Category: Album Reviews

When I met Ryan Bucklar three years ago, I knew that he was onto something special. His newest album, Nomad 2, is a combination of ethereal sounds and imaginative storytelling that creates a sense of Euphoria that I haven’t heard from an electronic album in a long time.

The album begins with strong, heavy-hitting tracks, such as “We Are Your Friends” and “Mad Jam,” which punch into your brain with their trance-inducing synthesizers. Bucklar was intentional with placing these tracks at the start of the album, making it clear to the listener that Nomad and Nomad 2 are similar yet extremly different. The ethereal and experimental elements on this album are reminiscent of Bucklar’s debut project; Nomad. However, the energetic synthesizers and basslines of the album create a euphoric mood that morphs from one track to the next, building upon Bucklar’s previous discography without detracting from it.

As the album continues, we happen across “Hey!” an atmospheric track that pumps your ears with lush downtuned pads. This song is the album’s first attempt into a darker atmosphere, but it’s clever with it’s direction. The pads used lulls the listener into errie sirenity throughout the introduction of the track. This serenity is soon broken, interupted by an overdrived bass giving the listener a sonic edge they’ll feel throughout the project. This formula is also seen in tracks like “Paloma” and “2014,” which both implement etheral vocals tracks that build to a heavier drop. However, both drops subvert expectations by using bass as a juxtaposition to both atmospheric pads and synthesizers. One thing that really sticks out about these tracks in retrospect, is the intentionality of structure, gone is the raw and DIY nature of Bucklar’s ealier works, instead intentionality gives room for Bucklar to grow and make these tracks feel polished and energenic.

All in all, Bucklar’s growth in regard to both his sound and storytelling on Nomad 2 is immense. When listening to the album one gets the idea that this is a journey that Bucklar is emarkening on with the listener- one seeped with intentionality, depth, and structure. While I do miss some of the grit found from Bucklar’s earlier sound, the later half of the project creeps in that direction of raw edge. Nomad 2 utlimatley feels like fresh step in Bucklar’s discography and I’m looking forward to new releases from him in the future.

Rating: 8/10

1. We Are Your Friends – 0:59
2. Mad Jam (feat. Sque3eze) – 2:41
3. With You – 2:31
4. Hey! – 2:28
5. Noamd, California – 1:13
6. Paloma – 2:46
7. 2014 (Club Version) – 2:45
8. E320/ Metal / Heaven – 3:02
9. Passage – 2:14
10. Get Into It – 1:51

It’s time to reflect on Mildlife, a psychedelic jazz fusion group based in Melbourne. I’m admittedly late to the party for my review of their debut album, Phase, released in 2017. However, I always return to the group’s ’70s style riffs and complex syncopation.

The group’s formation and beginnings are hazy, originating sometime during 2010; however, the entourage has, according to Whiteboard Journal, been playing together since high school. They cite their inspirations as a combination of “Pink Floyd, Certain areas of Pink, [and] Led Zeppelin,” describing the early influences as “the classic music that your dad makes you listen to and disowns you if you don’t listen to it.” 

The Inspiration is clear when listening to their debut album, Phase. The album starts with -in my opinion- its standout track “The Marvelous Moon”. The song’s nostaligc arpegios and funky basslines transport you back to the era of shag carpets, Disco, and leisure suits. This isn’t saying the track isn’t without its nuance; the backing synths provide a floating syncopation that surrounds your head with a slow-burning ecstasy, making you want more despite its nearly nine-minute runtime.

The following tracks, “Zwango Zop” and “Im Blau,” transition seamlessly from one to the other. In “Zwango Zop,” a breathy vocal line and a punctuating bassline transport the listener into a burst of funky fever, eventually slowing down with “Im Blau. “Which features robotic voice lines and psychedelic synths transporting the listener to a lazy river, ending with an ethereal buzz.

“Phase,” the track with the album’s namesake, starts with the tinkling of a legendary jazz progression; the playful staccato chords, faintly reminiscent of Miles Davis’s “So What?” Coincidence or not? I’ll leave it up to you. The track continues with a wandering synth line bending in and out of faint drums with lazy precision, meandering in and out of the track with simultaneous purpose and indirection.

The final two tracks, “Two Horizons” and “The Gloves Don’t Bite,” share many of the same elements as “Phase” -lazy synths and arpeggios. However, these two tracks are the most vocally heavy of the album, with a warbling chorus conveying the band’s psychedelic influences that elicits an atmospheric.

Phase, Mildlife’s debut album, was a refreshing homage to the influences of the ’70s. The band’s psychedelic and funky style permeates the album extensively, yet never sounds pretentious, incorporating jazz and fusion elements in a refreshing, genre-bending approach. The album sounds like an ongoing song, with each track blending seamlessly into the next, forming a blissful loop that keeps you coming back for more.

Rating: 7/10

Mildlife – Phase (2017)
Genre: Jazz-Funk / Psychedelic Fusion
Label: Research Records

1. The Magnificent Moon – 8:51
2. Zwango Zop – 5:20
3. Im Blau – 8:53
4. Phase – 4:51
5. Two Horizons – 7:33
6. The Gloves Don’t Bite – 4:39

Total length: 40:07

Produced in the early 2000s, Little Brothers’ debut album, The Listening, provides an experience ripe with emotion. 9th Wonder (Pat Douthit), Big Pooh (Thomas Jones), and Phonte’s (Phonte Coleman) raunchy yet irresistibly quirky rhyme style combine soul, crunchy beats, and comedy into a rare piece of Hip-Hop that encapsulates the genre’s ‘down-to-earth’ spirit.

Standout tracks include “Groupie pt.2.”, “The Yo-Yo”, “The Listening”, and their breakthrough single, “Speed”, which played a large part in the initial construction of the trio. Little Brother connected during their college years at NC-Central -9th and Pooh clicked through source magazines, while Phonte and Pooh linked during a dorm-room freestyle session. While the trio wasn’t initially tight, 9th Wonder, Phonte, and Pooh were casual friends and part of a clique later known as the JUSTUS League. The trio would collaborate on their first single, “Speed”, in 2001 while continuing their project, The Listening, which was released in 2003.

Breaking away from the conformity of the Bling Bling era Hip-Hop, The Listening focuses on the genre’s sampled roots. The album opens with the track “Groupie pt.2.” a love letter to fans. Produced by 9th Wonder and sampled from Sterolab’s “The Emergency Kisses”, the track features 9th’s trademark bounce atop a resonating and playful sample; lyrically, Phonte and Pooh’s bars poke fun at groupies at large while playing into the irony of the group’s small town status.

“Speed” is the next must-listen on the album and the group’s claim to fame; Phonte and 9th Wonder produced the track in August 2001, with Pooh being a later addition to the song/group after JUSTUS league member Median’s verse fell through. The two vibe over 9th’s soulful sound selection, creating a story that plays with the struggle of the runaround and the need to “slow down” in the face of “capitalistic onslaught.”

The next breakaway track, “The Yo-Yo” is a true testament to the group’s raunchiness and comedy, with bars, “N****s with dreads try to battle Me with sandals and capris on” and “Even though ya’ll n****s might not cuss like me … ya’ll just trying to f**k like me” speaking to the group’s bearing on pretentiousness and the hilarity of performance poetry; the track is ripe with 9th’s signature bounce, with the staccato of the lyrical motif “yo-yo” echoin’ to the punchy rhythm of crunchy programmed drums.

The album wraps with “The Listening”: a visceral and raw track that drew 2000s hip-hop heads onto the Little Brother sound. The album bounced between dorms. However, the DIY sound of the album is not necessarily a takeaway. The sample selection and vocal performances of Pooh and Phonte lead to a track in which lyrics “float” over the ethereal samples of The Last Poets and Melba Moore, creating a vibe that is nostalgic and raw; this downturned sound is separate from the rest of the album, but in my opinion, the diffences of this track create an interesting motif and give “The Listening” a place in my “all-time” favorite tracks.

The Listening is a nod to the roots of Hip-Hop. Created during the Bling-Bling era, the album was a breath of fresh air for die-hard Hip-Hop heads. The nostalgic, sampled sound, atop raunchy, fresh vocals, identified the album as an early and continued underground classic.

Score: 8/10

Little Brother – The Listening (2003)
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label: ABB Records

1. Morning (Chaundon) – 0:45
2. Groupie, Pt. 2 (Big Pooh) – 2:58
3. For You (Phonte, Big Pooh) – 3:03
4. Speed (Phonte, Big Pooh) – 3:57
5. Whatever You Say (Big Pooh, Phonte) – 5:27
6. Make Me Hot (Phonte) – 1:36
7. The Yo-Yo (Big Pooh, Phonte) – 3:35
8. Shorty on the Lookout (Phonte, Big Pooh, Median) – 5:24
9. Love Joint Revisited (Phonte, Big Pooh) – 4:25
10. So Fabulous (Phonte, Big Pooh) – 4:43
11. The Way You Do It (Phonte, Big Pooh) – 4:32
12. Roy Lee, Producer Extraordinaire (Phonte, 9th Wonder) – 0:58
13. The Get-Up (Phonte, Big Pooh) – 3:17 (prod. by Eccentric)
14. Away from Me (Big Pooh, Phonte) – 5:23
15. Nobody but You (Big Pooh, Phonte, Keisha Shontelle) – 3:01
16. Home (9th Wonder) – 2:49
17. Nighttime Maneuvers (Phonte) – 3:03
18. The Listening (Big Pooh, Phonte) – 6:07

Total length: 66:24