TRON LEGACY

the original soundtrack for tron legacy is a project that is not likely to receive too much praise, but is one of a kind similar to the movie.

the movie is about a kid named sam flynn who is the son of famous video‐game developer kevin flynn, goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. He meets his father's corrupted creation and a unique ally who was born inside the digital world.

they managed not to just make this a regular film score, but the film score that people noticed.

people from all over the world knew about the tron legacy soundtrack without even watching the movie. despite the movie coming out in 2010, they recently released the full complete version of the soundtrack.

with the recent announcement of their retirement, it seems that the soundtrack will receive more credibility and perhaps the movie will receive the same credibility as well.

1999

at only 17 years old, he sold 51,000 in the first week and started to build his sound as one of the best hip hop artists out. receiving production from lewis parker, lord finesse, the late j dilla and MF DOOM, he flourished in the hip hop game in his own way.

he managed to hook you on his lyrics that describe his deep influence being from brooklyn and having flows similar to mos def and jay-z. songs like third eye shit, killuminati and waves provide that smooth like beat and makes you focus on the lyrics he speak.

being that young, he managed to succeed in getting the attention that eventually became widespread throughout his career.

LAST THOUGHTS

to achieve success in a band, everyone in the group must be on the same page and coexisting as one. this group was able to accomplish and go beyond the expectations that people had set.

from their ep, “last thoughts”, they were able to provide music that feels calm and collected. the melodies that were provided felt effortless mainly in the track, “tell me (something new)”.

hear in color’s sound is starting to receive recognition amongst the bay area and possibly beyond. even more impressive is that the group released the ep during the global pandemic with countless hours of work focused on finishing last thoughts.

faith donithan, gerardo gonzález, isaiah selva, uncle eli, valente mcnamer had chemistry that was efficient with the work they produced.

BLOOM

forming in 2017 with vampr (tinder for musicians), bassist spencer layne, guitarist bradley kearsley, singer/guitarist ben koppenjan, and drummer daniel stauffer formed together to create music that everyone can resonate with.

the sounds on the album bloom may feel the same, but it provided a good feeling like being at santa cruz in the afternoon. songs such as “learning to listen” or “flora” provided beats that resonated with summer.

“as a band, we all play music for a lot of therapeutic reasons and we want our music to feel the same way to anyone who listens to us,” they stated.

“our first album ‘bloom’, we wrote with the intent of accomplishing just this. we want the listener to feel better about something in their life by the time they finish listening to it.” i believe through each song, they were able to find different angles that can be enjoyable for anyone listening.

808 ROCKSTAR+

he merged different genres in his music such as emo, hip hop, and nu metal. he is one of the few artists that uses mumble rap to his advantage in his music.

from the bay area, his process for making 808 rockstar+ was a long but successful process. he described the process of getting samples that he believed would be successful for his project mainly involving the guitar to give it that rockstar flow.

it all felt like one voice to me where the guitar, the beat, and the vocals all merged to one and it sounded smooth.

with his music influences involving mainly artists from the hip hop genre such busta rhymes, xxxtentacion, eminem, kendrick lamar, kanye west and travis scott, he combined his skills with hip hop and provide his audience with a new sound, a common, but unique (when done right) sound of emo rap.

REPAVE

the band began to work on the album “repave” on november 2010 as they chose to stay in their hometown of wisconsin. their sound is a “peaceful haze,” as the album feels mostly inspired through the snowy days that wisconsin provided.

rosenau describes the album's tracks as “convergent evolutions,” while the focus of the album not being music, but rather an experience. the best part of the album however is mainly through its writing.

on the track “alaskans”, a sample is featured of poet and novelist, charles bukowski reading a poem for a french television program. justin had bukowski’s influence in most of his lyrical contributions as well.

through the recording process, repave brings up the album as being more controlled compared to their first album, unmap. The mini documentary of repave described the album as love.

love with those around you and the band were able to do that as they traveled to japan while enjoying the memories together.

DONDA

donda west, the mother who meant everything to kanye was the influence that he carried with him throughout the creation of this album. the album had many delays dating back all the way from july 24, 2020, but he made it work in his own way.

donda took a different route with his previous album jesus is king. while the album provides more of an approach towards the religion of Christianity, donda was able to correlate the faith of God and everyday life.

in “Jesus Lord pt 2” with jay electronia and members from the lox sheek louch, jadakiss, and style p, kanye described his faith with the Lord to keep his success and his mental stability.

jay electronia also provided a verse relating to the turkish film dag. the film is about two turkish soldier escaping an ambush while traveling dangerously and he was able to correlate that synopsis with his life struggles of getting better.

the track list was quite a sizable amount with 1 hour and 48 minute runtime, but the project proved to be one of the most impactful albums for 2021.

through donda, we learned that being different is ok and kanye will always be an unstoppable force in music.

I KNOW I’M FUNNY HAHA

at just 24 years old, she’s becoming one of the top names in indie music today.

her songwriting in this album and in every song is based on the emotions of laughter, loneliness, insecurity and ghostly. in “sometimes,” the guitar just floats and slowly disappears as her vocals is the spotlight in the song.

her emotions can fall in many genres of music, indie, folk, country, R&B.

the album can be best described as the good days that transition into bad and turn back to good the next day - suffering through pain even though you are in the good stages of life.

she captured the spark and inspiration of making sure that each song provided a deeper meaning before it faded and continued to bloom.

“in a good way” is the song that best describes what the album is about, an album that ties so many emotions and captures emptiness at the same time.

PROCESS

in “(no one knows me) like the piano”, he displays in his music the inspiration that his mother draws for him. this is a song about growth and development from within and losing both parents, it can be a challenge.

you feel both of his parents spirit. the song provides an elegant ballad and the keys from his piano are just as powerful as the lyrics provided by the 33 year old.

the piano in every song is the essential piece for the album as it is the vessel for his own personal growth. through tears, you feel the emotions that sampha went through.

this is an album where he is reaching full growth from within. his mother was diagnosed with cancer in the same year that his ep sundaza was released. upbeat songs such as “blood on me” and “reverse faults” are shadowed with the presence of his vocals.

“a mother needs a sons, oh she needs them near, we don't need to talk, i just need you here,” sampha added these lyrics presumably referring to his mother and how important a mother’s love is.

this project is him at his most personal and vulnerable as he is a lone survivor on the journey he is going through that is life.

OFF OFF ODDITIES

this is the kit was able to make a name for themselves as their music brings up self discovery, providing stories that are full of beauty and calm energy.

this project builds from the 2020 release, “off off on,” providing a certain sound that adds emphasis on the emotion provided in her lyrics. in “recommencer,” she speaks highly of mina tindle was featured not just because of the friendship they share, but because of how the song is poetry.

the song is the french version of “started again” from off off on. it describes the off and on decisions of becoming one. “carefully, you must build it up again / steadily, you must fall apart / crumble, fall down again / there you were, we are, you are.”

this project provides a fresh taste on alternative music, going in a direction of expression and energy fused with love that is memorable.

YOKOHAMA

yokohama in japanese means “horizontal beach,” popular in anime such as “my hero academia” and “after the rain.”

japanese culture is known through madeintyo music with albums released in the past such as “thank you, mr. tokyo” and “sincerely tokyo.”

yokohama was named after one of the busiest train stations in the world, and was known as a stop for madeintyo during his youth. the mixtape featured inspiration from the early 2000’s with songs such as “love myself” and “plug.”

the 16-song mixtape is fresh with different production on each song that fuses well with madeintyo’s and unotheactivist’s sound.

the project is a mix of different styles of trap music such as hyper pop, rage music, and plugg music that doesn’t feel lazy or rushed.

this collaboration works so well as madeintyo’s rapping is more energetic while uno's rapping feels slower, but impactful.

ATONEMENT

with atonement from remedy4ej, it’s an invitation, an invitation of the direction he wishes to take himself. he’s a wanderer, a kid who wishes to learn more about the world while expressing his emotions about the negative traits he notices around him and atonement is a letter to all those thoughts he has inside.

the five song ep really draws you in that mindset starting with "arduous." the smooth melodic vocals ease you in from the get-go. the emotion of heartbreak and anguish seems to be the theme for the song. the instruments with the bass slowly playing in the background almost feel nonexistent because of the vocals stealing the show. if "arduous" is a slow song, then "blood stains" is where the fashion genre of indie rock begins.

as the guitar picks up the pace with a indie rock flow that is similar with modern day emo rap with artists iaan dior, tripe redd and the hxliday, you get the understanding of remedy coming to terms with him chasing love, a trait which we can all can relate to. he wants use to understand that love is a hard thing to achieve, but it's not possible to gain. a unique trait of this ep that stands out is the versatility that he was able to achieve.

from the guitar being slow in "arduous," to picking up in "blood stains," and the drums added on "not able 2 change," the ep just builds and builds throughout each song. the beautiful thing about this ep is that we don't fully see the final form of his capability. a feature from lackingluv in "deprive" provides a more slow paced song that stops and lets the ep breathe.

the ep can be simply described as "love," not just losing it, but gaining it as well with the love of the process with "atonement." the 16-year-old from connecticut has made a presence in the underground scene. despite his direction going in a common route in the underground scene dealing with the hopeless trait of love, he's able to take that thought in his own direction which is something that is rare this early in his music journey. despite his journey starting in 2019 with the single "it was a long night," the growth is improving and his craft will elevate.

UTOPIA

see you in utopia, the tweet that would shape how we look at hip-hop today.

travis scott simply had the music world in a chokehold for his fourth studio album, “utopia.” from the marketing with the utopia suitcase down to the numerous posters released, he had to go above and beyond with utopia. the word “utopia” as a whole is a place that has no flaws, it’s a form of perfection that is unmatched compared to reality and travis scott dove into the various meanings on what utopia can be.

utopia can be heaven or in a hotel room, the objective was that for an hour and 14 minutes, listeners would be in a state of utopia, a sense of clarity and he accomplished that goal. The project as a whole shifts the sound that travis scott is known to embrace, he puts himself in a new realm with experimental hip-hop drawing inspiration from “yeezus” by kanye west to “human after all” by daft punk. this is elevation for travis and this step of reaching elevation was started with the production.

mike dean, kanye west, guy-manuel de homem-christo, justin vernon, wondagurl, vegyn, tay-keith, bnyx, a list of the producers that gave utopia that presence, a presence unlike no album in today’s hip-hop. the album was experimental and it explored different elements such as his vocals and instrumentals used. each song can be broken down layer by layer where there would be a sense of correlation on how that element was used for that specific track. each producer had their role to contribute in and explores the more vocal side of travis scott.

with songs “my eyes,” “delrestro (echoes),” “i know?,” he balances his lyrical flow while adding in the vocal angle which was essential for giving the album layers to explore. a major aspect of the album not to be ignored is the features present. they add in the elevation factor while pushing him to explore the versatility factor that he is known for having with his 2018 release “astroworld.”

from the heavy hitters with drake and beyonce down to the more underrated artists with kaycayy and rob49, it produces this lineup that is unprecedented for music in 2023. even the small feature from swae lee in “circus maximus” with the weeknd helped boost the album forward that’s similar with his feature on “sicko mode” with drake in 2018. what makes travis scott unique as an artist is how he pushes those features to make each track sound as unique as possible. this was noticeable in “lost forever” with westside gunn and james blake.

in verse one, it seemed as gunn was going to go full steam ahead, but he gave the verse a chance to truly breathe and he flowed perfectly. add that with the simplic, but impactful vocal presence of james blake, a song that’s run time is 2:43 feels slower, but in a great way because of how it gives itself a chance to just exist where two features falling in separate genres are able to coexist and grow through it.

utopia is hope, hope for how innovation can be pushed forward with his music. the greatest trait that travis has for himself is how experimental his sound is and how he’s ok on having some misses. despite some songs feeling too slow paced, the understanding and passion is expressed, it’s not another song that just exists, the innovation in all categories is present that gives the album great pacing.

his definition of utopia pays very little attention to the outside world. with the common themes of money and sex, there are the themes of religion, trauma, pressure and inner healing. on “telekinesis,” the utopia of the album is a vision of the future where people “live in glory in everlasting life.”

from his past works of “astroworld” and “birds in the trap sing mcknight,” it reels back from the rage and explosive energy common within his discography and goes a route that’s finds himself entering a new sonic sphere that puts him in a tier of his own as an artist.

MID AIR

the la hip-hop duo paris texas (louis pastell and felix) always carries a unique approach in the realm of hip-hop. their sound provides an aesthetic balance between hip-hop and punk rock similar to the likes of jpegmafia, gorillaz and denzel curry. the point of their sound can be compared to a christopher nolan film, not to understand, but to feel. with their debut album, “mid air,” you get the feeling of something special brewing for the group. serving as their first project release since “boy anonymous” in 2021, they added emphasis on featuring the chaotic punk element from “boy anonymous” however, they explored the angle of experimenting with more sounds and breaking the barrier of what they can achieve.

“tenthirtyseven,” reels you in from the jump with this electro-centric flow, but then pushes that further with the rock drums that draws influence from industrial music similar to nine inch nails and death grips. that’s paris texas speciality, creating music that reels you in from the jump that leaves you in entangled and wanderlust. just as the end comes in, the transition carries in with “split-screen,” with this melodic beat that they are able to flow with ease. one of the focal point from the album was in the production. co-produced from paris texas, they bring producers that carry out the idea that they envisioned. with names such matt cohn (dawn fm), rodaidh mcdonald (produced for sampha & the xx), romil hemnani from brockhamption and william j. sullivan (producer for kid cudi)  just to name a few, shows the mellow presence felt in songs “dnd” with kenny mason and “closed caption.” It creates this balance where the rapid and chaotic lyrics from paris texas can co-exist.

they create this form of storytelling in their lyrics that you can envision. it paves a way for the listeners invested to form this idea that doesn’t provide distraction. with the expressive and high-paced energy in “sean-jared,” they are able to create a middle ground that the production provides a sense of wonder while the lyrics keep you in center. compared to their past work with “boy anonymous,” the album presents itself as a teaser for this project where they are able to unleash their true potential. throughout each song, it feels like uncaging an animal and they are able to build off of each track with this sense of rage that is influenced from passion. these traits aren’t just for paris texas, but for the two features as well.

tezzo touchdown and kenny mason are two artists that are very different with sound, but explore different routes with their music that gives them this credibility of being experimental and their sound aligns perfectly with paris texas. they were able to give them that outlet to just unlock their flow. in “dnd,” kenny is able to flow fluidly with the melodic, but upbeat presence that creates energy in the mellowest song from the album while teezo is pure energy expressing his punk rock presence expressed in his music while exploring his range with his vocals. paris texas don’t need features to create hits, but with these two features, it was essential because it will create growth within the project.

all around, mid air has a sense of welcoming, paving the way for different genres to emerge together and provide this feeling where genres can coexist. it’s different from the similar sound of drill music and trap rap which is exactly what the music world needs to take notice of.

I CARE SO MUCH THAT I DON’T CARE AT ALL

glaive, the 18-year old florida native delivered on the highly anticipated debut album, “i care so much that i dont care at all.” with works done with machine gun kelly and numerous of eps such as “cypress grove,” “all dogs go to heaven,” “then i’ll be happy” and “old dog, new tricks,” this album is a merger of the love lost, the love found and all the surrounding emotions that entangle his minds. the album gives the feeling of relief because us the listener have been anticipating this for a long time, but how glaive attacks this project?

he attacks this album with high bass and emotions that keeps his foot on the pedal,  but there are moments where the softer side of glaive is showcased and you truly see the vulnerable side. with “oh are you bipolar one or two?,” the opening of the piano serves as a moment of welcoming, but with a feeling of nostalgia, as if he’s coming to terms with the way things are. cypress grove, his mother and father and his loved one serves as focal points of the track and as the song progresses, the bass picks up and his vocal presence is felt. the song is a vocal point for glaive, a new chapter for the young artist.

the album serves as a promising debut for glaive, but given the numerous releases from the past, it showcases that the future of hyperpop is bright. he encapsulates the emotions that numerous people can relate to. a kid trying to find his way around the world, but when he notices something wrong with the world, he’s not afraid to address the issue.

his vocals is an important aspect across the album exposing his range. the rage in his heart gives a feeling of controlled chaos. he manages to sing about the common traits of pain and growth where he creates a similarity between the two. at only 18, he lived a thousand lives in a span of a few months from the process of this project.

glaive is an artist who is not afraid of diving in the unknown. the unknown of what life presents and the emotions tied with them. those emotions can often feature emptiness and worry not knowing what’s next, but the point of his music is telling you not to worry, you aren’t the only one going through the road of the unknown alone. he’s saying not to be afraid of the unknown because it’s better to face the unknown rather than not embracing it.

RED COROLLA

red corolla serves as an productive route for genesis to his growing discography.

what to say about domo genesis, he essentially earned the credibility as an artist working with the likes of tyler the creator, anderson.paak and freddie gibbs and he’s continued to elevate his own sound with “red corolla.” the ep is enjoyable with traits of growth compared to his earlier days at odd future. it seems that his sound is a lot more mature and he shares the concept of growth with this ep. distinctive would be the best word to describe genesis as a whole, but the ep is a teaser for what is next for the odd future artist.

the ep starts with ‘the red corolla’ that embraces an aesthetic similar to the 1970’s then the track starts to shift to an up tempo beat that is common amongst his music. featuring the skit towards the end involving starting up the corolla provides a comforting experience as you prepare yourself for a ride. the route of having slow melodic beats with genesis fast-paced rapping can embrace a con with relying too much of the beat, but genesis managed to emphasize his themes of reflection and clarity specifically ‘honestly, just wanna have a good time.’

one angle that is intriguing that he embraced is his exploration with soul samples that gives this ep the much needed character and personality that is unique compared to other projects in his discography. on 'what it means,' domo and producer j. rawls samples edgar winter's 'dying to live,' a track that was sampled in ‘runnin’ from 2pac. on ‘long way home,’ the synths that give the psychedelic feeling combined with genesis themes of indecisiveness and unsureness resembles a feeling of smooth jazz.

despite the cons of coherency as each song across the ep sounds similar as if it’s all one loop and the story being lost after ‘dezz nuts,’ this ep showcases hope for genesis. it gives a spark of growth and an idea that he’s moving on with the rambling and stoner phase that he went through with his earlier days at odd future. “red corolla” provides a good direction for genesis. he should use this ep as a template for his future projects.

PINK TAPE

lil uzi vert, a artist who dives into the unknown mainly exploring the genre of rap rock. with their influence of music surrounded by the works of marilyn manson and being a fan of the popular rock band paramore, it was only a matter of time before they would release a rap rock inspired album. pink tape is an album that received a lot of promotion from its trailer drawing inspirations from the popular movie akira and the hit song “just wanna rock.”

with promotion comes expectations and they were able to meet the expectations keeping you on the edge of your seat through each track. each song never gives you a chance to breathe, but that’s just their approach. they always want you to stay focused in the moment and from the production down to the aggressive delivery that uzi delivers, it does exactly what you expected.

the common traits of exploring different genres is not new for uzi. although, this is the first album where they explore his sound down different angles. songs such as “amped,” “nakamura,” “endless fashion” with nicki minaj and “werewolf” with bring me the horizon are focal points with the experimental angle that uzi takes with pink tape. however, uzi had a lot of expectations set for numerous reasons beyond belief.

the reasoning for the high expectations was because of the name lil uzi vert, but also because of the three-year hiatus that they went through. this is uzi’s first rap project since “eternal atake” in 2020. despite both projects sharing the same traits of rap rock, pink tape from uzi feels self-aware in a way. from the growling ad-libs down to the anime inspired production, uzi’s power in hip-hop is rare to see because of how he blends different genres such as rock and even k-pop.

despite the long listen clocking in at an hour and 34 minutes, they also finds a way of utilizing features of nicki minaj, travis scott, don toliver while having features outside of hip-hop with metalcore in bring me the horizon and kawaii metal in babymetal. the flexibility of how they work with each genre is unprecedented. this is the first album where a well-known artist, mainly dominant in hip-hop, explores different genres and makes it work. it’ll be intriguing to see how uzi progresses with his features down the line.

SO IT GOES

an incomplete story that turns to a story of fulfillment in ‘so it goes.’

the title alone showcases nicole han’s feelings, so it provides feelings of mistakes that turn to acceptance. with the production from michael matta that gives off dreamy and melodic flows fusing together with her vocals and lyrics of understood love grows more. it gives traits of acceptance from within because she understands that the energy she gives may not necessarily mean you get that energy back.

starting off with blush!, you get the sense of love that she has for her significant and it raises feelings of hope that the love will grow stronger and then the ep does an immediate 180 as with ‘how dare you’, just takes those emotions from the previous song and raises it to frustration and regret because of that trust and love not being placed for her. This was the most interesting trait because typically with love songs, the theme is centered mainly around love and how it can grow with the exceptions of taylor swift, p!nk and katy perry, and nicole han uses those traits centered with her dreamy-like vocals inspired from olivia rodrigo, billie eilish and gracie abrams.

with singles of ‘how dare you,’ ‘blush!,’ and ‘people grow apart, people let me down,’ she uses these emotions as focal points for what she wants her sound and theme to be across her discography. deep down, we all can relate to her, finding love can often be very difficult and more times than less, we may be looking in the wrong direction. despite this, the message conveyed through this ep is how those emotions should be expressed, but not to let those emotions get the best of us. it’s always good to let things to be.

all-around, the ep is a pop album with traits of rock with ‘wannabe’ teasing the heavy strings of the guitar in the background. she has the vision for exactly what she wants and the ep was a giant leap forward.

ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

navigating the obstacles, metro boomin creates a journey unlike no other with his soundtrack debut

metro boomin is a well respected person across the world of hip-hop and music in general. earning accolades such as bet award for producer of the year in 2016, earning gold and platinum plaques for more than 19 tracks and a grammy nomination, it’s easy to see why he is the perfect candidate to produce the original soundtrack for across the spider-verse. the movie as a whole expresses change and growth as the protagonist  miles morales must navigate who he wants to be, diving in the realms of the spider-verse and facing unparalleled challenges that he must endeavor to grow and he understood the focus of the movie.

the soundtrack as a whole is loaded with hip-hop artists who are well-respected such as future, offset, don toliver, asap rocky and nas, but he also featured artists who are under the radar in ei8ht, roisee and toian, but used their talents in ways that build the soundtrack to a higher degree. throughout each song, there’s a theme centered around the production despite the lyrics centered around traits of redemption and determination. ‘am i dreaming’ from roisee with asap rocky and ‘annihilate’ from offset, lil wayne and swae lee lyrics are centered around not letting things slip and not giving hope when it feels that hope is lost where miles face those challenges, but due to the production from metro, the songs are entirely different.

‘am i dreaming’ showcase the sad, but melodic violin playing the background with his famous traits of trap and hip-hop production that can provide the listener a sense of ease and clarity while ‘annihilate’ feels like a full on attack, having the trap production shine bright and providing a sense of energy and a chaotic feel similar to the antagonist of the film, the spot.

the soundtrack showcased traits of his 2022 release, “heroes and villains,” where looking back on it, the title alone could have provided a teaser to showcase what exactly was ahead for the soundtrack. it’s not clear that he has taken the production across hip-hop in a chokehold and he has set the bar for what there is to achieve. it makes you eager to see what is next to come, not just miles morales in beyond the spider-verse, but for metro boomin and his next project as well.

IN THE END, IT ALWAYS DOES