RJD2's "new release" is a cd called Since we Last Spoke, which I just picked up the other day. Since nobody has done an indepth review on it, I thought I would.
1. Since We Last Spoke- 8/10
2. Exotic Talk 9.5/10
3. 1976 7.5/10
4. Ring Finger 10/10
5. Making Days Longer 10/10
6. Someone's Second Kiss 7/10
7. To All Of You 7.5/10
8. Clean Living 8/10
9. Iced Lightning 9.5/10
10. Intro N/A /10
11. Through The Walls 10/10
12. One Day 7/10
1. Since We Last Spoke: Unlike most hip hop albums these days, this cd does not open up with an intro. It opens up with this catchy song that mixes electronic sounds with guitar riffs, percussion, and a keyboard-sounding thing, as well as female and male chrooning later in the song. This is a pretty dope song. 8/10
2. Exotic Talk: This song opens up with booming guitar and drums, and sounds like a rock song at first. However, this really dope sounding "whistling" type sound comes in, with female vocals, and accompanies the drums, creating a dope beat. After a little bit of that, it goes back into the heavy guitar and drums with this robotic sounding woman saying "This is Exotic", every once in awhile taking a break so it can go back to the "electronic" sound. Dope-assed song. 9.5/10
3. 1976: Song opens up with a quiet bass, then these horn sounds come in and it reminds me of the theme song from some old 70's action show. It has a decidedly "latin" feel to it, with the horns and some guy saying "Istanbul.." and other shit over the backround. This song is pretty good. 7.5/10
4. Ring Finger: Starts off with some guy saying "1..2..1234" like in a band, but after that it turns all electronic sounding, with this really quiet guitar type thing playing alongside a bass drum while this girl sings. After a bit of singing, it goes back into the electronic shit from the beginning, which is quite dope. Later in the song, it gets into some weird keyboard stuff with some guy yelling. A dope song. 10/10
5. Making Days Longer: This song is so mellow. It starts off with a keyboard, then this guy starts singing a song that's pretty dope. It goes something like.."It's nice to hear your voice again..blah blah..strange that a phonecall can change your day, take me away", with keyboard a drums behind him. This is one of my favourite songs. 10/10
6. Someone's Second Kiss: This song starts off with an almost "ancient oriental" sound, before a guitar comes in, followed by drums and this futuristic sound effect which is pretty cool. This song reminds me of Final Fantasy or something like that, for some reason. This is my least favourite song so far, but it's still good. 7/10
7. To all of You: This song has a really feel-good sound to it, and it's pretty mellow. This girl with a really booming voice comes in and starts singing, talking about people calling themselves players and stuff like that. Near the end, the beat switches up into this cool sounding shit, where RJ scratches some guy. Another decent song. 7.5/10
8. Clean Living: Starts off with this really jazzy sounding beat, with a weird guitar thing in the backround, which is pretty dope. The whole thing is accompanied by drums, like most of the songs on the LP. Throughout the song, random shit comes in, like hand clapping and vocals. Good song. 8/10
9. Iced Lightning: This song has an extremely futuristic feel to it, with a catchy sound effect in the backround, accompanied by another synthesizer sound that builds up throughout the song. About halfway through, this piano-type thing comes in and accompanies the other sounds. This song kind of reminds me of the music off a level of Mega Man, but it is damn dope. 9.5/10
10. Intro: Starts off with some guy saying "Wait a minute, I forgot my introduction", with some drums and this guitarish sounding thing. Then someone's like, "everybody say HELL YEAH, hell yeah"...as "intros" go, this one is pretty good. N/A / 10
11. Through the Walls: Starts off with heavy guitar then moves into light bass strumming with some drums, with anotheer guitar playing in the backround. Some guy is singing as well, and this song plays off like an actual rock band's song, even having a guitar solo. This song is damn dope though. 10/10
12. One Day: Some guy sings over this strange keyboard style sound, with claps in the backround. As a closing song, I was rather dissapointed in this. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it's one of the weaker songs on this LP IMO. 7/10
This is a very good sophomore effort by RJD2, and it will most likely appeal to anyone who enjoyed his first effort, Deadringer (The Horror doesn't count). However, it won't appeal to ANYONE. This LP has a decidedly "rock" sound to many of it's songs, which may turn some people off. However, I recommend this album to anyone with an open mind.
Overall Score; 9/10
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