Interludes: February 2023

There is only so much time within the month to not only listen to a small fraction of the music out there but also write reviews for them. Interludes is a monthly column that provides space for bite-sized criticism and commentary on albums that were listened to during this month but did not receive a full review.

Free 03 – 03 Greedo & Mike Free (2023)

In 2018, Jason Jamal Jackson, better known as 03 Greedo, began a 20 year prison sentence after taking a plea deal on charges of drug trafficking and possession of a firearm dating back to a 2016 arrest in Texas. After being granted parole release last summer, he returned home from prison this past month. Coinciding with the news of his release was the surprise drop of the Free 03 mixtape. The Mike Free-produced project wastes no time in taking a cathartic victory lap, introducing itself with a recorded message from Greedo promising to “get right back to work” and paying respects to rappers that have died from homocide while Greedo was behind bars: Drakeo the Ruler (featured on the third track), Nipsey Hussle, PnB Rock, Takeoff, Young Dolph. Aside from the context of its release, however, Free 03 is an entirely unremarkable mixtape with solid raps and dime-a-dozen production. If anything, the way beats drown out Greedo’s rapping with stock synths on predictable loops make it painfully obvious that the project was rushed out to capitalize on the news of the moment. Some of the flows and lyricism on the fresher cuts, recorded over the phone by Greedo during his prison sentence, indicate a potential for an evolution in both content and craft in the future (hopefully more meticulously).

★★

One Day – Fucked Up (2023)

Credit where credit is due to Fucked Up for their usage of mercurial rhythms, sonic palettes, and entertaining manifestos to counter the prescriptiveness of hardcore punk…yet somehow, One Day is at its most enjoyable when the band throws in a riff that would fit snugly in a White Reaper performance at Riot Fest.

★★★½

Every Acre – H.C. McEntire (2023)

It’s difficult to think of a recent release that fabricates the atmosphere of a 1970s Neil Young record better than H.C. McEntire’s Every Acre, the North Carolina singer-songwriter’s third solo album. Through immersive drums, echoing electric guitars, and McEntire’s down-to-earth vocals, these songs feel like a band listening to and interacting with one another in the very moment you are listening to them. Its sound is so curated and seamless that it can be easy to miss the presence of guests like Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray on “Turpentine,” a track that feels equal parts “Cortez the Killer” and “The Great Gig In The Sky” with its transcendent fuzz guitar solo and melancholy steadiness. More often than not, the grounded solemnity of the instrumentation fills in the gaps that McEntire’s naturalistic lyrics leave in their intentionally truncated descriptions of meadows, the land underneath a harvest moon, and expanses of cedar and pine trees, to name a few examples. It can be abstract to a fault and overly intangible, such as on “Wild for the King,” which betrays the consistency of the album’s textures. However, it is more than worth it to turn on the opening track, “New Views” and allow its tenderness to coax you into the sunset of Every Acre.

★★★½

Gloria – Sam Smith (2023)

Sam Smith’s 2020 album Love Goes happened, apparently. The unrecognizable titles of its released singles – “My Oasis,” “Diamonds,” and “Kids Again” – would suggest otherwise. Smith’s latest effort, Gloria, would likely end up just as ignorable were it not for the hysteria surrounding the admittedly catchy lead single, “Unholy.” That song is the exception. The pomp and charisma Smith is able to muster through its PG-13 debauchery sits amongst an otherwise dull set of songs shallowly meandering around topics of self-love and emotional intelligence. Rather than answering the question of what makes Smith anything more than a good voice with little of substance to sing by today’s pop standards, it substitutes one of its own: “What if Lizzo lacked charisma?”

★★