This album brings together the best of his guitar work and his infectious synth lines, complemented perfectly by some charmingly awkward basslines and every once in a while some pitch-shifted singing. Each track is greater than the sum of its parts. For example, take “Under the Sheets”. On the surface, it’s a very bare song with only a couple of things going on. Yet, that’s all that it takes. The boxy movement of chords and jaunty synth bass keep everything going in a satisfying and steady way. Then, the synth solo swoops in to close the loop and end the song with a melodic bang.

More recent Homeshake projects focus on a dreamier, more atmospheric vision of the Homeshake oeuvre. Snack is in this wonderful sweet spot–it features some of the most variety within one Homeshake album. It basks in some slower, hazier tracks like “Faded” while interspersing fun, danceable songs like “Move This Body”. The opening track is genuinely kind of goofy in the best way possible. All of it meshes to create a cohesive and balanced album with a completely unique sonic profile. 

After a listen, you really get the impression that Sagar really enjoyed making this album. He clearly takes great joy in coming up with these synth concoctions. How could someone not have fun with pitch-shifted vocals? The opener, “What Did He Look Like” magnificently sets the tone for the album. It’s a strange little track that seems to contain a snippet of a conversation about Homeshake, wondering who exactly this guy is. It’s a clever way to not only start off an album, but poke fun at the idea of an auteur–a persona that the anti-celebrity culture Sagar readily shirks. This little bit of dialogue is also a fun play on the ubiquitous R&B trope of the sultry spoken interlude. Homeshake’s cheeky version is a fitting way to incorporate it into his own sonic palette. 

Although Midnight Snack isn’t the most ambitious technical or thematic project, it speaks volumes to the power of relatability and voice. Homeshake’s influences are definitely traceable (you can find them on his monthly radio show), but they come together in a new, interesting, and very compelling way throughout his discography and especially in Midnight Snack. It’s a great album to try out for any first-time Homeshake listener, and one I readily come back to as a Homeshake fan. 

To celebrate the fifth year anniversary, Homeshake released a limited run of records pressed in midnight blue vinyl. Look for them in your local record store. He also released the Haircut EP in July. All proceeds from Haircut will donated to rotating charitable organizations.

The post Peculiar and Innovative ‘Midnight Snack’ by Homeshake Turns 5 This Year appeared first on SCAD Radio.

Donald Glover, the artist formally known as Childish Gambino, has dropped a new album—and it’s beautifully minimalist.

On March 15, 2020, the modern renaissance man teased the album with a loop on the website donaldgloverpresents.com, only to take down the music 12 hours later. A week later, the album was released in full to streaming services worldwide under the name 3.15.20. 

At first look, the album might seem amateur—or even bootleg—in presentation. The cover is a simple white square, lacking even an artist accreditation or title, making it officially even more plain than the cover of The Beatles’ eponymous white album. All but two of the tracks are unnamed (“Algorhythm” and “Time”), instead being listed simply as their timestamp (“0.00” is the first, “24.19”is 24 minutes and 19 seconds in, and so on). And the title is, of course, just the date the album was first teased, leading many to identify it rather as Donald Glover Presents. 

The music, however, is anything but boring. Past the nondescript façade of its packaging, 3.15.20 offers 12 emotionally charged and passionate tracks showing off Glover’s impressive range. Stylistically, this album could be adequately described as a sequel to his 2016 funk powerhouse “Awaken, My Love!”, overall focusing more on bass, synth, and soothing vocals than the harder-hitting hip-hop treatment of Camp and Because The Internet. 

Though the album is much more powerful than the sum of its parts, a few tracks deserve individual mention. The second track on the album, “Algorhythm”, features heavily synthesized beats and stylistic use of voice modulation that makes it feel ripped right out of “II. Earth: The Oldest Computer (The Last Night)”. “12.38”, or “Psilocybin” (as I would name it), includes phenomenal appearances from fellow Atlanta native 21 Savage, R&B artist Kadhja Bonet, and vocalist Atia “Ink” Boggs. Savage’s verse touches on police brutality and the repercussions of success, and somehow still flows seamlessly with Gambino’s earlier verse about tripping on shrooms. Additionally, Glover’s hit “Feels Like Summer” is featured as “42.26”, with no changes other than an added 15 second intro. This song, originally part of the Summer Pack EP, delivers ever-pertinent lines on mankind moving too fast and destroying the world in its wake.

More than any other, however, “47.48” deserves mention. The song opens with a few synth notes reminiscent of the opening to “Baby Boy” and seems to follow a similar theme. As in “Baby Boy”, Glover talks to his son Legend through the lyrics. The twist? Four years later, Legend is old enough to respond, and he does. The outro consists of a low, ethereal backing track as father and son discuss what they love. Though it is not the last song on the album, “47.48” feels like a finale to both the album and the Childish Gambino story that started years ago with mixtapes like Sick Boi and Culdesac. In 2018, Glover had his second son. Later that year, his own father passed away, and in a few months Glover announced he would be retiring the name Childish Gambino. 

It seems, then, that Donald Glover’s minimalist design is neither laziness nor accident. Rather, 3.15.20 represents a blank slate upon which Glover can begin the next chapter of his life. Though Childish Gambino is perhaps my favorite artist this side of Y2K, it would be selfish for me to ask more of him past this album. It is time for him to stand aside and allow Donald Glover to shine—as a writer, as an actor, and as a father. 

The post The Art of Simplicity: A Look Into Childish Gambino’s “3.15.20” appeared first on SCAD Radio.

As for the songs on the album, bubbly sounds composite of a few different genres help us welcome back Monáe like nothing changed in those 5 years since her last studio LP. “Screwed” and “Django Jane” are presented consecutively as girl power anthems, the latter with politically fierce lyricism when Monáe announces “And we gon’ start a motherf*ckin’ pussy riot/ Or we gon’ have to put ’em on a pussy diet” before delving into her feminist pride.

“PYNK” starts off a bit more innocent with her soft vocals explaining the color, but maintains the “girls rule” theme when it becomes apparent she’s talking about her affection for the female genitalia alongside female empowerment. She perfectly encapsulates the fact that she loves her gender identity by declaring “’Boy, it’s cool if you got blue/ We got the pynk” with feature Grimes.

Aside from the feminine fist-pumps of the aforementioned tracks, Dirty Computer has some other highlights. “Make Me Feel” takes inspiration from Prince’s “Kiss” to deliver a poppy tune that would’ve put a smile on The Purple One’s face.

If there’s anything that doesn’t click with this album, it’s certainly some of the features. Music legend Brian Wilson seems a bit redundant and very forced on the titular track, providing nothing more than the classic Beach Boy “whews” in the background. The lighthearted talk of women’s genitals does go a step too far on the Pharrell Williams feature “I Got The Juice”, where juice overtly represents female sexual elements in a trope that starts to get beaten into the ground before the track is almost redeemed by Monáe declaring “If you try to grab my pussy cat, this pussy grab you back”, therefore ensuring this woman probably has a certain pink hat laying around somewhere in her home.

Dirty Computer ditches the Metropolis-inspired storyline that’s been the backbone of Janelle Monáe’s career, but triumphs as a record loaded with LGBT anthems to fit her newly revealed orientation. Definitely an album for the times, the blend of political verses and self-truth add to an already impressive catalog for the Kansas City singer.

SCAD Radio gives it 8.3/10.

The post Janelle Monáe Introduces New Album with Film appeared first on SCAD Radio.

A Love Letter To You 2 is the musical sequel to his previous album, A Love Letter To You, which holds his classic songs “Love Scars”, “Poles” “1469”, and others that helped rocket him to stardom. A Love Letter To You 2 varies stylistically when compared to the previous album. It features more of a somber tone and cradles the theme of heartbreak in a more prominent way. Not just heartbreak, but also the worries of success and failure, as heard in the song “Deadman’s Wonderland”. Speaking of featuring, ANTi PoP who’s genre crossed pop punk/hip hop style voice compliments Trippe Redd’s beautifully. You also get to hear more of Trippie’s friends such as UnoTheActivist and Bali Baby who all give different twists to the songs.

Did this album stand up to what we expect of Trippie Redd himself? The album sticks to the themes of the previous of course, being a sequel album, but it also tries it’s hand at other experimentations. Songs like “Back of My Mind” has a very pop, almost bubble gum trap-vibe to it, which works surprisingly well. Trippie really does make music for himself, trying things that he wants to see work and make the best of what he and who he works with. So far, his melancholic r&b is working really well for him. I can very easily see him divulging into other styles of hip hop music because when you close your heart off to others, you may find yourself being open to more around you.

4 out of 5 Broken Hearts

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