{"id":6188,"date":"2018-09-30T02:17:57","date_gmt":"2018-09-30T02:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=6188"},"modified":"2018-09-30T02:17:57","modified_gmt":"2018-09-30T02:17:57","slug":"review-brockhampton-iridescence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/30\/review-brockhampton-iridescence\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Brockhampton – Iridescence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the many musical trends that had occurred throughout 2017, one of the most prominent of them all was artists putting out multiple releases throughout the year. Many prominent acts found ways to pump out massive amounts of music beyond just a standard one-off full-length, with King Gizzard\u2019s 5-album release strategy coming immediately to mind. By far, however, the most hyped of all of these was the Saturation <\/em>series: a trilogy of hip-hop albums from a Texas\/L.A.-based collective called Brockhampton. The self-proclaimed \u201cbest boy band since One Direction\u201d had all eyes on them throughout 2017 thanks to both their massive line-up of 14 members (rappers, producers, graphic designers\/visual artists etc.) and their exciting mix of hip-hop, R&B, and boy band pop, among other styles. Their lyrics mix in bombastic brag-heavy bangers with more somber introspective jams about mental anxieties, fame, sexuality, and more into consistently great packages. Following Saturation<\/em>, the group announced a new project Team Effort, <\/em>which turned into a different release called Puppy<\/em>, which eventually morphed into a release called the best years of our lives, <\/em>and now we have their proper 4th<\/sup> full-length album Iridescence<\/em>, the first installment of a new trilogy going under the best years <\/em>moniker.<\/p>\n

As previously mentioned, Brockhampton\u2019s style covers a specific but varied range of styles, and that balance is preserved on Iridescence. <\/em>From the album opener \u201cNew Orleans,\u201d we\u2019re treated to a pretty hard-edged hip-hop banger featuring members Dom McLennon, Bearface, Matt Champion, Joba, and group leader Kevin Abstract. Right away however, there\u2019s a noticeably different vibe at play in the beat. With Joba and Bearface handling the production alongside Romil and Jabari, the beat is more mechanical and dark than normal, as bursts of fuzzy bass back up a squealing minimal electronic lead melody. Over this, the featured members lay down some intense bars about their star status, as Merlyn dunks on Christianity using imagery related to his African roots, and Joba simply just going off on his verse with his signature high-energy yelping flow:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m up here somewhere
\nout here, nobody can tell me shit
\nShit, never mind what I did back then
\nyou should take a look at yourself instead\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This darkly mechanical style of beats comprises the intense bangers across the release. This is at least partly due to the production dynamic at play here. While Joba and Bearface have occasionally had producer credits across their past 3 albums, on Iridescence, <\/em>one or both of them are credited as producers on nearly every track alongside Romil and Jabari. This is put to great use throughout the album, like on my own favorite track \u201cJ\u2019Ouvert.\u201d The song alternates between a disorienting fuzzed-out synthetic bass line and bombastic samples of Lavaman\u2019s \u201cDoh Blame Meh\u201d to ramp up the hype levels. This helps Matt, Merlyn, Bearface, and Joba flex a massive amount of swagger all around, with Joba especially getting in what are easily his most aggressive bars on record as he disses every fake person in his life:<\/p>\n

\u201cFuck what you think, and fuck what you heard.
\nI feel betrayed, you can keep the praise
\nand all of the fuck shit, need to get away,
\nstill ain\u2019t got the fright to the fickle-minded people\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n