this year, he’s still miraculously kept an extremely low profile. The verses he contributed to Westside Gunn’s sprawling Hitler Wears Hermes 8 were top-of-the-line Mach, and even though he’s gone as far as dropping a whopping nine projects in a calendar year, I didn’t expect to hear any new solo material from him any time soon. I guess he proved me wrong with the surprise release of Balens Cho (Hot Candles) , so let’s not waste any more time and get into it. Like on Pray for Haiti , there are many nods to Mach’s own Haitian culture in the form of 50 seconds worth of interludes, and even if Mach’s lyrics aren’t as coded as his older projects, you cannot deny how well-versed he is. ‘Chain snatching to DMCA, either way your...

Ah, yes. Finally back in jazz rap. If you look at R.A.P. Ferreira’s discography, you wouldn’t see that much there. However, he’s been putting out projects under different names like Milo and Scallops Hotel since at least 2011. The Chicago-born poet and rapper recently hit my radar with 2020’s Purple Moonlight Pages (which will be covered in a Cache Saturday installment next month) and bob's son: R​.​A​.​P. Ferreira in the garden level cafe of the scallops hotel from earlier this year, and while I liked both of those projects, they weren’t absolute knockouts to me. I was waiting for that project still, so I was excited to hear that his next project, titled The Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures , would be arriving so soon. Let’s get into it. I’ll start with what I liked the most here, and that’s the jazzy, atmospheric beats. Save for Eldon, I hadn’t even heard of any of the producers that Ferreira worked with on here. Argov, Brendon Caroselli, Gibbsfreelance, Pink Navel, and...

I don’t know how Aesop Rock and Blockhead made fanart of my college dorm room. Aesop Rock has slowly become one of my favorite rappers in recent memory. His first couple of albums, Float and Labor Days , along with The Impossible Kid and his collaboration with Tobacco, Malibu Ken , are among some of my favorite albums ever and I pretty much drop everything when I hear he drops. When it was announced that he’d finally make an entire album with his longtime producer Blockhead, titled Garbology , I was super excited about it. I didn’t hear any of the singles going into it, so let’s just not waste any more time and get into it. I think that it’s safe to assume that Blockhead’s produced some of Aes’s best songs, and I’m very glad that this album lives up to the hype. Both Aesop Rock and Blockhead work very well with each other, as heard in the past, and it’s satisfying to hear that the chemistry hasn’t gone away yet. It was also a pleasant surprise to hear Billy Woods pop up on “Legerdema...