Review Summary: Recommend it to your Yoga instructor, I bet she's sick of Enya too.
Friendzone make music for the times you’re looking at something with intense fascination for no reason at all. When your vision settles into the most comfortable spot and you zone all the way out, floating in the space between what you’re doing and what you’re supposed to be doing. This is cloud rap right? It sounds more like “cloud” to me. Drifting slowly across the horizon, turning and shifting patiently, I don’t see many MC’s slotting into these beats (For the record, Main Attractionz pulled that off pretty well).
If Friendzone are apart of any movement, it’s the producer movement. More and more, beats are becoming better without any accompaniment, I point to the success of Clams Casino and Araab Muzik as proof. Producers like Mike Will Made It and Lex Luger are becoming as popular as the artists they produce for. This is undoubtedly a good thing, by not being tied to the rapper as delivery system for their music, producers are allowed to build and hone their styles on their own terms. As for Friendzone? They produced possibly the best track on ASAP Rocky’s debut (“Fashion Killa”) but are still far from prolific. The best thing they’ve released so far, the instrumental mixtape
Collection One, is a fantastic showcase of their strengths.
At it’s frequent best,
Collection One is a soundtrack to half remembered dreams of flying. Opener “Stresses” does wonders with some reverbed piano stabs ringing like distant church bells, “Follow Me” would make a killer addition to an adventure game about exploring a distant jungle. “Church” pulses forward while gorgeous piano figure pumps oxygen into the cabin. The drums, the same hi-hat and snare sounds crop up across the album, are often deployed as anchors to keep the songs from drifting off too far off into the atmosphere and give “I Have Nothing” and “Change” their weight.
The albums absolute peak comes in the form of three songs at its tail end. I’ve often said that a good producer knows what to add to a sample and a great one knows when to stop adding. Friendzone are kings of this. “I Miss Y’all” and “Zombies on the Turf II” each pull songs from the NiGHTS: Journey into Dreams soundtrack (“Dream Gate” and “Gate of Your Dreams” respectively), slow them down, toss in a bit of drums and synth and let the samples do the heavy lifting. The result is what you hear when your drowning brain stops panicking and accepts death. Drifting peacefully through the moon streaked waters; they rise and fall with the patience of the seasons. “Perfect Skies” was a highlight of
808s & Dark Grapes and is even better as an instrumental, ringing out with the faded glory of a distant sunny day as you sigh and watch the clouds begin to evacuate rain.
While necessary to the albums pacing, punchier numbers like “Near” and “No One” can be a bit of a pain when you’re trying to get yo’ float on. Friendzone’s technique of letting a sample take on new meanings through repetition doesn’t quite work as well during these tunes as they tend to wear out their welcome before the end.
As we move into a new era in which the producer and the rapper share equal billing, its becoming increasingly clear that the producer must be able to stand on his own two and that includes being able to release his own collections of music. Friendzone has upped the ante with
Collection One, a spectacular bit of beatsmithing that could have been inspired by a balloon floating past the studio window. Perfect for your 3 AM drive home and next make out session.
