Xaviersobased: with 2 Album Evaluation

No person combines serrated rap and goofy hi-jinks like Xaviersobased. In “Pediatrician,” Xavier flashes again to his kiddie days watching Noggin on the doc’s workplace, carrying KidRobot clothes and a SpongeBob pockets in hand, whereas producer magazine blasts some Devil-with-IBS low-end within the “terror bass” fashion. The surreal combo of cute youthful references and aggro depth is bizarrely addictive. Adorned with simply sufficient fairly keys and ethereal cymbals, it throws you right into a blissed trance. Whereas January’s Maintain It Goin Xav felt like a triumphant celebration of the scene surrounding his collective 1c34, with 2 goes solo and injects this sort of dazed-yet-hyper rap with a brand new degree of screwy psychedelia.

Xavier teased with 2 so many occasions that it began to really feel like it could by no means arrive. When the tape lastly dropped final week, it was as a result of somebody leaked it. So Xavier simply put it out himself, though it wasn’t correctly blended but. However this sort of crazed, barely-finished launch second is ideal for his music anyway, because it typically has the feverish rawness of matted snippets.

If 2021’s With felt like a demolition zone of abrasive distortion, this sequel is extra like a laboratory gone mad. The woozy freakiness stays, however the spiky edge has been softened. Cavernous drums echo over lost-in-reverie synth keys and vocals laced with a lot delay Xavier floats by the tracks like a benevolent phantom. His wispy stream on “You See Me” coils upward like he’s slowly ascending a spiral staircase into the clouds. But even at its dreamiest, shards of unhappiness poke by. “linda.mp3” looks like mourning and moonwalking on the similar time. Heat rays of synth drape Xavier as he pleads with one other artist to stop ingesting lean.

Whereas the tape delivers a large provide of hypnotic delights, there’s not a lot in the way in which of untamed surprises. nyli and xion’s twitchy-twinkly beat for spotlight “what zit tooya” already appeared in a Nettspend and phreshboyswag music, and simple tracks like “jaded” and “Softer” sound like they may’ve been on any xaviersobased tape in the previous couple of years. Xavier’s at his greatest when leaning into unstable, erratic confrontations, as on “Aight,” whose bassline brawls with the synths like Greek Gods defending Mt. Olympus. The observe was produced by cranes and anarchy, a gifted Florida teen who provides a glimpse of the following technology past Xavier: cosmically unhinged and glitch-wracked stuff that takes distorted rap as a place to begin.

Regardless of a lowkey surge in recognition since Maintain It Goin Xav, he’s nonetheless disgorging tapes that really feel like DIY neighborhood zines, filled with madcap thumbnails and an all-star roster of area of interest producers. Nothing is out of bounds: chitchat about learning within the “1c library,” sounds of mouse clicks, or heaven-high gurgles. Violent threats and moments of emo vulnerability collide with cowl artwork of a scowling purple fish from SpongeBob named “Mr. What Zit Tooya.” As different new-generation SoundCloud upstarts dilute their sound for wider audiences, it’s candy to observe somebody who doesn’t give a fuck. Even when it doesn’t hit on a regular basis, the imaginative and prescient is thrilling.