ALBUM REVIEW: 3rd Ave - Cyberbully

3rd Ave's long-awaited debut LP, CYBERBULLY, is a testament to the collective's commitment to innovation, eclecticism, and fun.   

Reviewed by Alex "Ash" Han 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before reading this review, please support 3rd Ave and stream CYBERBULLY on all platforms! You can find the streaming links to the project via 3rd Ave's Linktree.

 

Please also feel free to check out my previous reviews of nickwuh's us against the universe, TypeOh's Seeker, Jaden Tyler's Sadfish, and Thai Thai's TELEVISED SUICIDE! Also available are my reviews of 3rd Ave's previous singles, specifically "Gottem", "how u like", and "ackerman".

 

AUTHOR'S (OTHER) NOTE: An earlier version of this article misattributed Mathias's guitar solo on "LSD" to Jaden. This has now been corrected. 

 

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME since I made my first foray into Music Technology. I was a wide-eyed prospective transfer student coming from the anthropology department at CAS, coming off of an impromptu pandemic-induced gap semester during which I'd seriously considered dropping out of school altogether, emerging into a COVID-stricken eighth floor that was rarely anything other than desolate & deserted. Those initial months in MTech were difficult for me. Going from the massive, sprawling anthropology program to a much smaller community in which I knew no one was hard enough. Add to that the scattered nature of the MTech undergraduate student body during that late-pandemic era, and suddenly I found myself in a landscape in which it was prohibitively difficult to make friends and meet new people. Much of the students I met during those first few classes seemed to be operating on a solitary basis; things were insular and closed, and it seemed to me that most people preferred creating music alone to working collaboratively with those around them. Of course, it was a long time ago, in a social landscape that was vastly more cautious and restrictive than it is currently, but I remember worrying very much that I'd made a mistake transferring into MTech. It didn't seem as open or collaborative as I had hoped back then, and I remember wanting a greater sense of community than I was able to access at the time. I certainly wasn't about to spend $35,000 a year just to make music alone on my laptop. I wanted to meet more people and work with folks and create art I never would have created otherwise, and for a variety of reasons, I did precious little of any of those things for the first stretch of my journey.

I emerged from that first semester a little demoralized, and a little bruised & battered on account of the B– I'd gotten in Analog Electronics (I did blow up an op-amp, but in my defense, I had literally never done anything electronics-related before, so there). Things began to blossom a little more the following semester, when I started taking the first actually music-related courses in MTech. I took CMS with Adam Rokhsar, which was where I worked with Rain Edward for the first time, and where Mel Fisch inspired my initial exploration of hyperpop and drum & bass. I met Chris Sanders in Analog Recording Technology; the two of us would end up taking the stage at MTech Invasion 2.0 a year and a half later. Still, things felt quiet and somewhat isolating; nobody seemed to be really looking to work together, or perhaps I was just looking in the wrong places. Either way, there was a definite paucity of MTech bands and collectives that I wished would be filled. It seemed like an incredible waste of potential for all of the artistic skill on display in this program to go towards solo projects rather than working alongside others to create things one could never make by themselves.

That brings us to last fall, when I started this blog. I did so because I wanted to create a space for people to engage critically with each other's music, and I thought that anonymously offering my own opinions might be a good way to generate discussion. At the time, the blog was very small, so I was relatively desperate for content to review, and I wanted to stay away from reviewing the music of people whom I knew personally in order to avoid being affected by personal bias. Luckily for me, there were a bunch of then-freshmen who brought with them a prolific and sizeable catalog of solo work. This random dude from Chicago named nickwuh was the first to land on my radar; the article I wrote reviewing his hyperpop LP us against the universe was just the fifth album review I wrote on this blog. TypeOh's Seeker, Jaden Tyler's Sadfish, and Thai Thai's TELEVISED SUICIDE all made it into my queue over the subsequent couple of weeks. I found a great many things to enjoy about all four projects, and I spent much of the semester getting acquainted with the artists and their music from behind the comfort of my pseudonym-derived anonymity.*

 

*There's a couple of funny stories resulting from this. I remember meeting Mathias (Thai Thai) and Luke (TypeOh) for the first time on the eighth floor, and trying really hard to act natural given that I knew them already and was a huge fan of their work, but they had no idea who I was at all! About a week or so after that, I almost straight up blew my cover during a Collegium listening session; I was onstage presenting a draft version of "Pathological (Who I Am)", one of my own songs, and Jaden raised their hand to give feedback, and I called on them by name despite never having met them in person before. Oops. Definitely seemed a little sus after that.

 

 

Pictured above: The members of 3rd Ave, pictured here during the original MTech Invasion last spring. From left to right: Suzie Sanford, nickwuh, Jaden Tyler, Anshoo Saha, TypeOh, Thai Thai, Milk Duds.
 

When the announcement came that these four, along with Suzie Sanford and Anshoo Saha, had formed a band together, I was really excited. The new group was called 3rd Ave, and the release of their debut single, "Gottem", felt like a big event. People were hyped, myself included, and the consensus seemed to be that it was just really cool to see all of these artists come together and make new music. For me, 3rd Ave felt like the first post-pandemic breath of life into MTech. Watching them come together was like seeing the first green shoots sprouting after a forest fire. For the first time in a long, long time, people were putting their heads together and pushing each other to new heights. I've eagerly followed the group's trajectory all the way from "Gottem" at the beginning of this year to the subject of today's article: CYBERBULLY, their full-length debut album. It's been a long road getting to this point, and there's certainly been a lot of anticipation leading up to this release, especially considering 3rd Ave's prolific run of pre-album singles—"ackerman" broke 100,000 streams on Spotify not too long ago! Going into this album, I was anxious to see how 3rd Ave's existing strengths would carry through this new project, and whether or not they'd make any daring new decisions to push towards a new sound for the group.

 

Pictured above: 3rd Ave performing "CYBERBULLY", then titled "Woppy", at the original MTech Invasion on April 13th, 2023. From left to right: Jaden Tyler, TypeOh, Thai Thai, nickwuh, & Anshoo. Photography by Alex Ehasz.
 

The album opens with the title track, "CYBERBULLY", which begins with the swelling, cinematic synth intro 3rd Ave customarily uses to open their shows, beginning as a quiet drone before rising to a gale-force howl.* The epic swell concludes with a sudden drop into silence and a flip of a sample from the Bleach soundtrack, setting the stage with a dark industrial backdrop ornamented with slamming, distorted bass and dusty, digital crunk drums. Thai Thai kicks off the performances with a bang, spitting an agile hook with plenty of braggadocious spirit. His rapid sixteenth-note flows whiz by like a boxer's fists, highlighting his athletic rhythmic chops and raw, confident vocal delivery. He sounds hungry here, eager to prove 3rd Ave's tenacity & grit, which is a good note on which to open the album. His verse pulls back a little, dropping into a bellicose triplet flow that finds a really nice pocket. TypeOh's aggressive second verse follows shortly thereafter, his lean, taut delivery making for a nice contrast with Thai Thai's more textured vocals. The two trade lines back and forth near the end of the song, which I thought was a really cool moment that served as an effective introduction to the relationship between the two rappers. Opening the LP like this, with what amounts to a duo piece between TypeOh and Thai Thai, was certainly an interesting decision, but I actually really like it given that these two anchor much of the record. It's a compelling intro track that gives us a peek at two of our main characters, while also serving as a tantalizing preview that doesn't reveal too much.

*Listening to it for the first time, it felt weird to hear the intro to this track without Anshoo screaming "MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE" over the top. I suppose I've seen it live one too many times lmao

The second track, "ALASKA", kicks off with a sparse synth line that almost sounds like it could have popped out of an early-2010s Pitbull track. The Europop influences that poke through the surface in the two-voice sawtooth harmony make for an interesting blend with the track's bouncy Southern trap instrumental. TypeOh's first verse is an excellent lead-in, as his flow begins as a relatively sparse staccato affair before gradually speeding up faster and faster until it reaches peak intensity right at its end. It's here that I hear the trademark "Luke's dorm" vocal sound for the first time, as the lead vocals bear some weird proximity effects and squelchy mouth noises that come through a little too much, but it's nothing too distracting. Anshoo makes a surprise appearance here, delivering a high sung chorus that sounds unexpectedly angelic. The melody is insanely catchy and gives him a chance to show off his excellent singing voice, augmented with some tasteful Autotune that elevates his already-great performance to the next level. Thai Thai takes the next verse, coming in with his trademark breezy triplet flow before we return back to the hook. Even with two choruses, it feels a little too short to me; on first listen, I remember being really annoyed that the track didn't keep going! Anshoo's work crafting a hook here was truly exquisite, as he successfully managed to put together a chorus I just want to keep replaying over and over. I love the track’s embrace of pop aesthetics in its presentation, especially its supremely hooky nature; this ranks as one of 3rd Ave’s best choruses ever, and its straightforward approach to pop rap cements it as one of my favorites on the album.

 

Pictured above: TypeOh (center) daps up Anshoo (right) from the crowd while nickwuh (left) delivers vocals at MTech Invasion 2.0 on November 17th, 2023. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

"FREAK" brings a guest verse from MACK, one of Jaden Tyler's old collaborators from high school. MACK’s opening verse flows over a drum pattern that reads like a modern spin on Miami bass, with flurries of rapid-fire hi-hats, distant siren-like synth leads, and smooth 808s evoking comparisons to Rico Nasty and 112; this is as quintessential Jaden Tyler production as you're going to find anywhere on the album. MACK's flow is nimble yet nonchalant, striking a nice balance somewhere in the middle that lends him a certain flippant, easygoing confidence. The back-and-forth interplay between Jaden’s stereoized backing vocals and MACK’s lead vocals coming down the center works really nicely. After a short drum ornamented by little conga runs and fun percussion loops, Jaden’s middle verse maximizes the comedic potential of their deadpan delivery. Thai Thai’s third verse is a bit more mixed for me—I'm not a huge fan of the more nasally delivery on this one. However, TypeOh’s closing verse flows really well over a loosely old-school beat like this, calling back to his "Gottem" flow for a second, name-dropping Andrew Luck in a verse that references his Bay Area roots. This track was a bit of a sleeper for me; I wasn't a huge fan of it on first listen, but MACK's verse has grown on me a lot in the time since, and the overall fun-loving vibe of the track is a nice break from the darker & smoother cuts on either side of it in the tracklist.

On "HIEROGLYPHS", rage drums and thick 808s provide a relentless driving pulse underneath a muted, chantlike synth lead. Thai Thai’s slightly distorted vocal processing and more low-down vocal delivery on this one works really well with the track’s edgier vibe. While not his most larger-than-life moment on the album, in retrospect, this might be one of my favorite verses from Mathias on the LP. Anshoo's smooth Autotuned hook channels Gunna in a big way, which is an interesting cross-section I really like. TypeOh's verse fits well, but I'm less of a fan of the distortion when it's on Luke's voice rather than Mathias's; it seems to give Luke some slightly weird frequency content in the upper mid frequency range. Like its predecessor, "ALASKA", this track definitely feels a little too short to me—which I suppose only means it's ripe for a future remix!

 

Pictured above: 3rd Ave performing "BOP IT" at Invasion 2.0. From left to right: nickwuh, Jaden Tyler, Anshoo, Jaden Tyler. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

"BOP IT" saw a release a few weeks ago as one of the lead singles from CYBERBULLY. Admittedly, I missed this one when it first came out, but in the context of the full album it's really grown on me. nickwuh’s kinda hilarious take on bouncy Jaden-like synth rap works really well, giving TypeOh a slinky foundation for him to flow over in a cross-section that again calls back to “Gottem”. Jaden’s appearance here is one of my favorite performances on the whole album, bringing a supremely catchy chorus with a super fun flow; their verse is also loaded a bunch of hilarious punchlines ("I'm doing laundry all the time 'cause I can't keep my sheets clean", "Donald Trump starting five, I'm on his basketball team/I'm shootin' bricks to build a wall, but still got racks in my jeans", and "Never catch a felony, I'm Mr. Misdemeanor" being some of my favorites) that cements them as an excellent wild-card addition. The pacing of this track is one of its strongest points, with Jaden’s wild card middle verse bookended by TypeOh and Thai Thai’s more straightforward approaches. Speaking of Thai Thai, he definitely has a good amount of fun with his verse, playing with his inflection and delivery to switch it up and give his performance a little more spicy variation. Jaden's hook returns one more time at the end, supported by some pitched-down doubles. This track is another one that was a big sleeper for me, and it's definitely unique amongst the other cuts on the album in its at-once retro and modern dance-rap vibe.

The second of two guest appearances on the album, "TAMAGOTCHI" features River Hooks, marking the album’s shift into a heavier hyperpop slant. The track opens with an agile hook, performed by River; her nimble flow switches and thick, luscious harmonies instantly set the vibe of the track as being both chilled out and frantically energetic simultaneously, which is an interesting blend that somehow works really well. The frenetic synth arpeggiators and flickering drums communicate a ton of astral, feverish energy that synergizes really well with TypeOh’s really nice melodic verse. TypeOh brings a bunch of great melodies throughout his verse, merging his lithe & quick-footed rap flow with his penchant for catchy sung alternative rock melodies, last visible on Seeker. Anshoo’s more lowkey approach during his own verse also works really well to steadily ramp up the energy as the flow picks up speed. Eventually, we drop into nickwuh’s verse section, which is amazing and is a huge high point for me. This verse marks the first time he takes the spotlight on the album; the wait was well worth it, as he brings some beautiful tenor passages that lend the song a really incredible emotional climax. His lyrics deal with regret and existentialism, as he sings about having to "…pretend I'm a grown-ass man when I don't know what the fuck I'm doing", and "using anxiety as an excuse" to "suffocate" a past love interest; the steadily-climbing melody and growing harmony texture do a lot to make this verse feel like a true soul-baring confessional. He also brings some stunning high notes in an impassioned lead vocal performance that helps cast him as 3rd Ave's emotional core, an unguarded heart that languishes hidden behind TypeOh's bluster and Thai Thai's swagger. "TAMAGOTCHI" is one of my favorite tracks on the album, and its cross-section between headbanger hyperpop and genuine vulnerability makes it one of my favorite things 3rd Ave has ever done.

 

Pictured above: Mathias Quilon (center), also known as Thai Thai, one of the centerpieces on "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES", pictured here at Invasion 2.0. From left to right: Jaden Tyler, Thai Thai, nickwuh, TypeOh. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

"HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" is a two-parter track that slows things down a little. Opening with a woozy, trem-heavy guitar line and tender vocals from Thai Thai, this piece calls back to Thai’s folk-inspired work on wait for me, stranger, and in many ways feels like his resident magnum opus on the album. He very much feels like the centerpiece of this track, delivering heartbroken couplets from behind a veil of airy pads and melancholic vinyl crackle. Following Thai's verse, there's a brief section where TypeOh and nickwuh trade lines back and forth—not a huge fan of the hard panning here, nor the slightly abrupt pop-ins on some of the lines, but the vocal performances are really strong and sell the emotional content really well. From there, the track hits a tempo speedup, bringing in a drum & bass breakbeat as TypeOh begins to spit, once again merging pop rock melody with his rapid-fire flow. Eventually, we hit a massive drop outlined by formant-shifted vocals and huge saw chords over a distorted trap beat in a moment that feels very much like classic nickwuh. I think the mix here suffers a little; the different elements feel like they crash together, and there's not a ton of space left for the listener to breathe here. Still, the sung melody here is catchy, and the formant shifting is really cool. The slowdown & reversal of the guitar parts, plus the switch into a new key that leads us into the "PIECES" half of the track, comes a bit out of left field, and felt a bit sudden to me. We're not left with a lot of time to absorb the new soundscape, as a downtempo moody trap beat comes crashing in as Thai Thai brings a Kid LAROI-esque half-screamed half-sung emo trap hook. I don’t love the aesthetic, but Thai’s vocal performance is really cool, and it’s nice to see him combine his tender singing voice with his screamed, raw delivery from some TELEVISED SUICIDE-era tracks. nickwuh and TypeOh both contribute sung verses, buoyed by distant harmonies and the occasional beat cut. The koto break at the end of the song is a really nice touch, with Thai’s subdued background vocals taking us out. I'm not the biggest fan of this track, but I do think that the artistic vision here was really ambitious, and I'd love for 3rd Ave to try more genre-bending long-form experimental tracks like this in the future!

"FACETIME", chronologically the first track the members of 3rd Ave worked on together, began as a TypeOh solo track before growing out into a 3rd Ave affair. A synth-heavy rage-rap banger that combines the poppy, hooky ethos of “ALASKA” with the rage aesthetic of Ken Carson and Trippie Redd, “FACETIME” ended the year in the number 5 spot on my Spotify Wrapped. TypeOh's hook is wickedly catchy, supported by lush, textured synth pads and economical trap drums. TypeOh and Thai Thai trade melodic verses that see both of them exploring new territory; both come up with some really catchy lines along the way and sound great overall. The track does feel a little short, and perhaps a bit less involved than many of the other tracks here, but I suppose that as the first 3rd Ave song ever, it's understandable for it to feel a bit less fleshed-out than some of the newer tracks. Still, the track is no less catchy for it, and nails the pop rap/rage crossover very well.

Atonal, outlined with various blips and beeps and mechanical sound effects, “???” is one of the most forceful tracks on the whole album. Distorted and angry, Thai Thai's first verse feels like "CUT UP" Part 2, as he brings an ultra-aggressive delivery. Thai’s lines are kinda hilarious (“I got an emo bitch, she like to kill herself” and "Walk in the room and the pussy get Gucci/I ain't bilingual, I only speak coochie" are the two that come to mind the most). TypeOh brings a similarly strong performance, though his voice seems to get swallowed by the bass on occasion. The mix on this track is another minor point of contention, as it feels to me like there's a lot of high mid stuff going on that can tend to take away space from the vocals. Either way, though, there's plenty here to focus on, and the track is a perfectly good bar track for its two minutes of runtime.

 

Pictured above: Jaden Tyler's chaotic-neutral energy, pictured here at the CYBERBULLY release party on December 1st, 2023, at Highside Workshop in Bushwick. Also visible is nickwuh staying hydrated in the back. Photograph by me.
 

"ECSTASY" feels like another experiment with rage, embracing a sound palette that reads like an ethereal crossover between the works of Playboi Carti and arkangel, with distant leads and airy synth pads creating a floaty, somewhat metallic vibe. The presentation of the chorus on this one is a little… weird, and I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the way the subject matter is depicted. nickwuh's second verse also feels like it takes away some momentum from the progression of the track to me. Still, the sound design on the track is really nice, and I really like the densely-packed, thickly-textured beat on this one. The moment when everything except the drums drops out to start off TypeOh's verse is really cool. The following chorus seems to lose a lot of the mix, as much of it disappears into these huge synth pads that enter around that point. The outro makes up for it, though, as Jaden Tyler busts out an absolutely sick synth/guitar solo that employs some really nice bends and ornaments. I'd wished for some time that Jaden would make more use of his guitar skills on 3rd Ave's songs, and I suppose this song delivered on that front at least! While I wasn't a huge fan of some of the decisions that were made on this track, the overall framework of "ECSTASY" is very strong, and I very much like the soundscape and texture the members of 3rd Ave were able to achieve here.

 

On "'05 ACCORD", a warped chordal sample takes us into a sparse drum pattern accompanied by occasional orchestral hits and reversed swells. TypeOh’s delivery is really nice on this one, while Jaden’s lackadaisical flow makes for an interesting transition that goes across rather well. “I get to the green like a motherfuckin’ Shrek/Money so big like an ogre” is hilarious and might be the funniest line on the album. I think Jaden's slower eighth note flow on this track might be part of the reason why the zingers hit so hard; the slower flow allows a lot of time for the listener to gravitate towards his lyrics and punchlines, which are both as good as ever this time around. Jaden's verse is super fun and transitions into Thai Thai's breakneck flow in a really nice way. The contrast between TypeOh, Jaden, and Thai Thai is managed particularly well on this track, and the pacing gives everyone just enough space to do what they do without ever wearing out their welcome or growing stale.

"LSD" is a 100 gecs/underscores-flavored pop punk/hyperpop crossover track buoyed by heavy guitars. TypeOh takes the first verse, and he sounds fucking great over this pop punk vibe. His vocal melodies are consistently excellent, and his performance makes for a surprisingly natural fit over the chugging power chords and cut time, uptempo drums. Thai Thai takes the hook, bringing a tender rendition of the singable chorus melody; his performance here is genuinely amazing and ranks as one of my favorite performances of his on the album. The backing vocals also do an excellent job translating Thai's performance to a larger-than-life scale; he sounds truly titanic, which works really well for this track. nickwuh’s verse feels very us against the universe to me, taking full advantage of his soaring tenor range. Thai's guitar solo in the middle section also absolutely rips (Dear Mathias: please play more guitar). I really admire the restraint exhibited by the group insofar as not giving the track's chorus to Nick, which seems like the obvious choice given his pop punk tenor voice. Instead, Thai takes the hook for much of the song. We get to hear Nick sing the hook eventually, but the group makes us wait until the very end, which I thought was a great choice. Finally hearing nickwuh and Thai Thai sing the chorus in harmony with each other was a great emotional climax on the back end of this record. I'm a huge fan of the production on this one, and I really enjoy 3rd Ave’s forays into pop rock. I can only hope that they decide to do more songs like this in the future!

 

Pictured above: "JAE CROWDER" goes crazy in a live setting, seen here at the CYBERBULLY release party. Photograph by me.
 

An ethereal, heavenly flute & piano sample opens "JAE CROWDER", before suddenly switching key and veering into a super dark, menacing trap instrumental. The intro switchup goes insanely hard and might be one of my favorite curveball moments on the album. TypeOh’s relentless hook goes crazy, with a driving staccato forcefulness that feels like he's pummeling a punching bag, and is a standout moment for him on the LP. Thai’s opening verse is a really nice change of pace for him, as he breaks into an Autotuned falsetto. He sounds smooth as hell, and makes a great vibe switch from his usual rapped delivery, as he channels Anshoo's characteristically slick, controlled style for a second. (I actually mistook this verse for being one of Anshoo's on first listen, which speaks to how well Mathias adopted this style!) Jaden’s verse is also amazing; the “red paint/blue paint” line is hilarious, and Jaden's deadpan manages to sound properly menacing on this track, which goes really well with Thai and TypeOh's vibe. I do think the mix isn't perfect—Thai and Jaden both sound ever so slightly canned, and there is a bit too much mouth noise, especially in Jaden's vocals. Still, "JAE CROWDER" is one of my favorite tracks on the album, and in my personal opinion, it's the hardest "bar track" on the album. Its strategic usage of Luke, Mathias, and Jaden makes it feel like a fully-realized version of the "ackerman" lineup, employed in a way that fits them together perfectly.

The album’s last track, "MAWILE", drops us straight into a tender nickwuh hook. With co-production from nickwuh and Charlie, the elusive seventh member of 3rd Ave, this track leans into a soft indie hyperpop/Midwest emo vibe that feels like a true embracing of everything that makes 3rd Ave great. The guitars do some really cool tapped open-tuning riffs articulating a very pretty chord progression that also uses one of my personal favorite music theory tricks (namely, the minor iv chord in a major key! Try it, it sounds fucking great). The entrance of a bass guitar and some additional harmonies on top solidify the sensation of building to a peak, as filtered drums ratchet up the energy. The chorus hits with a wall of guitars, huge acoustic drums, and formant-shifted vocals for the hook. The hook itself is insanely catchy, incorporating bits of the melody of "HOLD MY HAND", which I thought made for a nice callback. We drop down a little into a sonic landscape carried by organic acoustic guitars and some really beautiful sung vocals from TypeOh, who turns in an achingly heartfelt performance for this middle section that proves his prowess as a vocalist. A fakeout buildup sets up another chorus, but instead drops us into a richly-layered bridge sung by Thai Thai over a J-pop-esque piano part. The second drop, when it does hit, sounds absolutely massive, with guitars and bass and synth pads and arpeggiators coalescing into a gigantic wall. Thai also completely sells the emotion of this part of the track, singing some beautiful passages; I also love his lyric of "sticks and stones/Will build a home", which I thought was a touching way to end off the bridge. The last hook is absolutely titanic, with every single member of 3rd Ave (minus Jaden) contributing to a huge chorus of voices that all melt together into one colossal texture. Even Charlie makes a cameo appearance, as he sings the last few lines of the song before we drop down and out. Ending on this track was an interesting choice—it's probably the most pop 3rd Ave has ever gotten, but as an emotional vehicle, the song is unassailable, and works remarkably well as an earnest closing statement from the band's members. All of them turn in some of their best vocals on the whole album, and Charlie and Nick's production sounds beautiful. Part of me wishes it were easier to pick out the voices of the individual members in the ending harmonies, but even so, that's a relatively pedantic nitpick, and the overall result is still wonderfully heartfelt and captures something intangible about youth in a really beautiful way.

 

Pictured above: Jaden Tyler (left) and nickwuh (right) performing together at the CYBERBULLY release party.
 

CYBERBULLY, as a body of work, makes for a uniquely compelling showcase of what makes 3rd Ave great. The LP's production ranges from the simple, hard-hitting bounce of songs like "ALASKA" and "JAE CROWDER" to the heady, blippy maximalism of "LSD" and "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES". Each and every member of 3rd Ave turns in a string of inspired performances, culminating in a consistently strong body of verses and hooks rife with inspired flow switches and catchy melodic shapes. Everyone gets a chance to shine on this album, and the album is loaded with some all-time great performances—Anshoo’s buttery-smooth hook on “ALASKA”, Jaden’s tongue-in-cheek middle verse on “BOP IT”, nickwuh’s angelic bridge on “TAMAGOTCHI”, TypeOh’s forceful uppercut of a chorus on “JAE CROWDER”, Thai Thai’s surprisingly sweet hook on “LSD”… even Suzie’s backing vocals on “MAWILE” are a really nice touch. Most of the members have never sounded better than on this record, with all five main vocalists delivering confident raps and soft, tender singing in equal measure. Special shoutout goes to Luke here, whose singing performances were a consistent pleasant surprise. Anshoo also gets a nod from me, as he unveils his unexpectedly effortless singing voice to great effect on "ALASKA" and "HIEROGLYPHS". I really admire everyone's commitment to versatility in their vocal performances, and hope that they continue to push themselves and try and get new and interesting sounds out of their voices from here forward.

 

 

Pictured above: "DOWN, ONE… DOWN, TWO!" Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

The album is also quite representative, showcasing stylistic bits & pieces from each of the individual members' solo discographies on the way—perhaps most notably the lean & mean, forceful, bounce-heavy, battle rap-flavored bluster of TypeOh's Seeker, sonic characteristics which appear in spades across CYBERBULLY's tracklist. The colorful, sweeping grandiosity of nickwuh's us against the universe also makes for a visible presence on this record, with Nick's trademark thickly-layered VST synth sounds, emotive melodic sensibilities, and texture-based mixing philosophy coming to prominence on tracks like "TAMAGOTCHI" and "MAWILE". While those two albums are probably the biggest contributors to the final sound of CYBERBULLY, the clever, tongue-in-cheek, wry humor & lighthearted spirit of Jaden Tyler's Sadfish is a key component of tracks such as "BOP IT" and "FREAK". "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" and "LSD" call back to Thai Thai's acoustic folk-flavored wait for me, stranger EP from earlier this year, and even his TELEVISED SUICIDE-era screamed-raw vocal delivery makes a cameo appearance on the hook of "PIECES"! In this way, the album does manage to be something more than the sum of a bunch of solo projects; it manages to find the crossover points at which all of its members' styles intersect, and create art that lives within that space and pushes its members to new heights.

 

Pictured above: Jaden Tyler, 3rd Ave's resident comedian, performing at MTech Invasion 2.0. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

However, once I'd had a couple full listens through the album, I did start to realize that CYBERBULLY… has a bit of an identity crisis. There are points at which I felt like the album was unsure on how to present its mood, or realize the tone it was going for. I think part of this has to do with the album's sense of humor, or lack thereof; it seems to go back and forth as to how hard it wants to commit to being funny. Jaden's off-the-wall punchlines and deadpan delivery are probably the funniest aspect of this record, and I generally think their contributions are well-integrated and usually make for a nice, middle-verse vibe switch. This album is loaded with hilarious lines, some of which I've noted above, and the existence of those lines definitely positively factors into my overall enjoyment of the album. On the other hand, though, there are just as many lines that seem like they're supposed to be funny, but for whatever reason, aren't presented in a way that makes their humorous intent obvious. For example—"I got an emo bitch, she like to kill herself" is an outrageously funny line, but the aggressive vocal delivery and the dark instrumental of "???", the track on which it appears, completely siphons all of the humor out of it. A similar thing happens with the chorus on "ECSTASY", where the lyrics detail sex in a way that's so over-the-top and gratuitous that it could have been really funny if presented differently. Moments like these tend to get robbed of their humor and just sorta end up being head-scratchers, and I, as a listener, get pulled out of the experience while I wonder as to whether or not that line was supposed to be a joke or not. Luke's confident bravado, Anshoo's robotic panache, and Mathias's breezy nonchalance tend to come across in a way that belies Jaden's comical zaniness and Nick's earnest vulnerability, creating a certain narrative split between the different members. I sometimes feel as though I'm being pulled in a new emotional direction every time a new verse comes on! What I will say is that I've seen all of these songs performed live, and in a live setting, all the lyrics kinda just whiz by; in that space, the energy is what matters more than anything, and I never really picked up on these little idiosyncrasies. In fact, if I were judging this album strictly off of how well it works as a live performance, then it would be just about perfect (the album release show was lit as fuck). But listening to the songs on streaming, in a sit-down setting, wearing headphones, with a little more space to focus in on the lyrics, it starts to be evident that the album can sometimes struggle with how to present its subject matter. 

 

The aforementioned was just one facet of a few things that led me to feeling disappointed by this album, especially in the first couple days after its release. Part of me felt like the 3rd Ave formula I'd grown to know & love during the group's prolific string of pre-album singles had perhaps grown a little stale. Another part of me felt as though songs like "HIEROGLYPHS" and "FREAK" retreaded the groundwork of "ackerman" and "Gottem" a little too closely, while songs like "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" and "???" strayed a little too far from 3rd Ave's established strengths. Yet another part of me wished we'd gotten more Anshoo, whose occasional killer verses and choruses dotted throughout the album really just made me want more. Still another part of me wanted to give this album a zero out of 10 on the sole basis of the fact that we never got the long-awaited Suzie verse I've been waiting a whole year for. In light of all of this, I had to reach the conclusion that perhaps I wasn't being entirely fair to this album. Coming off of the past year and a half, during which I've been a huge fan of not only 3rd Ave, but also all of its members, I've been itching to hear this debut, and my standards for it were definitely really high. It's tough to take a group with as many myriad strengths as 3rd Ave, and feature all of those diverse strengths in a single body of work. Especially in a collective as large as this one, any body of work is, by nature, a compromise. In this regard, the album is a largely successful one, even though at least a couple things out of the million things I wanted this album to do fell by the wayside in the process.

 

 

Pictured above: Thai Thai (left), Jaden Tyler (center), and TypeOh (right) performing at MTech Invasion 2.0. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

Perhaps CYBERBULLY is one of those situations where the answer is never quite as tantalizing as the question—in this case, the question being just what 3rd Ave were actually gonna sound like when their long-awaited debut finally arrived. Now, with the album finally firmly lodged in our brains, we can assess what the album does well. This album embodies fun as a concept better than almost anything else I can think of. Everything about it is wild and hedonistic, and its energy is genuinely infectious. When TypeOh is spitting, Anshoo is gliding over the beat, and nickwuh is singing his heart out, the emotional effect is truly something to behold, and the moments where this album works… simply work. The vibes are off the charts, the energy is immaculate, and the hip hop bangers on this album cement themselves as prime dancefloor rave material for a variety of social functions. Aside from those uptempo moments, the album boasts plenty of real emotional weight, and its moments of soul-searching and contemplation are honest and heartfelt. "MAWILE" is probably the clearest example of this, but "LSD" and "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" also provide plenty of emotional insight into the members of 3rd Ave that listeners can latch onto and relate to. Managing that dichotomy between 1) being invincible, shit-talking battle rappers who are levels above normal people problems and 2) being real, vulnerable, relatable humans is a hard task for anyone, but CYBERBULLY manages that split very well, and that in itself is admirable.

 

That's not even scratching the surface of what 3rd Ave represents as a symbol, a clean summation of all of the things I've grown to love about our little community. As always, the group remains resolutely committed to the pursuit of good sounds, and aren't afraid to take a few risks to get there. Mathias's contributions stuck out to me especially here—his adoption of Anshoo's glassy Autotuned sound on "JAE CROWDER", his tender rendition of the pop punk chorus on "LSD", even his long-form through-composed songwriting on "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" all stick out as being good little experiments where he pushes himself outside of his comfort zone, often to great effect. It's clear that the group isn't scared to experiment, to grow and evolve, to push the boundaries of people's expectations as to what music they're allowed to make, and to have fun while doing it. And on the eighth floor, and to me, they're a shining example of all that's possible in our program, and the great things we can achieve when we put our heads together. In that regard, CYBERBULLY is a smashing success, and is an album I'll likely be listening to for a long, long time. Wherever 3rd Ave goes next, I am certain they'll continue to push the boundaries and create art that inspires both myself and many others, just like they've always done.      

 

Personal enjoyment score: 8.5 out of 10

 

Standout tracks: "ALASKA", "HIEROGLYPHS", "BOP IT", "TAMAGOTCHI (feat. RIVER HOOKS)", "LSD", "JAE CROWDER", "MAWILE"

 

 

Pictured above: Mathias's Invasion 2.0-era replacement for his iconic Milk Duds. Photo by Kat Yeaton. If you scrolled this far, thank you!

ALBUM REVIEW: RED_E¥E - Through the Hole in the World...

RED_E¥E's album Through the Hole in the World... is a musical voyage showcasing his societal awareness, consciousness, and creative lo-fi hip hop production.

Reviewed by Reggie Katz, edited by Ash

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: As always, before reading this review, be sure to support RED_E¥E by streaming the project! The links to Through the Hole in the World… on all platforms can be found via RED_E¥E's Linktree page.

IF SOMEONE ASKED YOU TO IMAGINE what it would sound like if the '90s hip hop crusaders collaborated with the current alternative R&B leading players, you would probably think of a sound like RED_E¥E's. Before I had sat down to listen to this album, I was introduced to the RED_E¥E sound in a Collegium listening session. I really liked his production style, mainly because it is totally unique to him. It's easy to fall into the trap of using the exact same MIDI instruments, VSTs, mics, et cetera, that you see your peers using, resulting in music that doesn't sonically differentiate you from any other artist; nonetheless, Rain manages to neatly carve out a distinctive sound profile only he can pull off. And even if Rain is mirroring production techniques from others, it's clear that he takes his time manipulating sounds and adding diverse textures so that there's no confusion about whose track it is when you put on a RED_E¥E song. It's very impressive how Rain has already found his artist sound at such a young age, especially because of how great it is.

The opening track on this album is a prime example of being able to tell a story without the use of lyrics. "Sometimes, I miss home." features a vast array of dark, ominous synths that create a sense of uneasiness very quickly. This track exists in the realm of experimental electronic music, so it's hard to predict where the song is going to go next, but it always seems to come together. If you listen on headphones or monitors, it sounds like the lead synth that comes in about two-thirds of the way into the track is pulsating forward and backward. I interpreted this as an artistic choice to represent the feeling of missing home. For me, the fluctuating synth symbolizes the push and pull between the times you're not really thinking about missing home, and the times when you miss home so deeply it's impossible to think about anything else. Having an instrumental track open an EP or album is a trend that I have been noticing more and more in modern music, especially within the Music Tech community. It doesn't always work, but it was a really beautiful choice here.

We are welcomed into "The World Goes On", the EP's second track, with the harsh sounds of rain and a plane flying above us, cleverly crafted and spatialized with the use of panning. Right from the start of track 2, Rain intensifies the uncomfortable feeling already imposed by the first track, using samples from sounds you hear every day walking to class through Washington Square Park over a violin part that clashes with the underlying chords. I'll have to find out where Rain got his drum samples for this production, because the drums just knock! One of the strongest features of this track is the boom bap beat reminiscent of '90s hip hop artists like Public Enemy and N.W.A. Overall, the lyricism in this track is very strong, but the hook fell flat in comparison to the verses. "And you never really get that shit that you want/That real real love, but the world goes on/But the world goes on" is a short and memorable hook, but I was hoping for something more lyrically substantial after hearing the verses. There are several examples of killer bars in this track. One that stood out was, "Another killed in these streets of rage/Another red dot on a ledger fully bloodstained". This is a really dope phrasing of a thought-provoking concept, and because of how well-executed this bar is, as well as the rest of the lines in the verses, the hook leaves you wanting something more. I still have to give Rain a lot of credit because this song does capture the essence of what a young adult might feel moving to a big city like New York, experiencing for the first time a stronger need to watch your back, more hostility and violence all around you. I ultimately respect how he communicated these feelings in such a vulnerable way on this industrious track that serves as the lyrical opener of the album.

One thing you can count on from RED_E¥E is a really cool and distinct production. The production on "Godzilla", the third track on the album, is produced like nothing I have ever heard before. It sounds like he took a beat that Biggie would use and put it under the piano stylings of Lauryn Hill. The way Rain combines the influence of many different artists creates a very unique sound. The overall lyricism in this track is well-done, but he did lose me towards the end of the song. If you've listened to the album before, the final bars of "Godzilla" makes more sense because you know what the track coming next is about, but closing a song with bars about "pigs" crossing the line and "giving 'em war" feels out of place since the rest of the track doesn't allude to those ideas at all. Besides that, I enjoyed it. It's clear that Rain was going through it when he was writing this. The experience of feeling like you "ain't shit" unless you isolate and focus on your art sounds dehumanizing, but he ends up finding contentment and inner peace in loneliness by remembering that we all die alone anyways, which is an even darker dehumanizing concept. This is a pretty somber track, but one that still has relatability to a certain audience. Rain expresses his ideas in a very poetic way, which I appreciate—and I definitely prefer this track to the Eminem song of the same name!

Track 4, "Sovereign Tyrannical Disease", has a name that is bound to catch your eye. I keep mentioning how the music from two or three decades ago has a large influence on RED_E¥E's sound, but this track sounds like it was pulled straight out of a '90s conscious hip hop playlist. Everything about this track is old school, from the beat to the lyrics to the delivery, and it's awesome. The track even starts us off with a sample from Malcolm X's 1962 speech on police brutality.

"Though it was released in early 2022, much of Through the Hole in the World... was a direct response to and reflection on the events of 2020—the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests." –Rain Edward a.k.a. RED_E¥E

Although the ideas in this track are phrased well, they felt a little too stripped back for me. I would've liked to see some of the ideas in this track develop a little more, especially because the hook in this track has stronger lyricism than the verses which hasn't been the case in the predecessor tracks. What would've been really cool is if track 4 combined with track 5, "Fight Back!", to create one six-minute track, utilizing a beat switch-up. These tracks seem to go hand in hand, and because of how strong "Fight Back!" is, the previous track could have used its help. The flow in this track feels a little awkward to me, but the lyricism is so remarkable that I have to forgive it. If Rain was able to channel this level of conceptualizing ideas in each one of his tracks, he would be unstoppable. Bars like "run it back/run it back", "all black like a funeral", and "hunnid stack/hunnid more killed by the man in the uniform" have so many meanings behind them that you have to listen to this track a couple of times and really think about it, and even then, you still probably won't catch everything that's implied. Rain's writing ability really shines through here and it is fantastic.

RED_E¥E knows how to fill your headphones with some detailed production, especially on the penultimate track on this album, "Propaganda". He is a truly great producer and I don't want that to go unnoticed. His production sounds personal. Because of how unique the sound is to him, it sounds like he spent hours chipping away at filters, reverb throws, delays, and compressors to find just what he was looking for. This also gives the impression that he is great at composing the ideas in his head into a tangible art form. Although I enjoyed the production throughout, especially the tone bend on the lyrics "Don't listen to the mothafuckas on the news/They spread their lies, monetize by misleading you", the vocals were sitting a little too far back in the mix on this one. Lyrically and conceptually, this track hits hard on the toxic environment the news and media have created, sometimes hitting on it a little too much.

"For anyone listening to track 6, 'Propaganda', wondering what the sample at the end is, Google this: Sinclair's script for stations. You'll see." –Rain Edward a.k.a. RED_E¥E

The news anchors heard for the last minute of the song are sampled from "Sinclair's script for stations". Sinclair, the country's largest broadcast company, forced over 200 news media outlets to read the same script warning against "fake news" you might hear from other news stations. When I heard this part of the track, I was immediately reminded of the beat drop in Kendrick Lamar's "DNA". Lamar's track follows the same concept of using the words of news anchors as a statement about racial discrimination in music, specifically hip hop. The only difference is that the news sample used in "DNA" was from a news segment where they were specifically talking about Kendrick Lamar's music. Because of this, and the fact that there is no beat switch-up after Rain's news sample, I'm not sure I love the choice to include it on "Propaganda". People are bound to notice a good amount of similarity between the two, and it's a large feat to try and match the level of Lamar's Pulitzer Prize-winning album. While I didn't love this choice, it's still a choice that makes a statement. Although you can infer where RED_E¥E's head was while writing this track, it is written from a politically neutral standpoint, and I think that's a good thing. Every news outlet has done its fair share of putting certain news in the limelight and leaving other stories on the back burner in search of monetary gain. He also spits about how the death of someone will be shared on social media only if it's able to get a quick couple of likes and maybe some comments, and if you don't show your artificial support for someone, you'll be next on the list to get cancelled. What's quite ironic is that this track itself is partially a prime example of that idea. At the time that I am writing this review, the track has less than 1,000 streams on Spotify. Yet, somehow the trend of posting a blank black screen on "blackout Tuesday" has gained more attention than this album that brings these issues to the foreground more than mindlessly posting a blank screen. RED_E¥E is pointing out the elephant in the room that many are too afraid to speak about, and in that aspect, this track is truly excellent.

The album closes with the instrumental track, "Please, remember my words while I'm away." As a standalone track, I really like it. But in context with the rest of the album, I admittedly am not a huge fan. The opening of this album is also an instrumental, and because of how similar the closing instrumental sounds to the opener, it makes this track feel like a greater means to an end. I was hoping for something more ambitious that matched the energy of the previous tracks, but at the same time, it's still very enjoyable, so I don't have huge complaints about it. The eerie synths from the opening tracks get welcomed back into the mix, and they sound killer. The production is really well-done and consistent with the rest of the album.

Even though my thoughts on RED_E¥E's Through the Hole in the World… are mixed, the vast majority are positive. Performance-wise, the flow was pretty good, but there were several moments when it did feel a tad forced and awkward. There were a few artistic decisions that I didn't agree with, such as two instrumentals on a 7-track conscious hip hop record, the news anchor samples, the lyric choice at the end of "Godzilla", and generally speaking, the simplicity of the lyrics.

"While there's always a place for wordplay and double entendres, I felt this project needed to form a clear statement." –Rain Edward a.k.a. RED_E¥E

While I do partially agree with this quote from RED_E¥E, I feel like it would have benefited the album had he incorporated more wordplay and double entendres in the lyrics. I felt like the bluntness and laconicism of Rain's lyrics on this project were at odds with what I expect from a conscious hip hop record. It is sometimes said that if you're not writing original wordplay into your lyrics, then it's already been said before in a better way, and I did feel like a lot of the issues RED_E¥E brought up have already been rapped about in a more insightful manner. We have rap and hip hop pioneers like Biggie, Public Enemy, Lauryn Hill, and N.W.A., as well as recent artists like Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, and J. Cole, paving the way for brilliantly-crafted songs on racism, police brutality, the news, and social media. It may seem unfair to compare these major label artists to RED_E¥E, but I am only doing so because I think Rain has an inner genius that needs to be brought out. Tracks like "Sovereign Tyrannical Disease" and "Propaganda" really showcase his abilities as a songwriter and artist. If he is able to channel that part of himself onto all of his tracks, I could see him making a big dent in the hip hop scene. Production-wise, this guy already can't be stopped. Rain is a great producer, point blank. The consistency of the sound of this project while still managing to make each track distinct in its own way is truly remarkable. The soundscape of this album is among the most distinct I've heard from the Music Tech community so far, and I thought it was the highlight of the album overall. The use of sampling, especially when it came to strings and drums, was executed at a near-professional level. I appreciate the way his production pays homage to the rappers who were the original pioneers of this style of thought-provoking hip hop music. Interestingly enough, RED_E¥E's tone of voice reminds me of JID; the contemporary tone of voice mixed with old-school production will really help solidify RED_E¥E as a respected artist. I'm looking forward to hearing what's next from Rain. I heard firsthand from him that he has an album coming out in July that will "blow this one out of the water", so make sure you stay on the lookout for that!

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Rain has also asked me to let you all know that he has a new song coming out on Valentine's Day, for all you romantics out there! Stay tuned for that as well!

Personal enjoyment rating: 7.5 out of 10

Standout tracks: "Sovereign Tyrannical Disease" and "Propaganda"

EP REVIEW: Thai Thai - TELEVISED SUICIDE

Thai Thai's TELEVISED SUICIDE is a haunting experience that showcases moody production and clever lyrics to create a gripping, intense journey through trauma and loss. 

 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: As always, before reading this review, take thirteen minutes to go stream the EP! The links to the project on all platforms can be found through Thai Thai's Linktree page, which I have linked here.

 

WHEN THAI THAI SHOWED UP in my Instagram messages to suggest I look at his most recent release, TELEVISED SUICIDE, I was immediately struck by the title and album art in a way I haven't been in a long time. I'm no art critic, and visual art definitely is not my area of expertise, but I swear I knew on some level after looking at the artwork that this project would encapsulate a really interesting vibe. After listening to the EP, I think it's safe to say I was right. This EP delivers a large-scale experience that belies its short runtime of just five tracks and thirteen minutes, and is probably one of my favorite projects I've reviewed since this blog began.

 

This EP marks Thai Thai's sophomore project; its predecessor, the five-track PIECE OF MIND, was released to the public in April. Despite only having two EP-sized notches on his belt to this point, Thai Thai, also known as Mathias, presents a remarkably fleshed-out and well-realized sound on this project; it's evident that he has a clear vision of who he wants to be as an artist and the kind of sound he wants to explore. TELEVISED SUICIDE seamlessly alternates between an apathetic, depressive stupor and barely-repressed anger & aggression over instrumentals that similarly oscillate between melancholy R&B-sampling conscious rap and heavy, distorted trap metal. Thai Thai raps about everything from the peaks & valleys of his artistic journey to watching loved ones fall victim to drug use, making use of his incisive wit and brutal vulnerability to create an EP that is equal parts artistic showcase and coping mechanism. The end result is thoroughly gripping and extreme, and makes an excellent showcase for Thai Thai's abilities as an artist.

A woozy, muffled flute sample opens the EP on the first track, "LIFE OR DEATH". Soon enough, a heavy synth bass enters under shuffling 12/8 percussion. Thai Thai delivers a meditative and thoughtful first verse dealing with mortality and death through a detached, disaffected delivery before rapidly switching to an aggressive, raw, shouting delivery as the beat modulates upwards in key; the result ends up feeling like a stylistic cross between Scarlxrd and J Cole. The track rather successfully communicates the dichotomy between melancholy and aggression that often comes hand in hand with loss, and sets up the EP to deliver a thought-provoking, tortured hip hop experience.

A jazzy, retro-flavored conscious rap instrumental anchored in sweet harp chords lays a foundation for Thai Thai’s distorted, confident vocals in the first verse on "KILL 4 MY SPOT". Between this track and the opener, Thai Thai demonstrates a real penchant for crafting simple yet effective and catchy flows that provide a solid base on which he builds slick wordplay and compelling storytelling. His voice bears a real similarity to Kendrick Lamar on this track, and the meditative atmosphere feels very much like something that might have stepped off of Mr. Morale. We get an R&B-style sung hook based in an austere earworm of a melody; the lyrics cut deep here ("Prayed to the Lord for forgiveness/Promised shit would be different/He looked real deep in my eyes and said 'You lying, admit it'") and the introspective message of this track is a solidly memorable one. The mixing sounds very professional here; every element occupies its own space and nothing feels like it’s clashing with anything else. The extended harp breakdown at the end of the track is also very nice. I really love this track and I think it makes for an excellent cross-section of what makes this EP so great: economical, moody production anchored by raw lyrics and a vocal performance that visibly aches like an open wound.

On the following "PERC 30", we get an instrumental that is significantly more trap-flavored. The huge, distorted, sliding bass patterns and massive, clanging snare point to trap metal influences. Thai Thai also showcases his technical prowess on this track, as his  flows are realized with laser-like precision. He seamlessly transitions from steady triplets to rapid eighth and sixteenth-note subdivided rhythms with ease. He also employs some off-kilter vocal inflections here, dipping and soaring in a pseudo-melodic way that reminds me of Baby Keem. On the second verse, he breaks into a screaming headbanger of a verse that features his raw delivery and creative bars ("Death what I insist, if y'all persist let's make it simplistic/My opps cease to exist, check off that list, now you a statistic") front and center. My only real complaint with this track is that I wish it was longer. Its time in the spotlight is short, coming in at just under two minutes, and I feel like it really could have used another verse. Either way, though, this is still a real banger of a track that communicates an impressive amount of energy in a tight package.

Sampled vocal harmonies and retro R&B guitar form the instrumental to "WHAT DO I KNOW?". The resultant chill, introspective vibe reminds me of something Lauryn Hill might have done. Thai Thai finds himself in his bag on this track, as he spits spiteful bars addressed to an unfaithful former lover. The two features, lez and Xavier Top Floor, are both utilized really nicely and add a lot to this track. lez’s vocals in particular are really nice; she brings a smoky timbre that reminds me a bit of R&B singers like Janine and Victoria Monét, and her insane harmony layers on the song’s bridge really elevate the track. Xavier's second verse is dripping in effortless swagger, and he floats over the beat with ease. This is another track that I feel could have used another verse from Thai Thai to really bring it home, but nonetheless, there's a lot to love here.

The final track, "TELEVISED SUICIDE", opens with a sampled children’s choir and a reverb-heavy Japanese-language narration. Soon, those elements drop out in favor of a menacing low horn line and subtle, soulful bass guitar as Thai Thai spits haunting verses dealing with the effects of drug abuse. Thai Thai's abilities as a storyteller really shine here, as he articulates the deep regret and screaming sadness of loss with a painful degree of detail. His flows here are economical and simple, but on a track this emotionally heavy, it's clear that he feels no need to show off his technical ability when this track is really about his lyrics and storytelling first and foremost. A beautiful saxophone solo closes out the track alongside a narration from Thai Thai, in which he bids farewell, to life and to the listener both. I can't imagine myself putting on this track for casual listening very often, but only because it's so heavy and heartwrenching that I can't handle too many listens, which I take to mean that this track utterly and totally succeeded in what it set out to do. Thai Thai fires on all cylinders as he weaves a gripping, desolate tale of a story that features all of his strengths as a lyricist at their fullest.

The end result of TELEVISED SUICIDE is a body of work that feels thoroughly professional-grade. You could have told me this was a major label release and I wouldn't have batted an eye; it's truly that good. The mixing and mastering work is excellent here, and the technical prowess that went into this project is clearly evident considering the level of polish on the final product—which I feel speaks to the strength of Thai Thai's creative vision and his own view of the sonic territory he sees himself exploring. On the creative side of things, Thai Thai proves to be a capable producer and a remarkably talented lyricist. I don't know how much remains to be said that I haven't said already; his lyrics consistently cut right through the context of each song and lay bare the very real and human emotional aftereffects of trauma and loss. As a rapper, every performance he turns in suits the song, and he always sounds completely at home over each and every beat. I guess my only real complaint is that I wish that there were more verses and more tracks, but that really just translates to an admission that the record did its job so well that I can't help but want more. In short, this EP was absolutely gripping and I only hope that Thai Thai continues to capture and expand upon the magic he achieved here on his future projects.

Personal enjoyment score: 9.5 out of 10

Standout tracks: All five tracks are excellent and deserve a listen.