This week’s album review is the blockbuster new LP from Travis Scott. Find out whether it lives up to the hype below, along with a roundup of more of the best new releases.
Album of the week
Travis Scott – UTOPIA
Travis Scott is currently one of music’s biggest stars. He’s no stranger to big controversies. He’s got big ideas. And this album has already done stupidly big streaming numbers. But, he seemingly has very little to say. On UTOPIA, Scott’s performances are often underwhelming, however it’s still an album with plenty to offer.
Firstly, it has a ridiculous guest list. There’s features from mainstream heavyweights like Beyoncé, Drake, and The Weeknd. Underground stars like Westside Gunn, Teezo Touchdown, and Rob49. Plus critic’s favourites like Bon Iver, James Blake, and Sampha. And that’s just scratching the surface. Scott is often willing to take a back seat and some of the features are so distinct that it feels like they’ve been given free rein to just do their own songs; there’s the Bon Iver one, the Drake one, the Westside Gun one, etc.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing given the calibre of guests, but it can leave Scott sounding like a bit of an afterthought in comparison. On LOST FOREVER, the force of Westside Gunn’s personality immediately blows Scott out the water. On MELTDOWN, Drake does his bad man routine, which I’m generally not a fan of, but it actually works here. As he goads long-time rival Pusha T, he gives off a vibe of smug menace, like the rich dickhead villain in a bad gangsta movie; delivering some of the album’s most memorable lines along the way. But once Drake’s done, Scott can’t maintain the momentum and the track drags forgettably for another 2 minutes.
Length is generally an issue. At 19 tracks over nearly 75 minutes, it’s obviously too long. As is the case for the majority of mainstream rap’s current stars, you can use the general rule that the album should be at least 20 minutes shorter. It feels like for every two good tracks, there’s a filler to go with it. And a number of songs simply run out of steam, meandering on for the sake of cramming in an extra verse. But the aforementioned extensive cast list does save it from ever dragging too badly, as the diversity keeps things interesting. Although, not everyone hits the mark; K-POP is a particular low point. It brings together two of pop’s biggest stars in Bad Bunny and The Weeknd, and is completely forgettable.
The album’s biggest strength is the production. Scott aims for epic with his take on a kind of moody, industrial hip-hop, and mostly pulls it off, with it generally sounding excellent. Harder, grimy beats can give way to eerie trap, into gentle melancholia, with those mood shifts sometimes taking place within one track, yet it all feels cohesive. Albeit, the influence of 2013-18 era Kanye looms a bit too large at times. That’s not a particular surprise, given Scott’s previous work with him. But some tracks come off as weak retreads. LOOOVE sounds like Fade stripped of it’s hooks and buried under a stream of annoying alliteration. And CIRCUS MAXIMUS borrows so heavily from Black Skinhead that it could probably count as a remix.
Although, one of Scott’s best vocal performances on the album does come as he seemingly apes Kanye’s flow from Send It Up against a recycled I Am A God demo on MODERN JAM. Scott generally works best when the tempo and volume are turned up. Where he can ride a beat and show his technical skills as a rapper, like on FE!N, TOPIA TWINS, and SKITZO. The relative lack of lyrical content is much less noticeable in these moments.
But across the album, that lack of lyrical depth is the biggest issue. There’s almost nothing in the way of memorable lines on here. It’s telling that the line that’s generated the most attention is a half-arsed allusion to the rumoured boyfriend of his ex, which barely registers as an insult. There’s no audacious boasts, no funny one-liners, no big put-downs, no emotional insights; it’s devoid of anything you might expect from a top rapper. With his production, it’s as if he’s constructed a grand, elaborate canvas. And then, lyrically, he’s drawn a stick man on it. I mean, it’s a well-drawn stick man, but it’s still a stick man.
UTOPIA is a good, but significantly flawed album. Big musical visions are let down by little lyrical ideas. On this evidence, Scott’s real strengths lie in his production skills and as a kind of curator; a ringmaster setting the stage for a talented supporting cast. But in the starring role, he just isn’t very interesting.
Best tunes: HYAENA, MODERN JAM, MY EYES, FE!N, TOPIA TWINS, SKITZO
Tunes of the week
Bas feat. J Cole – Passport Bros: This sounds like a classic Neptunes production as African rhythms bring to life some smooth R&B to make a laid-back yet lively summer jam.
Antony Szmierek – The Words to Auld Lang Syne: The Streets are back. But if you want an updated take on their early glory days (which is what we’re all hoping for really), then you could do worse than listening to this. Szmierek captures some of the magic that has largely evaded Mike Skinner since A Grand Don’t Come For Free, and delivers bittersweet, stream of consciousness poetry on what sounds like a modern day Weak Become Heroes.
Willie J Healey – Woke Up Smiling: I want to describe this as something like slacker folk pop. It’s caught somewhere between Donovan and Steely Dan, which sounds like it would be shit. But this is good.
Headshrinkers – Bang Bang: You call your tune Bang Bang and, well, it needs to bang. And this does. Brings to mind classic indie bangers from the post-punk revival era (mid-00s version).
Reignmaker – We Go Round EP: They’ve already released one of my favourite singles of the year (Find My Own Way, which features here) and on their debut EP, Reignmaker solidify themselves as a young band to look out for. If you like big chorused indie anthems, then look no further.
Baby Dave & Kate Nash – Telephobia: A stripped-back, atmospheric electro-pop ballad lamenting the inability to pick up the phone, while simultaneously being glued to it.
Georgia – All Night: On the other end of the electro-pop spectrum is this floor filler from Georgia’s aptly-titled Euphoric LP.
Lynks – USE IT OR LOSE IT: Another electro-pop banger, with this hip-hop influenced ode to making the most of (a very gay) youth.
Nitin Sawhney feat. Hak Baker – Ancestral: Baker pays tribute to the migration journeys of his family, tracing the impacts through the generations and onto himself. With Sawhney providing simple but effective backing as the music dips and rises as if taking its lead from the emotional beats of Baker’s storytelling.
You can check out previous weeks’ new music roundups at the Best New Music Weekly archive. And you can keep up with the latest updates by following No Frills Reviews on your chosen social media platform.
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