OCTANE

Where to even begin with this. Many cool moments and many head-scratching ones as well. I haven't listened to a Don Toliver project since "Life of a DON". I saw "OCTANE" getting a lot of talk and streams, at least more than usual for rappers in the mainstream right now, and thought this might be something unique and different. It is certainly not some visionary album with the instrumentals operating almost purely under an electronic header. It feels very inspired by the 2010's but definitely has some more updated sound design. A lot of the drums don't feel any different than what has been dominating rap for the last 5-10 years now. I was hoping for a bit more on that front, considering how some of the synth and vocal usage is more refreshing. The songs that really highlight the great vocal usage are "Secondhand", "Body", "Long Way To Calabasas" and "TMU". "Secondhand" and "TMU" in particular feature an unlisted vocalist that has immense amounts of vocal processing slathered over it and the nature in which it is presented feels like a futuristic sample. I personally love stuff like this and think this is something that has been around for a while but is underutilized in a lot of pop and hip-hop while being heavily used in EDM. The thing is, I think the more stripped-back backing actually does more favors for this type of vocal usage and should be used more in "radio-friendly" genres like hip-hop. The downside with these few tracks is that the vocals are used scarcely. Only at the beginning and end of the songs which is quite frustrating considering how good they would sound as choruses. Meanwhile on the other side of things, the production with synths and SFX are crisp on "Body", "All The Signs", "K9" and "Pleasure's Mine". "Body" is the prime hit ready song here and knows it with one of the only songs with innovative drums and production, all combined with the Timberlake sample. It does it's job too, it's hard-hitting and fun. Meanwhile, "All The Signs" and "Pleasure's Mine" feature heavily edited vocal chops. "All The Signs" is does this so effectively it reminds me a bit of a grittier Porter Robinson. Similarly as the issue I had in the last paragraph, I don't think it is utilized to it's full potential in "All The Signs". "Pleasure's Mine" is better at this as a whole but the neat use of those vocal chops can be used as a main attraction in the song but fades away not to return much until the end in "All The Signs". Irritating. This album is practically musical edging. Then there are the major downsides to this thing. "Excavator", "Gemstone", and "OPPOSITE" are just a drag to get through. By far and away the worst three tracks here and this album would be much better served with them never included in the first place. The closer just downright makes me laugh due to the extrapolation of "Sweet Home Alabama". The choruses are also pretty non-existent. Like they are there, but they just are not memorable in the slightest even on the best songs. Circling back to those vocals that should have been used as choruses, I think the most frustrating part was that this album went for something I am often a big supporter of: evolution. Many songs try to change as they progress but some of them lose what makes them interesting in favor of my traditional boring trap production or beats.