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Arizona Baby – Kevin Abstract
I was so excited for this just because of how much I’ve come to love BROCKHAMPTON and Kevin Abstract over the past couple of years. I actually hadn’t listened to his first record, American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story until recently after listening to Arizona Baby for the first time. Sadly, I wasn’t that crazy about that album, although a few songs definitely stood out like Empty and American Boyfriend, which my roommate used to play all the time (hey Ally). The album had a really nice sound overall — obviously very different from BH’s style, being a lot slower, more spacey and atmospheric, and even more personal than the verses Kevin has thrown on BH songs about his painful upbringing and the discrimination he’s faced throughout his life.
Arizona Baby is no deviation from this, but perhaps even a deeper dive into these struggles and internalized trauma. He raps on each song about his confusion and forced shame regarding his sexuality, as well as how he copes with fame and how it all happened so fast while looking back on the troubled home he left behind. The sound of the album in its entirety is quite hushed and soft, and in this way feels even more intimate and confessional. Personally, I probably won’t relisten to it much, except probably to listen to “Big Wheels” which is one of the more exciting songs on the track list, but I can absolutely appreciate Kevin’s further opening up and continued vulnerability, and shamelessness in doubling down his venting about the things that have plagued him since the beginning of his career up until now. It’s a more introspective project that gives expanded insights into his life as opposed to something more hook-y and accessible, and definitely makes my admiration for Kevin grow even more.
You Can’t Sit With Us – Pivot Gang
Sooo, I was really looking forward to this release given how much I was constantly replaying the singles leading up to it, but to be completely honest, it’s nothing too ground-breaking. Don’t get me wrong, pretty much every song on the album is super chill and enjoyable, with insanely catchy hooks, snappy and infectious beats and booming bass, but as a whole, not many of the songs stand out much on their own. The track list ends up being quite uniform and one-dimensional throughout. Each member, although having their own unique and idiosyncratic personalities, eventually start sounding like they just hop on to do their part in each song and hop off without leaving too much of a memorable mark or presence.
There are most definitely certain highlights though, such as on some of my favorite tracks like “Colbert,” “Mortal Kombat,” and “Jason Statham Pt. 2,” which all get stuck in my head super easily. Even having said all this though, I actually still really like this record very much; even being kind of generic, I’ve listened to it way too many times since it came out just because of how fun and easy it is to listen to all the way through. This collective is honestly really cool, and are definitely onto something for future, hopefully more ambitious releases.
Fishing For Fishies – King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
These guys did it again. :’) Seriously, I wonder if they can ever put out a bad album; I’m starting to think it’s not possible. However, they have so many amazing albums to compete with at this point, that it’s kind of hard to put out something that’ll really stand out among the rest. I might have to say that is the case with this album, which I do think is so extremely pleasant and enjoyable, but it is your pretty signature and predictable King Gizz… it doesn’t really have that much of a distinct theme or any crazy new ideas compared to previous records. When listening, all I could think is that this is just very fun and happy music that is of course uniquely and very recognizably Gizz, but nothing quite earth-shattering beyond that. It is a little more cohesive than records that are more or less a compilation of B-sides like Gumboot Soup, but it still sounds a little bit loosely strung together. It did surely scratch my itch for new music from the band, but is like a nice warm hug as opposed to something that blew my mind. Please tell me that makes sense? My favorite songs are probably the title track and “Boogieman Sam.”
Side notes: I was able watch a live Q&A AND meet Stu and Eric at Rough Trade (my favorite record store in Brooklyn), and also recently saw IDLES while wearing a King Gizz shirt and got many compliments on it from other awesome fans. Hopefully I can catch them for the third time at Summerstage this August (fingers crossed)!!
SOME THOUGHTS ON SOUNDS 
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