The first song, Spongebob reminds me of a mix of Connan Mockasin’s album Caramel mixed with some Harold Budd ambient music while they rap over it. It’s psychedelically a unique vibe carried throughout the album. The mood is similar to that 1990’s freaky rap and especially similar to Cypress Hill & Aesop Rock who both come from further out places in and around New York City.
In Checkpoints Billy Woods sounds more like Jay-Z in his delivery. I really love how the crash cymbals play with the bass on that song,
Bedtime & Crawlspace fall more into an MF Dooom vibe it seems, but it still holds that darker Vince Staples vibe. If any of you from Minnesota have heard of Heiruspecs, I think the attitude here matches that kind of excitement in music you don’t always hear.
Thank god for sax and reed instruments in Speak Gently. They make me feel alive and in nature and they saved me a bit from the beautifully painted wasteland of the rest of the album. It’s also odd how there’s an elephant at the end of the track. This album reminds me more and more of Vince Staple’s “Summertime '06” album where, likewise, a locality is painted in audio in black & white. This land makes you feel uneasy at first, but it becomes too familiarly a dystopian home that feels cozy enough to stay in, as it's just the right temperature here.