Artist:BROCKHAMPTON
Album: “iridescence”
Release date: Sept. 21, 2018
For fans of: Run the Jewels, Injury Reserve and Odd Future
Rating: 8/10
Before their early 2018 scandal with former founding member of BROCKHAMPTON, Ameer Vann, the group was slated to release albums “Team Effort” and “Puppy,” under a record deal with Sony’s RCA Records at an estimated $15 million over three years.
Rem Jensen | Argonaut
But they abandoned the two albums they had teased in favor of reclaiming their group after such a shattering loss following allegations of sexual misconduct against Vann, who left the band.
The fourth studio effort by the collective, “iridescence,” is their fresh reentry to the music industry — an album that differs from the acclaimed “SATURATION” trilogy in its maturity.
Having gone through the first – and likely not last – departure of a key member, as well as signing an impressively large record contract, the boys were slated to truly make a stand for who and what BROCKHAMPTON is on this follow-up record.
This album sees BROCKHAMPTON bouncing between their distorted left-field hip-hop style — BERLIN, J’OUVERT and WHERE THE CASH AT — and their signature psychedelically conscious pop rap — FABRIC, SAN MARCOS and VIVID.
What comes as a result of Vann’s departure is a lack of serious conscious hip-hop verses, which prompted members Dom McLennon and Kevin Abstract to step up their lyrical game, as well as having a previously low-key member — Joba — take center stage to support the lack of a key member.
Despite doubts about the continuance of the group’s chemistry, “iridescence” shines is in its continuity of the BROCKHAMPTON sound, with producers Romil Hemnani and the duo Q3 — Kiko Merley and Jabari Manwa — throwing in all the stops.
Key moments could be the insanely distorted basslines on tracks such as BERLIN or DISTRCT, or the surprisingly well-executed drum breakbeat behind Joba’s rapidly rapped verse on WEIGHT making way to the track’s multiple beat shifts.
While tracks, such as SOMETHING ABOUT HIM or SAN MARCOS, take a similar approach to the softer tracks from the “SATURATION” trilogy — FACE, WASTE and TEAM — they are without doubt the few lapses that the record has. Leaning too much on repetitive choruses and slower yet serene passages, these tracks are the couple that trip the album’s flow up.
SOMETHING ABOUT HIM comes between the versatile THUG LIFE and the already discussed track BERLIN. While SAN MARCOS is snugly fit between the colorfully boom-bap anthem VIVID and the unreleased ballad TONYA — which personally does a better job at being a slow song, with its interesting rhythm changes, lack of repetition, druggy studio-mixed production and the inclusion of experimental rhythm and blues singer serpentwithfeet on the intro, hook and outro.
These two lapsing tracks on the album are the minuscule dips where BROCKHAMPTON struggles to do anything but improve on “iridesence.”
On songs such as WEIGHT, FABRIC or DISTRICT, they refine their known tendency for inventive beat switches and odd production. Joba comes in with the hardest verse on the album on the sole single J’OUVERT, Romil samples a Matt Champion verse from SAT1’s “BUMP” and chops and screws the verse into slowing molasses beauty behind the cleared Beyoncé sample on the back half of HONEY.
In the “SATURATION” trilogy — especially their first studio effort — songs could become dry on the first listen with their attempts at — but fiascos with — sticky, frenzied and repetitive hooks.
Most tracks on “iridescence,” however, sound uniquely whole with little in the way of filler tracks, where the inventive choruses and intimate verses act almost as a stepping stone for the future direction the boyband could themselves take.
While the “SATURATION” trilogy did have times of beauty and instances of near-perfection, in terms of modern indie experimental hip-hop, “iridescence” comes as the dawning first album of a new trilogy —“The Best Years of Our Lives.” Not only this, but the group followed with an Abbey Road Studios recorded album, refining their key sound and experimenting in new ways the group’s fans have yet to hear.
In my opinion, “iridescence” is the best album BROCKHAMPTON has released, not only with the departure of Vann, but in regard to every song consistently surprising the listener. It takes a surprising amount of effort for a group, who have released four albums in just over a year and are projected to possibly release a follow-up by the end of 2018.
Remington Jensen can be reached at [email protected]