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This album was released on Valentine’s Day in the year of Our Lord 2016. …&more… is a duo comprised of Scuare & no1mportant. I’m pretty sure they’re both rappers & producers. They’re both members of Exordium Music, which I guess is an independent label. This review was requested by Jan Schöneseiffen; if you’d like to request a specific album for me to review, it’s 5 bucks to my Patreon account. I know absolutely nothing about these guys. I think I’m gonna enjoy this tho. I’m really fuckin’ tired right now. Every song is self produced.

Track 1: Life is an Existential Crisis

This album is actually just over half an hour, so it shouldn’t take long. It’s starting now. Ohhh fuckin’ shit. This beat is incredible. It’s got an electronic, almost Chiptune sounding vibe. I love this shit. This might end up being an instrumental track. I’m almost halfway through the song, and nobody’s said a word yet. Okay, I’m gonna love this album. This track is fantastic. I love this production. This is dope af.

Track 2: Presents

This beat is cool. I’m not sure who this is on the first verse, but his flow is really nice. The recording quality of the vocals sounds really rough. It’s not bad enough to make the song unenjoyable. I don’t really mind it. It is kinda hard to understand what he’s actually saying tho. The ad-libs and layered vocals definitely don’t help. This dude’s flow is fucking awesome. I can’t tell if they’re both rapping right now or if it’s just one guy. If they’re trading bars I can’t tell because they have really similar voices. I really like the production, and their flows are phenomenal. I just wish I could actually understand what they were saying. I really enjoyed the song as a whole tho. The lack of clarity in the vocals definitely hindered my enjoyment of the track, but it didn’t ruin it. This shit is dope.

Track 3: New Groove

The way all the tracks segue into each other is really seamless. This beat is incredible. The way they’re trading bars is really cool. I’m starting to familiarize myself with the differences in their vocal tones. The way they’re trading bars makes them sound like one rapper who just has two different voices. It’s really fuckin’ cool. I love this beat too. This song is less than a minute and a half, so there’s not really much to it. It’s got a really simplistic structure. It’s just one verse. It’s fantastic tho. This is definitely my favorite song on the album so far. This is dope af.

Track 4: All I See

This beat is really nice. Eeehhhh… I’m uh… Well… Okay, so whoever’s rapping right now is using a melodic delivery. He’s pretty much singing. It doesn’t sound very good tho. It’s not that his vocals are especially bad or anything; it’s just that the sound quality of his voice sounds really shitty. It sounds like… This is gonna sound weird, but it sounds like someone was throwing razor blades at the microphone while he was recording his vocals. It just sounds super compressed. The melody sounds decent. I’d probably enjoy this if it was more audible. I can’t even really make out what the actual lyrics are. That’s been a problem throughout this entire album so far, but it’s even worse on this track. Ehhh… It’s not really a bad song, but I can’t say I enjoyed it. Again, I’d probably like it if the quality was better, but, as it is, I can’t fuck with it.

Track 5: Uber Man

The production on this album is really great. This beat is dope as hell. After about a third of the track, the vocals start coming in. Again, the lyrics are virtually indiscernible. It sounds like they’re literally rapping at the same time. Like, they’re rapping the same verse synchronously. The song itself isn’t really standing out to me. It’s not even because of the sound quality; I feel like I’d be indifferent towards this track even if I understood every single word. It just doesn’t sound very good. I’m not really enjoying it at all. I like the production. That’s pretty much it. It’s not even my favorite beat on the album. It’s not a bad song, but I didn’t really enjoy it.

Track 6: Birth of Time

This production sounds like ambient music. Not that it’s putting me to sleep; it just sounds like the background music for a scientific video narrated by Niel DeGrasse Tyson. I think I said that about another song recently. I’m kinda getting déjà vu. Anyway, the way the autotuned vocals come in after about a minute sound really fuckin’ good. Ugh… Once the rapping starts it just sounds like he’s speaking in tongues. There’s so much reverb on his voice. I’ll never understand why rappers do that. It’s hard to tell if it sounds so shitty just because they didn’t have the resources to record a proper, studio-quality song, or if it was just a poor artistic decision to apply way too much reverb. It’s like somebody is playing this from a shitty speaker in a big ass cathedral. Dude’s flow is really nice, but I cannot understand a single fucking word. I don’t know if it was more tolerable for me earlier or if it’s actually getting worse, but this seems like the shittiest recording on the album so far. I’m not feelin’ this one.

Track 7: A Quest Called Tribe

This beat is cool. This is really more of an interlude than a full song. There isn’t a verse. There’s just a sporadic refrain. This is just a super inessential track. I guess it might be enjoyable for some people, but it did absolutely nothing for me personally. I’m never listening to this again.

Track 8: Royal Blu

Woah. This beat is really fuckin’ cool. One of them is rapping with a melodic, autotuned delivery again. It sounds really fuckin’ good. I still can’t make out every word, but it’s more coherent than the previous few tracks. It’s really difficult to talk about an album like this when you can’t even understand the words. It’s really nice sonically tho. I don’t really have any complaints when it comes to the actual music. I’m already done with the song. I can’t really speak too much on this lyrically, but from what I heard this was an enjoyable track. I like this.

Track 9: Eyes Closed

Woah… This beat is fucking awesome. I’m actually understanding some of the words in this song, and it’s pretty dope. I love the hook. He—not really sure who “he” is tbh—says something about Stevie Wondering if he’ll ever see… uh… something. I can only understand a few words here and there. The Stevie Wonder thing was a little corny, but I’ll allow it. Yeah… The song just ended. The flow on the final verse was impeccable. God… This is a really frustrating album. Smh… I like this song a lot tho. This is dope to me.

Track 10: Meaningless (Outro)

This is pretty much more of what …&more… delivered on the intro. It’s just a really nice Electronic beat. I love this track. This might sound kinda fucked up, but the instrumentals are probably my two favorite tracks on the entire album.

Track 11: Fantasy

Ugh… This beat is really nice, but the fucking sound quality… It sounds BAAAD, man. I can tell that they’re rapping well since I can understand some of it, but it feels like work listening to this. It’s literally difficult to listen to. It should never feel like that. I’m never listening to this shit again. I know I didn’t really say much about this song, but it’s kind of hard to express any significant feelings about it when I can’t even interpret the lyrics.

Final Thoughts:

This was an incredibly flawed album. I’d say I liked it tho. I shouldn’t even have to tell you what my most blatant issue with this project is. That’s always the one possible point of inferiority that comes with underground music like this; the artist in question may have far more talent than a mainstream commercial musician, but [s]he may or may not have the resources to express it in an efficient manner. Scuare & no1mportant clearly have a creative idea here, but it’s tainted by an inadequate delivery. The best thing about this album for me personally is the production. The beats all have kind of a wonky, electronic twist. They’re also clearly very skilled technically. If I can’t understand the words they’re saying, I’m at least entertained by an impressive flow. They’re voices aren’t really that distinct, so I’m still not sure who’s who, but I plan on trying out some of their other work at some point in the future. This isn’t an essential listen. The album cover is cool, and they have a cool stage name, and the album’s short length makes it easy to get through in one sitting, but nobody’s gonna be completely amazed by anything here. Hopefully when …&more… is bigger in the future and they have access to better recording equipment, they release a revised version of this album. I’d really like to hear this album more clearly. It says a lot that I was able to enjoy as much of it as I did despite the poor sound quality. They’re clearly both very talented. If that can’t be gathered from the lyricism, it’s definitely clear from the production & flows. This is a good album.

Favorite Song: New Groove

Least Favorite Song: Birth of Time

Verdict:

B-