One of the best-sounding recent records
Mykki Blanco is an underground hip-hop artist from California. She debuted in 2012 and since then has collaborated with numerous famous artists such as Kanye West, Teyana Taylor and Blood Orange. She released her 3rd studio album, Stay Close To Music, on October 14th, 2022.
The album starts off with the song “Pink Diamond Bezel.” This song sets the tone and vibe of the album very well with its drums and voice changer. It’s very different from mainstream music sounds but it still sounds great. The song then transitions to “Steps” which features Saul Williams and MNEK. This song is more laid-back and chill with no drums or hard bass in the background. The voice changer on her vocals fits very well with the beat. The instrumental for this song and the lyrics are great, making it one of the best songs on the project. “French Lessons” is the next song, and like “Steps,” it has two features. This song features ANOHNI and Kelsey Lu. It also has a very similar instrumental and vibe as the last song. There’s no bass or drums in the back, and the vocals are also soft and soothing.
The next song “Ketamine” doesn’t have the same laid-back beat because it has drums and bass in the background but it still isn’t completely hard-hitting, it’s a mixture of the two. This is great because a really hard song would’ve felt out of place after a couple of relaxed ones and including this song here was definitely a great artistic choice to make for the flow of this album. The song also features Slug Christ who has a great feature on it. “Your Love Was A Gift” is a lot more upbeat than the first few songs. The beat is very bouncy and the vocals are loud and clear. The two features on this song, Diana Gordon and Sam Buck perform masterfully. Diana especially has some amazing vocal work on the track. The beat switch-up in the middle was welcome as well and the continuity of Diana’s vocals in the background was also a great production choice and added a lot to the track.
“Family Ties” is an incredibly catchy tune featuring Michael Stipe. The vocal work on this song is great as well as the production. The next song, “Your Feminism Is Not My Feminism” features Ah-Mer-Ah-Su and is a very minimal track with raw vocals that include an echo effect that makes it seems like we’re in the studio with them and is a great stylistic choice for this track. The instrumental is also minimalistic with the main rhythm being made from a guitar. The song then transitions to “Lucky” which is actually the first song with no features since the intro track. It’s a very different sound than any other song on the record and feels a bit out of place but doesn’t really detract from the album that much.
“Trust A Little Bit” shows off Mykki’s lyricism as well as his singing abilities and both of those combined make this a great song. “You Will Find It” features Devendra Banhart. It is the most popular song on the album and for good reason. It is a bit surprising as other songs on the album seem more mainstream but this song has amazing production and lyricism, so it’s worthy of its popularity. The vocals on it are great as well. The song then transitions to “Carry On” featuring Jonsi. The choir in the instrumental sounds great. The rapping over it makes for a very personal and uplifting song. The outro track, “French Lessons – Bonus Track” brings back Kelsey Lu. They both end it off with an upbeat and catchy track which is a great ending to this emotional project.
Overall, this record is a great listen and one of the best-sounding recent records. Its sound isn’t very mainstream but that doesn’t detract from it in any way, it perhaps even makes it better. Although there are a lot of different features on this project, they don’t overshadow Mykki and don’t overstay their due. The production was fantastic and the vocals on the project were magnificent. This was an amazing project from Mykki Blanco and one that’s definitely worth listening to.
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