THEE SACRED SOULS – THEE SACRED SOULS
Released: August 26, 2022
Genre: RnB; Soul
Runtime: 38 minutes
The debut album from the San Diego trio is a magnificent blend of 60’s soul whipped together with the infectious and blissful tender nature of 70’s RnB, Thee Sacred Soul’s self titled album is beautifully mixed and produced where the album feels lost in time. Slick and smooth bass lines, soothing and comforting funk inspired beats, and lead vocalist Josh Lane’s angelic high falsetto and enrapturing storytelling is a marvel to listen to.
Thee Sacred Souls to me came as a surprise, Spotify can sometimes give you a few screw and curve balls. Some misses more than hits, however once I came across the opening track ‘Can I Call You Rose?’ on a curated playlist I was immediately hooked. If the song had fallen into the hands of a less adequate band, it’d come off corny and retro. Josh Lane’s beautiful and sober delivery on love and his devotion to his lover, comparing her to a rose in a poetic fashion. Josh is accompanied with a simple kick drum beat and a hypnotising string section, however the real highlight is the smart and precise use of brass instruments to really flare up the romantics and angelic nature of his words.
It’s not very often you come across a record where you find no skippable songs, every song on Thee Sacred Souls has a purpose to play. Smoothing soul and RnB cuts through the steamy tension to bring you back to Earth, teasing you with hints of early funk influences and pitches of nu-wave jazz. Whilst it’s not perfect, there are a few kinks in the cog that can always be fine tuned, for a debut record this is a seat on the soul train you definitely want tickets to.
HEROES & VILLAINS – METRO BOOMIN
Released: December 2, 2022
Genre: Trap; Hip-Hop
Runtime: 48 minutes
Having only been in the scene for about 5 years, Atlanta native Metro Boomin has become one of the most sought after and successful new age hip-hop producers. Working with the likes of Future, Travis Scott, Drake and 21 Savage, he has made a name for himself with his electrifying and gritty production choices.
Heroes & Villains is the perfect showcase of this, with a great blend of sober trap cuts such as Raindrops (Insane) with Travis Scott, or the loud and horror aesthetic of Superhero with Future, the horns coming in and out of the track is unsettling and gives a sense of danger and urgency. Overall the feature list is packed with talent and past collaborators, from the likes of The Weeknd, Young Thug, A$AP Rocky as well as new talent like Don Toliver. Though it’s stacked with talent, most artists contribute to two or even four songs out of the 15 song tracklist, especially rough when some artists don’t pull their weight like John Legend and Chris Brown.
Where I would’ve liked to see this record take shape is for Metro Boomin to expand his list of collaborators or get on board with complete new artists he has never worked with before, whilst it’s not bad to link up with close friends and collaborators, you often find a winning formula and get stuck into a mold and at times making the same kinda tracks as before.
As mentioned, I have nothing but love for Metro Boomin and this record, a lot of the songs I come back to however I’d like to see him experiment with new sounds and artists. If you want to hear some dark and gritty trap music, however you might also be better off looking at his singles or full collaborative records for a better taste of what this Platinum record producer can create.
