OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE Vol. IX

VOLUME NINE

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE

LAUREN TOYOTA _________ JADE EAGLESON SPENCER BURTON ___________ MINUS GRAVITY THE VAUGHNS

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE VOLUME NINE - QUARTER ONE

FOR THOSE WHO ARE COMPELLED TO WEAR THEMSELVES DOWN TO THE FLESH & BONE IN ORDER TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT SHOWS THEIR HEART.

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE C R E AT I V E T E A M

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R Brandynn L Pope DESIGN

Brandynn L Pope WRITERS

J a m e s L i a m Wa rd PHOTOGRAPHERS Brandynn L Pope

Cassie Deadmond Sean O’Day

W W W. O B S E S S I V E C O M P U L S I V E M A G . C O M E M A I L fleshbonemagazine@gmail.com I N S TA @obsessivecompulsivemag

INDEX 06 10 14 18 22 26 30 34 40

B A N D O F S I LV E R MUSICIANS T H E VA U G H N S MUSICIANS M I N U S G R AV I T Y MUSICIANS SMALL SINS MUSICIAN/PRODUCER S P E N C E R B U RT O N MUSICIAN HAILEY WHITTERS MUSICIAN JADE EAGLESON MUSICIAN L A U R E N T O Y O TA VEGAN AUTHOR ALBUMS OF THE YEAR W RT N B Y J A M E S L I A M WA R D

BAND OF SILVER Hey! Thank you for taking the time to sit and answer some questions with us! We are excited to have you as a part of our Ninth Volume!

Thanks! Glad to be here!

This past December you released your EP, Always. How was the process for creating this EP? How long had you been sitting on some of these songs?

Most of the songs were pretty new. We wrote four of the five tracks with Mike Green and Mitch Marlow in October of 2019, about 9 months before we released the first song of the project. As a result, most of the songs are about the thoughts and emotions I was going through at the time. However, we’d been sitting on the title track, “Always” since April of 2017. In February 2020, we produced the whole batch with Mike Green.

What had the writing process been like for you building this particular release? What drew you into working with Mike Green?

We wrote most of the EP in LA for the pop and pop-rock scene. The writers we worked with had a much different way of writing than we were used to. When we wrote songs on our own in Nashville, such as “Always,” I would write lyrics and Alex would play chords on an acoustic guitar until we had the structure laid out. We would then show the rest of the band and build the arrangement from there.

With Mitch and Mike, however, we built the arrangement in Pro Tools first, then wrote the lyrics and melody over that. I thought it was an interesting way of going about it, and sometimes the vibe of the track would inspire the lyrics, such as in “Undertow.”

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What were some of the themes that you discuss throughout the EP? Hope and looking forward to the future. We wrote most of the songs coming off of some major changes to our team and personal lives. These changes have all turned out to be positive, but at the time I felt uncertain and wanted to write something uplifting to get through that feeling.

I imagine being a band of siblings, that you all have been heavily influenced by music in general within a similar time frame. How did you decide to start working towards music together?

Alex and Evan have been playing practically since they could walk, and I started singing my junior year of highschool. The guys had played in a few bands through their music school and realized they enjoyed performing. They began writing songs together, but struggled with lyrics. Around the same time, I took up singing and began writing lyrics, but lacked the musical knowledge to create an arrangement. Eventually, we began working together and realized we had something special.

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How do you feel that Nashville has affected you or influenced you as a band?

Nashville is overflowing with musical talent, which makes it a great place to learn instruments and singing. As I mentioned, Alex and Evan have been playing for most of their lives, and at every step they have had incredible instructors. We would not be nearly as skilled in our craft without the guidance of some amazing musicians here.

Your music videos have this really specific flare to them and use vivid colours. How much say do you have over the videos that you create and build? How have you ensured that all of them have this same vibrant branding?

We typically go to our directors with a basic idea of what we want in the video, and they expand on that concept. Our directors know that color is part of style and so they work with us to incorporate it. We also have an amazing visual director, Lindsey Byrnes, who has helped create a direction and image for our art and videos.

Even with your single art work they are all this monochromatic, single object images. What is it about this particular aesthetic that you are attracted to?

Alex and I both have synesthesia, so we wanted color to be a theme for each of the songs. Ironically, we mainly rely on the opinions of non-synesthetes for the actual colors of the cover art since many times we don’t see the same color for the song or the colors don’t match the lyrics. For example, Alex and I both saw “Hello Sunshine” as purple, but orange made much more sense with the title. The object represents the song in visual form and can be used for social media and other ideas we have yet to do. Overall, we think the art looks cool and makes the songs immediately recognizable.

Now that the EP has been released, is there anything else that you are currently working on that people should be on the look out for?

We’ve got a lot of new singles coming this year! In fact, we have so many that it was hard to schedule it all without getting too overwhelmed. We also expect the world to open back up meaning we get to play some live shows and festivals. Either way, we have big plans ahead.

THE VAUGHNS Hello! Thank you for taking the time to speak with us a little more about your work. Let’s dive right in and talk about rom-coms + take-out. How long have you been working on these three tracks?

Hey! First off, thanks for having us. We’ve been working on these songs for just about a year.

What were some of the themes that you were exploring both lyrically and musically on these tracks?

Lyrically, embracing change and new beginnings; musically we started exploring a lot of new technology and instruments like Ryan’s new drum pad, synths, and orchestral strings which forced us to look at songwriting and arrangements in a way that we hadn’t before.

With a lot of shifts that you have experience in your band the last little while, how do you feel working on this particular release has differed from previous?

The two of us really opened up with each other personally and musically. With this release we challenged some of our old habits and tried to think a little bit harder about every choice that we made. Overall, we think this is what created a more vulnerable and thoughtful release.

For this EP, you decided to work with Joe Reinhart and then get mastering from Ryan Schwabe. What lead you to want to work with these specific people?

We really liked a lot of the records Joe has worked on and felt that he would understand our vision for these songs. When we started diving into the EP, Joe won our musical trust very quickly from his insightful notes and thoughts, so when he ended up mixing and suggesting Ryan Schwabe for mastering, we were totally on board.

Both of them completely knocked it out of the park. We look up to Joe and Ryan as experts at their crafts are just super grateful to have had their ears on this EP.

When it comes to visuals, you have a very distinct style imbedded into every aspect of your release, from the cover art, to the merch, your music videos and a little bit in your promotion. What do you find attractive about these sorts of retro, throw-back imagery?

All art builds on each other, nothing “fresh” or “new” is possible without the older art that inspires it. I think we’ve always liked to incorporate some aspect of a “retro” style to pay homage to the creatives who’ve influenced us.

Especially with your “Raina” music video everything is in black and white and has this really classic feeling atmosphere. How do you approach your music videos? Are they something that you have a lot of voice in creativity, or do you work with someone else that you trust to take the creative reigns?

We worked with our friends Steve Marcario and Drew Mullins on the last two videos and the four of us just really clicked creatively. We met through Ryan’s brother Adam (who you actually can see playing bass/ piano in the ‘All Weekend’ and ‘Raina’ videos). Ryan and I had pretty distinct ideas for both videos, he came up with the clone concept for All Weekend and I really wanted a performance piece for Raina. We knew we wanted a muted, semi-Wes Anderson vibe on ‘All Weekend’ and an old Hollywood feel for ‘Raina’. What’s incredible is that Steve and Drew totally understood what we were going for and were able to not only execute but really push the visuals past our expectations to enhance the storytelling. We are still just in awe of how Steve and Drew pulled it off and made us look so cool.

How have you felt setting up for a music release in the current conditions in comparison to when you knew there would be some kind of tour cycle? Have you felt more hands on with all the aspects that go into the release?

We miss playing shows so much, and it definitely adds a ton of pressure to be “hip” on the internet. We’re not really big social media people, but we are trying our best - I even made a TikTok. Please listen to our music and buy merchandise so we can be musicians instead of influencers.

Are you having any type of celebration for the day that rom-coms + take-out is released?

No, haha. We just got together last weekend and played Catan and ordered some take out.

Is there anything that people should be on the look out from you?

We may have some virtual live music in the near future.

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MINUS GRAVITY

From my understanding, the three of you had met in High School and have been creating music ever since. Does this mean that the project, Minus Gravity has been with you all since High School, or is it something that you all have grown into working on?

In high school we went by the name of Bds Monstaz. We were making music together then in San Antonio, TX. We moved to Atlanta for college but more so because of the music scene.

We knew that was our way to get to Atlanta to pursue music because we felt we did everything we could in San Antonio; we had taken over San Antonio musically. After a year in Atlanta we felt like LA would fit us better. We came out here with really nothing. no place to stay, no apartment or house. [We] slept were we had to, in our car most of the time, on and off for 3 years. We knew no matter what we would make our dream happen. That’s why on our worst days we would say, “Nothing can hold us down,” thats where Minus Gravity derives from.

Nothing can hold you down.

You’re currently in the process of releasing some more music before dropping an album. What are some of the subjects that you are exploration on this particular release?

Our next project is titled “Ownership.” It’s about not only creating music but actually owning what’s yours. Almost all of our music comes from lifestyle or what we go through on the daily. I think that’s why people relate to it. We all go through the same things.

How long have you been working on these different tracks?

We never stop working so we may use a track we started on a year or two ago because we have thousands of songs that haven’t been released. We were also in the studio last night working on new material. so it’s a mix of both.

Walk us through a bit of the process of writing different tracks from beginning until you know that it’s finished.

As soon as the beat comes on we know if we’re recording a song to it in the first five seconds. In 30 seconds we’ll have the hook either written down or be in the booth recording it.

A song usually takes us about 45 minutes to complete. We’ve been working together for over 10 years so its second nature at this point.

Who have been some of your influences to develop into the style you have now?

Rob’s favorite artist is Stevie Wonder. Blaze is southern so he really likes anything Texas, UGK, Ludacris, etc. And I, Apollo, would have to go with Lil Wayne, Kanye West.

When it comes to the visuals of your music videos, what are some of the things that you like to display and associate with your music?

Definitely our fashion and music go hand in hand so that’s one thing we like to show people through our visuals. A lot of our visuals are just friends and a good time. I think that’s what makes it feel authentic and not forced. If it’s a party scene we would rather not set up a fake scene, we’re really having a party so you feel that energy.

How much say do you have when it comes to the creative direction, or do you work with directors and allow them to take the front seat on all of those aspects?

We work with various directors but we have 100% creative control because that’s the part we enjoy the most. Creating something hands on and being able to see your work turn into a final product is the most gratifying part of the process.

What are some goals that you hope to see Minus Gravity achieve in the next few years?

Of course we can tell you about different accolades we would like to recieve but honestly being able to just make music and do what you love doing everyday [and] getting better at that is the ultimate success. We dont work jobs, we just love what we do and put everything into this. The ultimate goal is always just looking back at the end of every year seeing all the progress we make, better production working with bigger names in the industry, etc.

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Are you going to be doing any kind of celebration for your album when it is released?

We will have some kind of private release party. It’s always a vibe around our releases. We like to have people around whether its friends or people in the industry we work with, have a listening session or listening party to let poeple take in the project before its release.

What should people be on the look out for when it comes to Minus Gravity?

A lot of new music. A lot of new visuals. Our strain of marajuana, ‘Atmosphere,’ is out now. New clothing, new fashion and different business ventures.

SMALL SINS In 2006 the self-titled album of Small Sins was released, becoming a successful electro-rock music anthem of the time. After several tours with the name of Small Sins as well as two additional records, the founder and sole member, Thomas D’Arcy went on a hiatus of sorts, at least from this project. He became more known as a producer to many bands across Canada. For years he had worked crafting different sounds and songs for musicians of all sizes, becoming comfortable and skillful at creating sounds that he previously had been unable to emulate perfectly. While working with one of his clients, he came to terms that one of the songs that had been crafted felt like it belonged with Small Sins. This would become a consistent occurance, until finally Thomas wrote 8 songs that would end up being his newest record, Volume II, a decade after this last release. Volume II is musically closer to the the ideas of what Small Sins had been exploring on their first release and consistently acts self-aware to that point. We were able to take the time to talk with Thomas D’Arcy about this specific release, how it reflects on his prior career, as well as how his work as a producer had leant itself to him being able to release new music for himself again.

At the time of writing the songs that would eventually become Volume II, Thomas D’Arcy had been walking his dog writing little hooks and lyrics in his mind with every intention to set them up for one of his clients in the future. It had been a routine of his when writing songs with others to ensure they would not end up starting from nothing. He always would have something ready to go. The first song that he accidentally would end of writing for himself was “I Used To Be A Better Man,” going on to comment that,“When that first song came about, no body wants things to sound like this, it’s weird, with this very 2005 quirky keyboarding stuff with low vocals.

It’s never going to be the starting point for somebody else’s record.”

He started noticing a pattern. Working with his client, AA Wallace.

There had been a particular song that had been meant for him to use but after two record cycles and it still being tucked away, Thomas decided to ask to keep it for himself, and that song would become “510.” Finally, within another session of work with Dear Rouge he had come up with something that he knew wouldn’t be for anyone else and sounded suited to what he had done with Small Sins, so he took it. At this point he was ready to go further with all of these songs, commenting on the experience, “It happened two or three times in a row where now I have a single, hey I have an EP, or oh shit, I guess I have a record. I guess I’ll start writing this on purpose now.”

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All of the initial writing had been done prior to the lock-down brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic. The songs were almost complete

by March and once there was lockdown Thomas had a difficult time being creative or even thinking about working on music throughout March and April. It wouldn’t be until the summer where he would add the finial songs into the catalogue of Volume II. While everything felt uncertain and crazy out of nowhere there were parts that happened to align in a way where Thomas had already been clearing his schedule to ensure the care of his new baby in May. In some ways this also was able to help enforce some kind of normalcy before moving forward and getting everything set up for a release plan for the record.

There are several similarities between the first Small Sins record and Volume II, thus the name being what it is. Unlike the official second and third record that fit chronological in the Small Sins discography, this is the natural sophomore or follow up record to the first. Thomas states that, “[On] the first record, every song had their own truth to it.

As a person that wants to work every day, producing for other bands every day, or want to be writing every day or working on some kind of project all the time. One band isn’t enough to put all that energy all that energy into. I can’t write 100 songs if there’s times where I go to the studio and work on something and it’s not coming from any emotional place at all, it’s just filler. It’s almost like working on riffs, keyboards and just playing around with music. It can get a little old.

I have so many songs that are about nothing or rekindle the same things over again. I wanted Volume II to have every song to be about a person or a thing or something that was going on. It was coming from a real place and it wasn’t because I wanted to jam. It was because I wanted to get something off my chest. The underlining theme is that it comes from a place of honesty or something that’s actually happening in reality.”

Working as much as he has over the years, creating the specific sounds that he wanted to create comes easily now. The process is quick and simple compared to when he was first exploring these sounds and just trying to make things work noting, “There’s certain sounds that I was looking for years and years and now I have found most of the songs I’ve wanted while working for other people. Now I can just apply them to myself.” He also continues to state that while working with and for other people, there’s a deeper desire to get stuff done for them and work harder to make things sound how they want them to sound. When it’s just for him it’s harder to want to battle over things like tweaking EQ and he comments, “I want to just barf it all out. Have it be a creative experience.” Ultimately, if the experience was not going to be fun or creative, Thomas would not have even continued this journey to write music for himself again.

For those who have been familiar with Small Sins over the years, they might have recognized the similarities between the new art work and promotional material and what came from the original Small Sins selftitled record. There’s a stark white background and a sharp image of an object in the middle of it all. This time the cover art is decorated with plants, something that symbolizes the growth since the first record with the keyboard on the cover of the record. Thomas goes on to explain a little more about the history of this aesthetic for hi that, “Before we were even called Small Sins, we did 5 or 6 tours across Canada as ‘Ladies and Gentleman’ and Ladies and Gentleman always wore all white clothes and [had] all white photos, and all white everything is kind of what it was. There were three or four other bands that started doing the same thing ... So my thing was we are never allowed to do that,” He laughed reflecting back on that moment in time in the early 2000s.

Continuing on he states, “But that was the first year and a half or two years of the band was that. That was the look, our uniform on stage to make us feel cool. Plus, all white outfits look shit hot. When I was thinking how I was going to package this record so many years later, I thought let’s do everything like that first record and the first presentation of that record with the live band.” Even with the music visualizers associated with the record, the theme of the white continued on with Thomas’s favourite part being the off putting yellow subtitles that make the whole action seem something more like a European film and less Canadian. It doesn’t mean anything, and it doesn’t necessarily need to mean anything but simply is something for him to enjoy putting out along with the music.

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Before a lawsuit had ensued, the first record album cover contained Russian Dolls and pulling from that idea Thomas wanted something that would thematically be similar to it on this new release. There would be something hidden inside of something, and then something inside of that with several laters. Thomas laughs while stating, “If Volume I is Russian Dolls, then Volume II is plants sprouting out of those Russian Dolls. It doesn’t quite make sense but it leads the first to the second.”

Now with this eight-track record released, one would assume that this would be the end of it for releases from Small Sins, at least or a little while but Thomas D’Arcy proudly stated that there is still more to come. As a bit of an exercise to prove that he could do it, as well as the fact that he just wanted to do it, he made another version of the record that is comprised of completely orchestral instruments. When going on to explain the reason behind creating this second variation Thomas explains that, “The first album, just even trying to learn how to use Pro-Tools or trying to make anything close to anything that I wanted it to was always such a challenge. I was a fish our of water trying to achieve things outside of my grasp. So with the orchestral one, I really [had] no place doing. I’ve always done a bunch of string arrangements for a bunch of bands but they’ve always been simple, augmenting violin parts or other parts that are meant to fit into pop music. It might as well of been disco or something. To actually do full charted orchestration of many different strings who are carrying all of the weight with no other instrumentation at all just seemed like the hardest thing for me to do. So I decided that’s what I was going to do. It was really nice for learning.”

In a way, the whole process works as a bit of a business card, proving to other artists who may want to work with Thomas that this is another thing that he can accomplish for them.

After this release, Thomas notes that he will probably go on hold for a bit in terms of creating his own music. He does have a family to think about as well as a couple of other bands that he will be producing over the next few months. Since he first had put out music for himself, the industry has changed in a way that enables artists to release at their own leisure, especially without any labels putting pressure on them and that’s exactly the sort of thing that Thomas is happy to have, “It’s liberating to not make a plan of, ‘this is the month that I am going to work on these songs.’ You’re always going to have songs that don’t fit into the template, that aren’t relevant. It’s nice to not have any template. If I were to guess, I’d probably do some random single in July and then like three songs in December and then you’d never hear from me again. Or release whatever into the ether. Nobody cares.

Nobody is expecting more or less from me.”

Thomas D’Arcy is quite proud of the fact that he is in complete control over what he does with his music career. Now, being 40 years old, he is completely comfortable with where he sits with music and his drive to create it and knows when something can belong to him as well as when it can work with one of the other artists that he is working with.

For now, we await the orchestral design of Volume II and the comfort that at any moment in time he might come back with a song that he is proud to release and call his own. If you have yet to hear the new record from Small Sins, do yourself a favour and search up Volume II, available on all streaming platforms.

SPENCER BURTON Let’s just dive right in to the release of Coyote, your fifth studio release. Congratulations! How long have you been working on this release?

This album has been a long time in the making, longer than I’d like to admit. I started writing this album in the late days of 2018. It was finished mid-2019. The world is an interesting place right now and because of this, the album was put on a bit of a “standby”. Here we are all the way into the start of 2021, and finally this album is about to see some daylight.

What are some of the themes that you are exploring in Coyote?

Coyote is an album about fear, and acceptance. It’s about love and hate. Experience and doubt. It’s about things I’ve been through and am still dealing with now.

Since this is the first time we are connecting with you, would you be able to walk us through a bit of your current process that goes into songwriting and building a record?

Songwriting for me is an emotional endeavour. I’ll go weeks, months, even years sometimes without writing a song or a single lyric, and then it pours out of me and I can’t stop it. I’ve written whole albums in just a few days. I can’t treat songwriting like a job, because it isn’t or shouldn’t be. It’s always been a way for me to “get it out”. It helped me through some pretty tough times and it’s helped me celebrate some pretty amazing times.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY Vanessa Heins

On this particular release you worked with Andrija Tokic.

What was it that made you want to work with them as well as working on analog?

I met Andy on my first trip down to Nashville for a recording project. An album I called Songs Of. He was the perfect fit for what I wanted to do musically. The process was better than I could have imagined. He took the time, He took the right steps and he put the same kind of love that I put in…maybe even more. On our days off he took me out on his makeshift house boat and we spent our mornings, afternoons and nights doing a little fishing. Those fishing trips are what really sealed the deal.

Anyone that takes me out for a bout of fishing during a recording project is a teammate for life.

Having weaved through all kinds of music over the years, how did you come to realize your love for creating country music and settling deeper into that?

I’m still weaving through music and really don’t know where that weaving is going to end up taking me. I make what I make, when I make it and I have a hell of a time doing it!

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With a lot of your visuals you have used beautiful illustrations, or earthy imagery. All of this certainly has created a brand specific to yourself. What is it about both the illustrations as well as the touch of nature that you are attracted to and feel encapsulate your music?

I have always felt a strong connection to the natural world.

I’ve come up with some of my best ideas while sitting in a tree stand waiting for deer or walking the great wilderness of southern Ontario. I don’t think I could ever create anything without it. Because of that It’s always going to be a part of how I represent myself and my music.

You also have set on creating an eco-friendly as well as Canadian-made piece of merch. Tell us a bit about your partnership with Ontario Nature to make this happen and why it was important for you to do something like this with Ontario Nature.

Conservation of our wild places is something I think we all need to keep in the front of our minds. Wilderness dwindles as humanity expands. There are so many reasons for this and fast fashion is one of them. I have always supported the recycled and locally made clothing options as oppose to the cheap, fall apart garbage that big box companies throw down our throats and then throw in the landfills. I’ve partnered with Ontario Nature on this album release and had sweatshirts printed in honour of that. The sweatshirts are Canadian made and eco-friendly. They are also made from organic/recycled materials. Ten Dollars from every sweatshirt sale goes directly to the Ontario Nature conservation group. If you want to check it out here’s the link!

Are you doing anything to celebrate your release of Coyote?

Keep your eyes peeled. I’m always celebrating something.

Is there anything else that people should be on the look out from you or any final words that you would like to leave us with?

Keep our wild places wild and keep your love free and clean.

HAILEY WHITTERS After years of working towards achieving the dream of playing music, Hailey Whitters, was ready to leave Nashville and head back to Iowa. She was over second guessing what she wanted to achieve, and tired from working in a restaurant and playing music hoping that one of her songs would finally cut her a break.

Suddenly, in a whirlwind Hailey Whitters finally was able to get that break, see dreams that she fantasized over on her breakout album, The Dream. With the release out of the way and new excitement breathed into Hailey, she worked with her team to come up with the idea of the Living The Dream: Deluxe Edition. It is a record that pairs with all of the songs from The Dream as well as 5 additional tracks that each include artists who helped establish Hailey’s dreams. We were lucky enough to be able to talk with Hailey a little bit about her processes and achievements of what went into this deluxe edition.

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It has been a long road for Hailey Whitters to figure out what works for her in the pursuit of music. When she first had moved to Nashville, she didn’t have any producers or management, just herself and a dream. She knew what she wanted out of her songs and the people she admired. But after well over 10 years in the town that is known for its music community there came a point of reassessment. We now are aware of the success that her album, The Dream, would bring her, but while she had been on the road with her band and her boyfriend at the time, now fiance, she started thinking about how it would be possible to even fund a full-length record and get it off the ground. She reflects back stating, “I remember it was the year winding down and we were like what do we do? What if we produce it? We laughed because it was funny and then it was like, why not? We know my music, we know my songs, we sing them on the road. By no means, we know how to produce a record but we know what we like and if we can just get some musicians together and book a studio we can hash all that out and see what happens.” From there, Hailey and her partner also worked together on the deluxe edition songs in the studio, noting that while they might not be the best producers they were able to successfully achieve what they wanted to hear.

This whole process for the Living The Dream: Deluxe Edition happened a few months prior to the initial hit of the pandemic. There was talk of these songs even being used on a new record but with the theme of living the dream being a part of Hailey’s story it ended up making more sense to use these songs in this particular way rather than on a release where that same thought pattern wouldn’t have been as evident. Each artist that took part in the songs were a part of the story of Hailey being able to say that she is finally living the dream. Little Big Town was the band that gave her the first cut at being a song writer and getting her on country radio. This was how she was able to save money and stash away any royalties along with her tips and eventually fund her record. Brent Cob and Jordan Davis were the ones who took her on the first tour and got her opening to new crowds of people. On top of that, it enabled her to pay her band and keep the lights on. With Trisha Yearwood, she was a hero and the person that Hailey grew up idolizing, with her music helping to shape many aspects of her. Finally, Hillary and Rory were two song writing heroes at the top of her list of co-writers she would want to work with. They took chances on her in the writing room as an artist with no previous influence. It was important to have all of these people involved on this particular writing process because they are the people who enabled the check marks next to bucketlist dreams to come to fruition, or as Hailey would put it, “It feels like a perfect little book end to this chapter that started with me as a broken hearted waitress who was really frustrated with Nashville and not able to see these dreams become a reality ... Just hang on and see what comes up around the corner.”

Looking back on the whole experience, Hailey was able to pinpoint that her song that actually was written about her experience of waiting to see where all of her work would take her ended up being the release that would turn it around. “‘Ten Year Town did turn it around for me. I didn’t have a publicist, I didn’t have management or a record label, I literally just put it up on my instagram. It changed

my whole career, it started my career. I was 12 years into a 10 year town at that point, on the brink of giving up.” It’s strange to look back on when the whole recording of the Dream revolved around the coming to terms with this dream and where it fit into Hailey’s life and where she was sitting with Nashville. Now after working and balancing that life at the hotel har and working in music she can state that, “If the dream is here, the dream is now, the dream is being able to make music and be able to soak it in every minute.”

Within a short span of time, Hailey Whitters has been able to achieve so much of what she has always wanted to achieve. As a 10 year old girl, she would sing, “She’s In Love With A Boy,” into the hairbrush microphone only to collaborate with Trisha Yearwood as an adult. On top of that, she was able to fulfill the dream of playing at the Grand Ole Opry, the first place she peaked behind the curtains in Nashville when she was working. She goes on to talk about the experience, “I saw the lights go on, saw the bands come out, and the fans. For me at 15 that was the reason I said I wanted to move to Nashville and start playing country music. I bought a ticket as a fan on year 10 of being in Nashville, feeling those lows, thinking that I was going to quit and not sure if this was going to work for me. I bought the ticket after working a shift at the restaurant and went out to the Opry in the audience. It was kind of my come to Jesus moment where, again, I saw the artists come out and thought to myself, ‘You really want this, and if you give up on this later on you’re going to be sad.’” She would fantasize about the moment of when it was her turn to play, when she would be the artist stepping out and performing and then one day, she was.

Her life has taken a bit of a cinematic turn, working at the hotel restaurant, saving tips, to hearing herself on country radio among many of the other accomplishments named earlier. All of this came within the cycle of one record and its deluxe edition. This is all thanks to her own persistence and courage to keep going even in the darker times stating, “It’s important to do things that you think matter. If no one else may appreciate it or see the value in it, but at least do them because you felt like it was important and it matters.

This record has been such agift in so many ways both professionally and personally. To find that magic in music again ... This record and this process has made me believe in that again.” With the help of her partner, who she has been with for the last 8 years, they were able to work together to bring a lot to the process to get it where it is now. With their relationship being as long as it is they had no fear of getting on one another’s nerves and challenging the other and it’s also what helped them to eventually pick up a management that would suit Hailey Whitters best.

Having been rejected through different managements or label set ups, it was a relief to start her own label, Pigasus Records and build a team that worked for her. This included working with Big Loud Records / Sons and Daughters and having them truly listen to what she wanted and saw for herself. She went out, did it on her own, and started hiring her own publicist, creative director, and working with her band to get it all rolling. One of the meetings with her management back in June of 2019 revolved around who she had wanted to photograph her and work on all of her promotional material. “I was obsessed with this girl on instagram, her name is Harper Smith. I was enamoured by her photography,” Hailey states noting how her management actually knew the photographer well

and was willing to set it up, “We jumped on the phone and she asked me where I am from in Iowa, and I was like Grand Rapids, and she was like, ‘That’s where I grew up!’ We had this instant bond and spoke the same language both being from the mid-west, both being from Iowa.” This photographer came on while Hailey was still independent as her own artist and was a start to her building the perfect team who believed in the music. What she does with Harper Smith is near equivalent to what she and her fiance do in the studio.

Living The Dream: Deluxe Edition is now out and available to the world, but there are still other songs that have been recorded and a part of what Hailey is working towards making a new record.

It’s all still being fleshed out and worked on, and there is no set in stone decision of when anything will be released. Hailey even states, “it feels weird to be excited about new music when Ii’m just putting out a new record,” but is also happy that the wheels are still turning in the creative process. Now, it’s just a matter of time until she can actually perform these songs that have just bene released and potentially perform at different festivals. “It’s bazaar to put music out and not perform it and get the energy from the fans. I’m excited about ‘Filling My Cup’ being on Sirius FM on the highway, it’s a dream come true. I will say, the fans have been so great about tweeting and posting, I see all of that. I see what they are saying.

It’s been a bright light of a dark year,” Hailey comments. For now, she’s happy to see the response online but eager to finally be able to perform everything from Living the Dream.

JADE EAGLESON Jade Eagleson is one of the breakout country artists of the year.

He launched off with his first single, “Got Your Name On It” and from there has continuously found success in music as well as on YouTube. He’s broken records in such a short amount of time and just this past month has released a brand new song, “All Night To Figure It Out,” showing off his influence and diversity as s country musician. With this sneak peak into his process towards a sophomore record, we were able to catch up with him and talk a little more about his influence, his team, and everything else that is on the horizon from him as he continues to grow in his career.

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Music was something that had always been accessible for Jade.

Both sides of his family had a musician somewhere within the linage, including his mother who happened to be a music teacher as well as a musician herself. He went on to comment, “I was really blessed growing up to be surrounded by music from both sides of my family ... My grandfather on my dad’s side is also a musician. He’s more of a farmer than a musician, but he’d always play and always had really great music and taste in music.” With this influence, Jade was inspired to pursue music. Originally, like everyone else within his family, he wanted to be a farmer, but he knew that he also wanted to do something different and that’s when he decided to pursue music full time.

Jade Eagleson’s self-titled album came out in July of 2020, luckily with everything finished before lock down would end up taking place. “We were waiting a very long time, especially with some of the songs we wrote, and a couple of years later we [would] put the songs on the record and I didn’t even remember writing it,” Jade laughs reflecting back on it all, “It’s pretty crazy how it works but I’m glad we were able to get those songs on the album.” This is a large part of the song-writing process for Jade, where sections of songs are thought of and not returned to until they suddenly click and make sense to him again. Working with his producer, Todd Clark, he often takes whatever Todd comes up with and builds onto it until the songs come to life. Jade puts a lot of trust into what Todd comes up with so that they are able to build in this way, and Jade can focus on which vocal path he wants to take with a song. When describing their working relationship he explains, “It’s exciting to dive into that and see what we can do. There’s definitely times where I will have a guitar riff or a suggestion, but he’s normally got everything figured out 100%. It’s rare that Ii get a word in because everything he does is just so perfect.”

The most recent release, “All Night To Figure It Out,” Jade pulled interest both from his love of classic country musicians but as well as his love for Hair Metal. He had the song sent to him and knew right away that he wanted to do something a little different and with more edge to it. With the team of writers behind the song, he knew that the wanted to dive right in and give it all he had and do it right. He even practiced through vocal training for the song specifically. Since the release, there has been talk of working towards a sophomore release but everything is still in the early stages. First things need to calm down and open up safely for Jade to consider going back down to Nashville and hash out a new record. For now, he knows it’s nice to take a bit of a break.

Along with the music Jade has these fantastic music videos which pair perfectly with his songs. He got connected with Ben Knechtel and instantly they clicked. Ben was able to come up with a concept right away without any other comment needing to be said from Jade. He comments that, “Normally, we are just so blown away that we don’t have anything to say. It’s funny and it’s crazy what artists are capable of bringing to the table.” The first song they worked on creating a video together was “Got Your Name On It.” With it being the initial release for Jade to show off who he was there was a little bit of a concern over how little he actually was in the video. Instead, it focused on these two kids growing up together and showing their venture through life as they would grow older. Jade laughs at how he was actually glad to not be shown off too much in the video due to how poor of an actor he claims to be. Even then, the video went on to do exceptionally well, to the point where it’s still getting a lot of attention two years later. Much like working with Todd Clark as his producer, he sees the value in his connection with Ben too, noting how he doesn’t believe that tie will ever be severed.

Jade is endlessly thankful for the team of people that he as working with him. They all are aware of what he’s trying to accomplish as an artist and work with him in ways that bring to life his influences in a modern way. He loves traditional country like Randy Travis and older talents and that’s very much what he strives to be within his own voice. He’s happy to of found his own medium of that and do his own thing including some of the new content that him and his team are working on next. As of late, he has been working on shooting videos of him playing old songs that are recorded on vintage equipment. Everything is completely analog. Excitedly, he explains, “The art of that compliments with the range of different people and singing old time songs from scratch really shows you the true art in music and what it was like way back ini the day. You didn’t get a chance to punch your vocals in and out like you do today. You had to go top to bottom with songs and that was a fun experience.” While recording, they did it all straight to tape-deck which blew Jade’s mind over how classic it sounded, as if it had been recorded in the 1960s.

It has become a perfect project for him that’s going to be live on YouTube and compliment everything that has inspired him into the artist he is today.

More than anything, Jade is thankful for the trajectory that he’s been able to take with his career, constantly noting how blessed he feels for the people around him that work hard to ensure that he succeeds. He still continues down this road of success after being announced for his first ever JUNO nomination, landing a spot on Country Album of the Year list. His career is one that many people will have their eyes on as he continues to find success as a Canadian in the country music industry. Keep your eyes out for him and everything else that he will be releasing within the year 2021.

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LAUREN TOYOTA We’re talking about the art of food today, specifically Hot For Food: All Day. For those unfamiliar with Lauren Toyota, she is an ExMuchMusic VJ who made the transition to YouTube several years ago with a focus on Vegan comfort food. This channel is known as Hot For Food where Lauren will go over various recipes that she has come up with, food in different cities that she has been in, as well as the good and bad pre-packed Vegan food that you can get today. Her channel has grown a massive audience of like-minded comfort food enthusiasts. Now, after only a short two years since her last book, Hot For Food: Vegan Comfort Classics, she’s releasing a new book, Hot For Food: All Day. We had the pleasure to catch up with Lauren and take about this new book release as well as dive into a bit of what it’s like actually building a cook book.

At the beginning of 2019, Lauren Toyota started putting together the recipes to make her second cookbook, Hot For Food: All Day. For a long time, Lauren had no real interest in ever creating a cook book, finding happiness with posting on YouTube and her blog, “I made that first book and thought to myself , ‘I’ll never do that again, that was so much work.’ and when we promoted the book I went on tour. It was so much fun. This was all in 2018. By the time the 8 month mark went since it’s release I was sort of feeling the itch to want to make another book,” Lauren notes while also stating, “[YouTube and Book Making] are two different outlets and I really like the book making process.”

This came around the same time that she was making the transition from Toronto to Los Angeles, a move that she had been contemplating for quite some time. It’s a moment in time that helps her remember when she had started stating that at the time she had thought to herself, “Let’s switch up my whole life and then make a book in the new location.” It enabled a new energy to come into Hot For Food: All Day, working on the book itself for a year and then putting another year into the design, editing, and finally being able to get it printed.

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PHOTO TAKEN BY VANESSA HEINS

“You feel like you never have enough time because you have a deadline,” Lauren notes while talking about the 125 recipes that she put together for the book. Even with the pressure to get everything finished she continues, “My favourite thing is nailing recipes for when they are developed and they do work, you have a really good concept and you have a good collection of recipes.

You don’t really know how it comes together and then somehow, magically, it does!”

A part of the process that people rarely think about is that there was a process behind all of the images that were taken as well, not just the recipes. Cook books do not use the same techniques as advertisements where the food documented could be something else entirely made to look like food. The first time around, Lauren did essentially everything on her own, taking every single shot of the food only to have a friend and photographer, Vanessa Heins, do the promotional portraits. She comments, “As I was developing my food I would shoot them. I would take it all upon

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myself because that’s how I had always worked for the blog and I felt like having someone I didn’t know help me with that would change the energy. I learned from the last one and for this one enlisted some help. I had a bit more of an ambitious for some of the photos and I definitely wanted an extra two hands.” For the second book, Lauren brought in a photographer by the name of Eugenia who she had worked with briefly on work pertaining to her YouTube channel. The work that they had done on the side during her move eased the comfort for Lauren into having Eugenia helping with the next collection of images. While there were a few things that Lauren was able to document on her own when she was working on them, the majority of the images would be taken by Eugenia with Lauren worked on food styling. “It was really amazing to have someone in the kitchen helping me prep through and the first time not having anyone to the second time made a huge, huge difference.”

Creating a tongue-in-cheek play on the common cook book titles, “Everyday,” Lauren knew what she was doing titling her book “All Day.” Lauren notes, “I didn’t want to be the same as everyone else because thats how I am [laughs]. I told the publisher that we could not use “Hot For Food Every Day” and I felt like All Day sounded a little cooler, a little more casual.” Within the pages themselves, the recipes reference breakfast, lunch, dinner and anything else in between. The spirit still lives in comfort food but is open to being a little easier and with a mixture of recipes. Lauren explains, “The idea in this book is to show people that they can take the recipes they made and level them up into different ideas. It’s a concept I had introduced my audience to on my YouTube channel. I always wanted to figure out how to infuse this into the next cook book.

That’s what we are doing and making it easy and accomplishable concept and teaching people to cook with their leftovers and think outside the box and giving it little tweaks to what they may have done yesterday. I want to take people through their day and round out their vegan comfort food arsenal. Everything from Vegan Comfort Food still applies, and this is still comfort food based just a little more achievable.

Several members of the Hot For Food Audience has told Lauren that she was the thing that taught them how to cook, and how they were thinking about their food. That’s why Lauren is trying to help people level up these recipes and show them what they can do with leftovers, allowing people to think a little more about the food in general and not just about the structure of a singular recipe. “I want it to be a creative endeavour for people. I think the audience also inspires me because I see what they are making from the first book and from my blog. It’s interesting to see how they’ve grown in the kitchen.”

In the past, Lauren would document different foods that she had tried in her travels. This would show off how other places and countries create their vegan food, or even just places that you can eat somewhere if you don’t know where to start. They are handy videos especially for those who do eat true vegan that struggle with finding places to eat on any travel. In many ways these moments of travel are in the back of Lauren’s head when she’s creating a new recipe. Having grown up in the suburbs of Canada there wasn’t a lot of exposure to American comfort food and it was only something she could try through travel and get a hypothetical taste for on the food network. “Right before I went vegan, I went on a road trip and ate a lot of food that very directly was inspired by a lot of those things. In this book I think that everything I eat in my travels finds a way to make itself into my recipes. But, at the back of the new book there’s a list of stuff that I eat when I travel.

There’s my favourite restaurants in various cities. People will have that list handy in the back of the book and can use it once we can travel again.”

Having worked in television for years, Lauren Toyota already had the background which prepared her for working on YouTube. She goes on to comment that, “Learning how to story tell and get comfortable on camera definitely directly prepared me to do this.

I think I wasn’t able to be creative enough in television and when I went out on my own and built Hot For Food, well I had already started building it, but it was what I really needed to burst into my true creativity.” There was so much that Lauren had been able to learn just being in the industry that to just pick up a camera and start shooting came easily and with little apprehension. She noted how specifically she is thankful that at the time that she started involving herself more on social media it had very much been considered something that was fun and to be played around with and not taken nearly as seriously as it has grown into further stating, “I didn’t think it was as serious as television. I had this casual approach to it where television felt really serious. When you go on the internet you realize how chill it is and how you don’t have to be anything. Going on YouTube allowed me to step into that further ... You work so hard building your own brand and once you start putting out your own content, it’s like this machine that you make, I call it a monster, that you keep feeding it.”

For the release of the actual book there will not be a book tour like Vegan Comfort Food had. At least, it won’t be toured in the same way. Rather than traveling city to city, Lauren is taking the route

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of talking on television and hosting virtual events, possibly with different book stores across the country. She has set something up with the group of people who took part in pre-orders where, “I am going to host virtual events with all of the people who preordered the book. We’re going to do a little fun thing on crowd-cast or something. It will be a big live hangout that will be personal. I want to make iti as special and unique as I can be via the internet.”

With their being promise of the new few months yielding more opportunities to travel safely Lauren comments how she still hopes that there will be some book signings in the later half of the year, though it’s hard to predict. Ultimately, she has come to terms with how much work and time she has spent on this book and will not let it affect the over all experience of the release.

“I am really proud of the book and feel like it’s a really good compliment to the first book. I hope that other’s feel the same and that this book is worthy of being added to their collection.”

A

LBUMS OF REVIEWS

WRITTEN & CURATED BY JAMES LIAM WARD

FOO FIGHTERS 05.02.2021

3.5

Medicine at Midnight Roswell

On their tenth LP, rock legends Foo Fighters serve up the most disappointing batch of songs in their almost three-decade career. Clocking in at just under forty minutes, Medicine at Midnight is a combination of botched sonic experiments and lukewarm B-sides that come together into a project that sounds as tacky as the album art looks. The sharp guitar riff that kicks off “Making a Fire” actually isn’t bad, but the painfully commercial choir vocals clutter the mix with their incessant “Na-Na’s”, making this opener sound more like an advertisement than a rock song.

The sticky bassline and hi-hat accents within the minimalist verses of “Shame Shame” sound good, but once band-leader Dave Grohl starts groaning over the string-backed refrain, things get really corny really fast. “Cloudspotter” doesn’t even sound like a Foo Fighters song; full of bubbly percussion, terribly nonsensical lyrics and uncharacteristically weak guitarwork, it’s almost hard to believe that this was the same band responsible for modern classics like “Everlong” and “The Pretender”.

“Waiting on a War” is an acoustic ballad that drags at the beginning but ramps up in intensity and tempo for an exciting change of pace. This track feels more like a traditional Foo Fighters song, which is a welcome relief from the gauntlet of failed experiments that the album has delivered thus far.

Listening to Medicine at Midnight makes me feel as though I’m walking through some horrifying asylum, where behind every door is a deranged neon doppelganger of Dave Grohl reaching through the bars to torment me with terribly commercial rock music. The album’s title track manages to pull off the funky disco vibes that the previous “Cloudspotter” utterly fails to deliver, incorporating colourful splashes of electronics and catchy guitar embellishments. About halfway through Medicine at Midnight, Foo Fighters throw it back to a heavier

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sound with “No Son of Mine”. Besides Dave Grohl’s vocal hook sounding awkwardly mismatched with the chugging guitar riff, this perplexing descent into southern hard rock and wailing choir vocals simply feels out of place in the context of the entire album.

As Medicine at Midnight reaches its final leg, the band just runs out of ideas and starts playing chameleon; the quirky instrumental and moaning guitar bends of “Holding Poison” are ripped straight from Josh Homme’s playbook, while the twinkling guitars and watery synths of “Chasing Birds” sound like Foo Fighters’ attempting their best Mac Demarco impression. Just when I think I have escaped the neon prison that is this album, one final mutated Dave Grohl leaps from the darkness and beats me to death with the god-awful chorus of “Love Dies Young”. While I respect Foo Fighters for trying to change things up, nearly every sonic experiment on this project is a clear misfire and ultimately adds up to a pretty poor excuse for a rock record. Even the standout tracks from Medicine at Midnight are incomparable to the band’s material on past albums.

Better luck next time, Dave.

BEST TRACK: Medicinie at Midnight WORST TRACK: Love Dies Young

GATECREEPER 13.01.2021

7.5

An Unexpected Reality Closed Casket

Gatecreeper’s follow-up to 2019’s Deserted is as swift as it is punishing; spread across eight tracks, An Unexpected Reality is a gauntlet of sixtysecond scorchers that ends with a monolithic finale.

“Starved” wastes no time getting the album started, subjecting the listener to riff after riff in a relentless onslaught before locking in on a gratifying twostep section to finish the track. The following “Sick of Being Sober” has a more hardcore-punk flair to it, featuring prominent d-beat drumming and an irresistible ride cymbal passage that feels very Nailsinfluenced. An Unexpected Reality was mixed by the legendary Kurt Ballou and it is interesting to note the blatant parallels – in both sound and structure -- between the songs on this project and Nails’ 2016 album, You Will Never Be One of Us. The blistering tremolo guitar riffs winding through the mix of “Rusted Gold” draw a notable black-metal influence that perfectly complements the track’s savage double-bass kick sections; it’s impressive to hear Gatecreeper packing so many memorable moments into songs with such short runtimes.

“Imposter Syndrome” feels almost Cannibal Corpse inspired, descending into a series of classically death metal tremolo riffs that are bookended by mean and massive guitar chords. The throttling energy of “Depraved Not Deprived” as well as the whammyheavy guitar solo and bizarrely up-to-date lyrics of “Superspreader” make these tracks memorable, but the thirty seconds of material on “Amputation” is simply too brief to feel substantial.

The finale of An Unexpected Reality is an elevenminute leviathan that opens with a despondent, descending chord progression, slowly building itself into a trudging, doom-inspired instrumental.

Gatecreeper always closes out their albums with a more harmonious timbre and slower pace, but “Emptiness” doubles the length of every song in

the band’s discography and is by far their most winding and ambitious track to date. The doomier sections of “Emptiness” contain just enough melodic progressions and cymbal accents to maintain the perfect balance of minimal and engaging. The band occasionally works in some clean guitar lines to break up the distortion, but the listener only has a few moments of peace before being thrust back into the sludgy madness. The labyrinthine journey of “Emptiness” is as powerful as it is engaging; the layers of lead guitarwork throughout the song are consistently excellent and never fail to add to the track’s cinematic scope. All of the material presented on An Unexpected Reality is good, but because the eleven-minute closer contains so many different passages and ideas, the album’s ending feels slightly and ironically rushed.

BEST TRACK: Rusted Gold WORST TRACK: Amputation

JPEGMAFIA 12.02.2021

7.6

EP2!

Universal

JPEGMAFIA’s EP2! is a stylistically consistent exploration of the Baltimore rapper’s melodic side. The culmination of softer sounds and more commercial ideas throughout EP2! came to light on JPEGMAFIA’s last full-length album All My Heroes Are Cornballs, although these influences are much more direct on this current project. “LAST DANCE!” introduces EP2! With murky steel drum loops and rickety percussion that build into enormous sub bass hits and expansive, brassy synthesizers. The autotuned verses are complex in their patterns but reserved in their delivery. JPEGMAFIA’s great sense of humor and catchy flows are consistent all over EP2!, but the overuse of autotune hinders the enjoyability and dynamics of the project overall.

Most of these vocal performances, even with the heavy autotune, are great. The descending triplet hook on “FIX URSELF!” is immensely sticky and Peggy’s rapid-fire flows on “PANIC ROOM!” are breakneck and exciting, but the autotune’s unceasing robotic timbre becomes really mind-numbing after a while. As a result, the mystical and angelic “THIS ONE’S FOR US!” is an incredibly refreshing highlight because JPEGMAFIA finally drops a fantastic verse with no effects on his voice. While it is intriguing to hear a more sonically smooth JPEGMAFIA, I can’t help but miss his broader range of vocal deliveries and intensities on previous releases. The instrumentals of EP2! also have a noticeably straightforward structure and assembly to them compared to JPEGMAFIA’s long-playing albums.

Instead of Peggy’s typically eclectic and progressive song structures, many of the instrumentals on EP2! simply play themselves out and eventually tease the upcoming track. This makes songs such as “KELTEC!”, a bizarre clash of plunking synthesizers and live drums, feel overlong and meandering -- an issue I have never had before with JPEGMAFIA’s

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music. EP2! closes strong with the lowkey percussion and airy synth loops of “FEED HER!”. I love the interchanging mix between upright bass and synth bass on this song, and JPEGMAFIA’s hook is great as well. It’s great to hear Peggy really homing in on sounds he loves, but this project almost suffers by being too focused and lacks the dynamics and eclectic sound play that make JPEGMAFIA’s material so typically exciting.

BEST TRACK: THIS ONE’S FOR US! WORST TRACK: KELTEC!

LUCKY DAVE 12.02.2021

6.9

Table for Two RCA

Louisiana R&B singer Lucky Daye is following up his successful debut LP, Painted, with a lovecentered concept EP. Table for Two is a project of duets, featuring Lucky Daye collaborating with a different talented songstress on every track. The great irony surrounding Table for Two is the lyrics of each tune, which focus on topics such as selflove, miscommunication and heartbreak instead of glorifying romantic love. Opening with the meditative grooves and smooth bassline of “How Much Can A Heart Take?”, Lucky Daye and YEBBA make a fantastic pairing, whose performances come together beautifully on the final refrain. The latter’s layers of background vocals add great colour to the mix and overall the song is dynamite, but Lucky drags the ending too much with his pitch-shifted outro.

The chemistry with Tiana Major9 on the following “On Read” is solid and her line stating “It’s your lucky day if I answer” is pretty clever, but the sub bass on this track is so prominent and so nasally that this single element undermines the entire song. The monstrous bass of “On Read” pairs well with the dramatic shots of choir vocals during the song’s breakdown, but its nasally tone and excessive volume throughout is incredibly obnoxious and ultimately distracting from the solid performances. Mahalia steals the spotlight on the gentle “My Window” with an easy-going yet intoxicating vocal performance that occupies most of the track’s runtime. By the time Lucky Daye hops in for a verse, the song is already half over and his section feels underwritten and almost awkward in contrast to Mahalia’s effortless appearance. The chemistry is much better on the mystical “Access Denied”, where Lucky Daye’s meditative melodies complement the soaring and nimble vocal lines of Ari Lennox perfectly.

The best pairing on Table for Two comes on the penultimate track “Dream”, perhaps the most

romantic, blissful and enjoyable moment on the project. The modulated guitar melodies give the instrumental plenty of character as it soars over rubbery synth bass and ethereal tones. Queen Naija and Lucky Daye’s vocal performances are both expressive and endearing, culminating in a heavenly bridge that feels transcendent as subtle layers of strings swell into the mix. The bouncy percussion and descending synth lines of “Falling in Love” make for an energetic closer, but the song’s hook is very reminiscent of GIVEON’s “This Ain’t Love”, diminishing the song’s overall strength and originality.

Outside of a few weak performances on Lucky’s side, this is a solid EP; hopefully Lucky Daye has saved the best performances for his upcoming album, where he won’t be so consistently outshined by his guests.

BEST TRACK: Dream (ft. Queen Naija) WORST TRACK: On Read (ft. Tiana Major9)

MAVI

22.02.2021

7.9

END OF THE EARTH New York Lab

MAVI’s END OF THE EARTH is a despondent glimpse into the life of the constantly evolving Charlotte rapper, as he reflects on his own mental health and the state of his community. The sonic palette of END OF THE EARTH is all over the place, feeling more like a collection of odds and ends as opposed to a complete piece; this is further amplified by the Shel Silverstein cover art, which promises that MAVI’s next full-length album is coming soon. Despite sonic inconsistencies, MAVI is the consistent thread throughout this stylistically scattered project, guiding the listener with his kaleidoscopic lyrics and intricate patterns. The mournful melodies of “Time Travel” set the tone well for the rest of the EP, displaying a heavily manipulated soul sample layered with an angular bassline and faint guitar embellishments. The percussion on this song is incredibly low in the mix, but this doesn’t take away from the groove of the song and only serves to keep the focus on MAVI’s conscious and complex ideas and flows.

The percussive elements of the following “Thousand Miles” are much more prominent, coming together into a down-tempo and off-kilter rhythm layered with watery keyboards and tingling chimes. I love that many of MAVI’s songs have a manically poetic tone to them, as if he is furiously scribbling all of these lyrics down in a personal auditory journal. MAVI’s bars on this track and most others are so demanding and relentless that it’s easy to hear him almost running out of breath on some of these takes, but the man never falters. On top of the speed and precision of his flows, MAVI’s ability to include subtle melodies into his verses only adds to the impressive quality of these performances. After the fantastic outro hook of “Thousand Miles”, the EP transitions into the hard-hitting “Methods”, which is perhaps the most sonically surprising track on END OF THE EARTH.

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The warbling soul vocals and archaic woodwinds of “Methods” give the track an incredibly woozy and intoxicating feel. MAVI’s flows are unyielding as the song’s amorphous tones surround him. The big surprise is the introduction of sharp percussion and destructive sub-bass which immediately shifts the tone of the song and gives it an incredible momentum. Although the track cuts off a little early, the awesome sonic switch-up of “Methods” still makes the song an undeniable highlight. I have a similar issue with “Life We Live”; this is another track with fantastic sounds and ideas, but its potential doesn’t feel fully realized due to a lack of fleshing out.

Contrasting these tracks is the finale, “Town Crier”, whose runtime feels arduous in comparison to the tracks before it. Regardless of its length, the intrigue of “Town Crier” lies with the relationship between the instrumental and MAVI himself; the sparkling guitar loop runs at a different time signature than MAVI’s performance, giving the entire song a disorienting and uniquely polyrhythmic effect. These clashing components don’t complement each other as well as they could, but the song still works because of the immersive instrumental and engaging performance.

END OF THE EARTH works as an enjoyable prelude to MAVI’s upcoming Shango. I can only hope that MAVI adds more hooks and refrains to this future LP to really push his tracks to the next level.

BEST TRACK: Time Travel WORST TRACK: Town Crier

OF MICE & MEN 26.02.2021

6.0

Timeless Sharptone

Ten years and two vocalists into their career, Of Mice & Men have made a surprising return to form on their Sharptone debut. Demonstrated by the lead single “Obsolete”, Of Mice & Men prove that they can still write a satisfying metalcore track with solid riffs and good intensity. The track opens with choppy, disorienting sound effects layered with a single-string guitar lead. The lead continues to loop over a ramping snare build before the rhythm guitars drop into a heavy and groovy chugging riff – classic metalcore. Former bassist and current lead vocalist Aaron Pauley delivers a solid refrain on this track and performs a fantastic blend of singing and screaming during the second verse. The bridge of “Obsolete” shines the spotlight on an expressive bass performance, before propelling the track to a climactic conclusion with subtle layers of stringed instruments.

The EP’s second single, “Timeless” opens with dreary, reversed tones before swelling into a heavy and groovy chugging riff, layered with a bendy lead guitar melody – seems familiar. With the introduction of this track, as well as the closing “Anchor”, it is painfully clear that Of Mice & Men aren’t too interested in changing up their tried and true formula.

The metalcore riffs and breakdowns throughout “Timeless” are reminiscent of the band’s older work and draws parallels to acts such as August Burns Red or Killswitch Engage; it is a sound that is doubtless to please old fans but does little to break new ground. Most of the transitions on “Timeless” are solid, with the exception of the painfully awkward pause into the first chorus. The band does better the second time around, but the refrain melodies fail to leave a strong impression overall. Thankfully, Of Mice & Men forgo the typical third refrain and finish the track with a fulfilling breakdown.

“Anchor” is the final track on Timeless and fails to distinguish its beginning from the previous two tracks.

What is even more perplexing is that the band drops directly into a quiet and spacious verse, something that would have worked great as an introduction and could have clearly distinguished “Anchor” from the other two songs. Layers of screaming and singing vocals make for a dramatic chorus, but the overblown bass guitar and awkward vocals on the verses are incredibly off-putting, with the second verse being the glaring offender. Contrasting heavily edited guitar chugs with a strikingly amateurish and nasal vocal performance, this final verse on “Anchor” just leaves me scratching my head. Following a second chorus, the song simply plays itself out with an extended ambient outro, leaving this song and EP feeling rather unsatisfying. Weird vocal performances aside, this track would have definitely benefitted from some rewriting and restructuring in order for it to conclude Timeless in a more satisfying and meaningful way.

BEST TRACK: Obsolete WORST TRACK: Anchor

slowthai.

12.02.2021

8.2

TYRON Method

The dualistic nature of TYRON is best expressed by slowthai’s lyrics on “focus”; “I miss my brothers, I miss my fam’ as well, everybody else can go and fuck themselves”.

The UK rapper’s dark/light dynamic permeates throughout his second studio album, even stylizing the first half of TYRON in completely capital letters and the latter half as all lowercase. TYRON’s front half is a hard-hitting run of energetic, bass-heavy bangers that draw influence from both American Trap and UK Grime. Kicking off with the massive “45 SMOKE”, slowthai introduces the album with a relentless performance, only to devolve into a headscratching, baby-voice inflection akin to Playboi Carti. It’s an admittedly bizarre hiccup so early in the project but is directly followed by the gratifying single “CANCELLED”.

The eerie instrumental of “CANCELLED” is constantly evolving to keep the song exciting and engaging throughout its runtime. Unfortunately, Skepta’s domination of the track – three hooks and a verse – doesn’t leave much room for slowthai to shine on his own song. This is remedied on the invigorating “MAZZA” where even with a great A$AP Rocky feature, slowthai’s presence is never lost because of his incredibly infectious hook. In fact, slowthai’s performance on “MAZZA” is so excellent, that it makes more lowkey cuts like “DEAD” forgettable and underwhelming by comparison. Even when his voice is heavily obscured on the gritty and grimy “VEX”, slowthai’s unique rhythmic patterns and inflections really elevate the track’s personality and memorability.

Contrasting the opening gauntlet of bops and bangers, TYRON’s second half boasts a much broader range of ideas and emotions. The glamourous instrumental of “i tried” sounds very

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soul inspired, while the beautifully bright pianos and pitch-shifted hooks of “nhs” are reminiscent of Kevin Abstract and BROCKHAMPTON’s work on the Saturation trilogy. The latter half of TYRON also contains a lot more singing, with forlorn and stunning refrains from both Dominic Fike and Deb Never respectively. The best performances of TYRON come together towards the end, particularly on the standout track “feel away”. The instrumental of this single is immersive and intoxicating as Slowthai opens with an incredible verse, but James Blake’s minimal yet angelic performance brings the track to even greater heavenly heights. Woozy chopped guitar lines and minimal percussion leave plenty of space on “adhd” for slowthai to close out TYRON with one last crushing performance. The last verse of the album is incredibly emotive and manic, but what is even more surprising is slowthai’s solid singing on this cut; hopefully he will expand on these ideas throughout future albums. Despite the duality of this record, both distinct halves come together for a holistic and consistent experience. Clearly, slowthai has never heard of a sophomore slump.

BEST TRACK: feel away WORST TRACK: DEAD

TEENAGE WRIST 12.02.2021

6.6

Earth Is A Black Whole Epitaph

Teenage Wrist’s second LP for Epitaph Records is a nostalgic rock record with a pleasant vibe that contrasts the despondent title and cover art. The energetic prelude “Squeeze (Intro)” displays the band’s core components – punchy drums, resonant bass and roaring electric guitars with a great tone – as well as a colorful set of vocal samples and Billy Corgan style guitar leads. This intro serves as a great way to kick off the album but fails to transition into the following “Taste of Gasoline” in a smooth or meaningful way. “New Emotion” is the first great moment on the record, boasting spirited percussion and gorgeous blooms of vocal harmonies. The singing is reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World’s older material, while the lush layers of effects-heavy guitars feel inspired by the late Title Fight; a solid amount of Earth is a Black Hole strikes a pleasant balance between nostalgia and psychedelia.

I love the sunny, easy-going vibe of “Yellowbelly”, which has great dynamics between the verses and choruses. This track has the strongest refrain on the record and builds to a satisfying and explosive finale after the bridge. The despondent lead melodies, bulbous bass and fuzzed out guitars of “Silverspoon” also make it a noticeable highlight, and the rotating time signatures during the verses and bridge give the song a unique character and swing. After this solid run of tracks however, the album’s quality begins to dip as the band seems to run out of decent or original ideas. The chorus of “Wear U Down” wears me down because it is so repetitive, and I find the guitar patterns bear a distracting resemblance to Weezer’s “Say it Ain’t So”. “Wasting Time” is also far too predictable to be exciting and sounds so generic and familiar that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that this song was a cover. The bastardized Tom Morello guitar solo is also incredibly tacky and would sound completely ridiculous at any point on Earth is a Black

Hole, let alone this particular song.

Teenage Wrist tries to add a modern sheen to “High Again” with ill effect; the punchy electronic percussion doesn’t complement the gentle and forlorn performances of the band, especially when they are juxtaposed with roaring walls of electric guitars. The penultimate title track utilizes drum production much better and ends up being the best tune on the back half of the album. The closing “Stella” subverts the typical acoustic ballad with some great psychedelic textures that add to the overall ethereal vibe. The song builds to a pretty epic ending with massive hits of cymbals, guitars, and a forlorn lead melody that comes together very cohesively. I commend the band for really giving this album the apocalyptic ending that it deserved, it’s just a shame that Earth is a Black Hole has a pretty weak run of songs in its latter half.

BEST TRACK: Yellowbelly WORST TRACK: High Again

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