for the love of music
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By Luke Modugno
Photo via Brick Stowell
Sometimes, the necessary elements required for a noteworthy album go far beyond musicality. The headspace, circumstances, and career trajectory of an artist often define chunks of time for artists. Oftentimes, these hard-to-reach creative pockets provide the foundations for a career-defining moment.
This is the case with the creation of the late Mac Miller’s stellar 2014 mixtape Faces, which was added to streaming services on Friday.
“It was just freedom,” said lead sound engineer Josh Berg in “Making Faces (A Short Film).” “He’d just wanted to make music and the schedule was so jammed up for the previous year. Did a whole US tour for three months, festivals tours for a month, a two-month tour across Europe with Lil Wayne, playing arenas, literally doing shows at every moment. And then, there was nothing, no shows, no anything, just studio.”
After bursting onto the early 2010’s rap scene, Miller had garnered immediate success due to the infectiously carefree nature of his work. Affectionately referred to by many as the poster child of frat rap, Mac’s debut projects Blue Side Park and K.I.D.S afforded the Pittsburgh native a healthy, potent dose of fame.
Prior to the release of 2012’s Macadelic, Miller moved to Los Angeles. As just a 20-year-old living on his own, the immensity of life under the spotlight paved the way for the creation of something new for Miller.
“It felt like it was my own world. I felt like I could really grow into my own creatively,” Miller said in the short film. “It felt like I could find myself through the music I was making.”
In a discography littered with stunning musicality, the project that best portrays Mac’s personality, artistry, and sonic evolution has to be Faces.
As the elegant saxophone and trippy drums cut in on the grandiose opener “Inside Outside,” and with lines like “All my homies philosophers,” and “On the inside, I’m outside all the time,” Miller establishes a motif that presents itself through a variety of artistic decisions throughout the album: psychedelia. From the production and lyrical content to the cover art, something about Miller dabbling in hallucinatory rap simply fits his artistic aurora. However, this creative direction was triggered by more than just music.
“To have all that space was a pro and a con,” said Miller in an interview with FADER Magazine. "It started with me sitting inside all day. Then I’d get bored, and I’d say to myself ‘Well I can just be high and have a whole adventure right here in this room.’’’
It’s an issue that comes to a head on the elegantly dark “Funeral.”
“Doing drugs is just a war with boredom but they sure to get me/I heard that legends never die, oh this lonely hell of mine,” harmonizes Miller over the track's kaleidoscopic production.
“Funeral” represents the end of a trilogy of songs in the middle of “Faces” meant to represent the three most significant days of a man’s life: the day he’s born (track 10 is titled “Happy Birthday”), the day he gets married (track 11 titled “Wedding”) and the day he dies. With “Funeral,” Mac comes to the revelation that every second he lives could be his last. This recognition of fragility is amplified by the fact that at this point, Miller had already developed a crippling drug addiction that saw him have plenty of close encounters with death. “Funeral” and the trilogy it belongs to is a monumental step forward for Mac in terms of his development into one of the most skilled confessionary songwriters in hip hop.
Art by Brandon Spahn
Another strong suit of “Faces” is its considerably strong guest list. As Miller and Berg describe in the short film, Mac’s home studio acted as a collaboratory.
“I think one of the coolest things about being down there was that different people would always come through,” Berg said as images of Earl Sweatshirt, Vince Staples, ScHoolboy Q, Thundercat, and more collaborators flashed across the screen. “He was eager to learn from others, eager to make people feel comfortable and welcome.”
Tracks like “New Faces v2,” featuring Earl Sweatshirt and Da$h exemplify exactly how integral collaboration was in Miller’s artistic process. Earl delivers what easily could be argued as one of his most impressive verses, while Da$h puts in a solid feature. The exceptional performances by both feature artists had to have compelled Miller to perform at his peak on this track, as that’s exactly what he did. Delivering thought-provoking, yet unfortunate bars like “All my life I’ve been afraid of powder, all my life I’ve been afraid of power, where did all that go,” Miller’s verse is a microcosm of everything Faces does well.
“Faces” was a springboard of an album for Miller. Going on to create classic records like GO:OD AM, Swimming, and Circles following its release, Faces afforded Mac the artistic confidence necessary to fully realize his untapped potential as a boundary-pushing artist. Ultimately, Faces is a mixtape that pushed Mac’s artistry forward in so many ways while staying true to himself. Rest in peace Mac.
“That’s like Mac’s personality,” Berg said. “That’s what Faces is, that’s the most Malcolm album you’ll get.”
Funeral
Friends (feat. ScHoolboy Q)
Rain (feat. Vince Staples)
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By Luke Modugno
Contradictory to what most people think, trap music is a wildly diverse landscape of artistic direction and vision. While the genre has its doppelgangers and clones, it boasts boundary-pushers and innovators like Young Thug, Playboi Carti, and Travis Scott. The list of trap visionaries might have to make room for one more: Baby Keem.
The Las Vegas rapper’s most recent project The Melodic Blue shows the most potent boldness of Keem’s artistry at work, as the 20-year-old takes a detour away from the sounds he cultivated in prior records.
Keem has been silently building a blue-ribbon catalog of trap albums. 2019’s DIE FOR MY BITCH was contagiously aggressive, focused, and energetic. Keem’s first project, The Sound of Bad Habit, executively produced by Cardo is pure potential on full display.
Keem’s consistency hasn’t slowed whatsoever in 2021. Besides the release of The Melodic Blue, Keem dropped two standout singles, “no sense” and “durag activity” featuring Houston’s own Travis Scott. Additionally, Keem found himself featured with Scott on Kanye West’s latest classic record “Donda” on the exceptional “Praise God.”
The Melodic Blue is a continuation of so many artistic strokes found in various of his previous works.
The abrasive opener “trademark usa” is as assertive and grand as “STATS” from Keem’s last album.
“issues’’ toned-down production and delivery from Keem harkens back to the sonic palette utilized on “HONEST.”
While Keem builds on what he’s established in the past, he pushes his creative direction forward in a plethora of ways with The Melodic Blue. The most ear-catching and compelling track on the record comes with the foreshadowing “scapegoats.” The soulful pitched-up looped sample accompanies Keem as, of course, he boasts about “how fast these Porsches get” and how he’s “borderline more than rich.” However, “scapegoats” requires a closer examination, as Keem lets us see a more vulnerable and confessionary side, “One day I’ll tell you how my life was unfortunate/Who I made this tape for? I’ll tell the story two years later, for now the case closed.” In its closing seconds, the looped production gives way to an alluring piano and intimate guitar. The remarkable production on “scapegoats” sounds as if a veteran and established producer constructed it. However, Keem is credited with production on this track. “scapegoats” is a culmination and exhibition of Keem’s full potential behind the boards as well as a storyteller. It’s a one-minute track that impresses from start to finish.
Immediately following “scapegoats” on the tracklist is the grandiose “range brothers,” featuring Keem’s cousin, the elusive genius Kendrick Lamar. Keem’s production on “range brothers” is inherently intriguing. Defined by stumbling and fluid kicks, high hats and 808’s, Keem’s flows fit perfectly. When Kdot cuts in after the first beat transition, “range brothers” is rejuvenated by his urgent delivery. Keem and Kendrick trade bar for bar, making for one of the best moments in rap this year. Of course, we get a classic Kendrick Lamar moment on the cusp of the third beat of “range brothers,” spitting some of the most hilarious adlibs in rap history. “range brothers” is a microcosm of what Keem does so well as an artist. He demands respect simply due to his raw talent as an emcee and producer, but prioritizes keeping his art purely fun and light in nature.
Lamar also appears on the lead single of the record, “family ties,” which happens to be my personal pick for song of the year. Keem displays his full skillset as a rapper on this track, as his wordplay, flow, and rhyme schemes were intricate enough to draw praise from both Tyler, The Creator and Vince Staples on Twitter. After a second beat switch, Lamar enters attack mode, crafting his best verse since the release of “DAMN.” “family ties” is a brilliant union of exceptional rappers destined to cross paths many more times in the future.
Considering this is an experimental effort from Keem, not everything here is worth pursuing artistically. “pink panties” is a bit scattered (although Keems flows stay impressive ) as the hook derails the song. “cocoa” with Don Toliver is high energy, yet lacking substance.
All in all, The Melodic Blue is a slow burn of a project. After your first listen, you may not totally understand what makes this project stand out, that’s because it’s a wildly unique and peculiar listen. While Keem’s experimentation with trap doesn’t always stick here, it’s surely the start of artistic evolution that will define rap for years to come.
family ties (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
scapegoats
lost souls
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Theophilus London Live at the 1720 Warehouse in LA // Photo by Jeff Yumi
On Wednesday, September 15th, I stood with fellow StereoVision co-founder Miles Hagan and our photographer Jeff Yumi behind 1720 Warehouse, a hidden treasure in the LA nightlife scene. Theophilus London had just concluded an electric performance and the three of us were still riding the live music high that we had been removed from for so long. We were waiting to talk to London, excited to pick the brain of someone who has been a part of so many great records, but he was nowhere to be found. After ten more minutes, we began to slowly accept the fact that he had cut early and wandered out to the venue’s floor. That’s where we found Theo, hiding in plain sight, making sure that every fan had a chance to talk to him before leaving the venue. This simple act of appreciation embodied the palpable connection that Theo builds with his fans, a connection that fueled his performance and made his show in LA one I won’t forget.
Theophilus London, prolific tastemaker, producer, songwriter, and performing artist is surrounded by extreme “if you know you know” energy. While the average music fan might not be familiar with his work, his name is mentioned in the same breath as Pharrell Williams, Devonte Hynes, and Kanye West amongst music heads everywhere due to his impressive songwriting catalog and unique sound that he’s pioneered in his own solo music. While waiting for the show to start we talked with people in the crowd about when they first started listening to London and their favorite tracks of his. To no surprise, the majority of those we talked to have been supporting Theo for seven or more years (2014 marked the release of his sophomore album Vibes) and nearly every person had different favorite songs - a trait that speaks volumes about the depth of his catalog and the overall quality of his work.
The show started around 9:30 with Parks, a multi-faceted creative with a smooth style kicking off the night with some hypnotizing bass solos and silky vocal accompaniment. Next to the stage came Annahstasia, a Nigerian-American singer-songwriter who captivated the audience for her entire set with just her beautiful voice and simple guitar strums. Her extremely powerful voice was only outdone by her songwriting which communicated complex and confusing emotions through easy-to-follow stories and intuitive realizations. We caught up with Annahstasia after her performance to ask her where she drew inspiration from for her impactful songwriting:
“Lately, I’ve been inspired by watching the outside from inside. Having a moment to step back and observe human behavior and (ask myself) why we do things. Everything’s just a big why right now.”
Theophilus London Live at the 1720 Warehouse in LA // Photo by Jeff Yumi
We were also happy to hear Annahstasia say that she’ll be dropping more music very soon, make sure to be on the lookout for that as it’s sure to be special.
Theophilus London arrived on stage just before 11PM walking out to his smash hit “Can’t Stop” which features Kanye West. From the moment he stepped on stage in his striking cowboy hat, he had the audience in the palm of his hand through his strong singing, infectious dancing, and brief stints where he managed to do both while DJing. After starting the show with a couple of his older fan favorites, London got into his excellent 2020 album Bebey with the fun, new-wave Caribbean sounds of “Only You,” “Marchin,” & “Cuba.” It was clear to me that old and new fans alike loved the new album as the entire crowd sang along in unison to most of the songs performed.
Around midnight Theo seemed to finish his setlist, but with everyone in the room having such a good time (including himself) he decided to continue playing and began taking crowd requests. Wedged in between these fan picks, London played some unreleased songs that have us extremely excited for the artist’s next release, a project titled Musa that we can expect in May.
All-in-all Theophilus London’s show in LA was the perfect reintroduction to live music - an inspiring performance in a spacious venue. While speaking with Theo after the show, he related the concert to a basketball player’s first game back after an injury saying that while he felt a little rusty, there’s no comparable feeling to getting to do what you love especially when it’s been taken away from you for so long.
Thanks for reading! Make sure to watch our vlog from the concert linked above and check out photos from the event below. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram to stay up on the hottest new music.
