Don’t sleep on this latest album from Matt Martians. It was released on April 26th this year. I was looking forward to this album because I really liked Matt Martians’ first solo album that he dropped back in 2017. I was hoping that this was gonna be even better than that one when I saw the tracklist. Even though I enjoyed the hell out of his previous album, it was a bit all over the place. It was good to see him put out a more concise record this time around. It starts off with Out the Game, which is a pretty enjoyable song. Matt Martians is definitely a producer first; nobody’s really gonna be impressed by his singing. His vocals are passable. I wasn’t blown away by the intro, but I liked it. I didn’t really care for the first song on The Drum Chord Theory, so this was a better start in my opinion. If you’re familiar with Matt Martians’ work, you should know what to expect sonically. The production on the first track sounds like some of the more chill beats that a Wolf-era Tyler the Creator would make. That could be said about most of Matt’s beats though. I liked the second track a lot more. The production’s really good, and I loved the melody Matt was singing. Another really good comparison is Lance SkiiiWalker now that I think about it. I don’t think Matt’s production is quite as varied as that of Lance, but a lot of their songs are similarly structured. There are a lot of random, unexpected switch ups. A lot of the tracks feel like two short songs jammed together. Lyrically, the first part of Knock Knock is pretty much about a girl who’s very distant mentally.

Knock knock, is she home?
Mental whereabouts are unknown
No one upstairs in her home
Don’t care what she says, don’t make no sense

The second half of the song is pretty weird lyrically. He’s basically singing to a girl about how he loves her because she doesn’t judge his shoes. I like the first part of the song more, but the second half is solid too. It’s a dope song overall. It’s followed by Movin’ On, which was produced by Steve Lacy. This was definitely my favorite track up to this point on the album. I really liked the production and melody, and I even liked the lyrics about moving on from a relationship a lot too.

You left me for dead
But it didn’t kill me
Why didn’t you stay?
You shot through my heart

The writing is very simple, but it resonates. Matt isn’t really an artist who I come to for lyrics. Usually the lyrics go in one ear and out the other. This track was dope though.

It was a waste of time, but at the time was worth it
Had to let her go and now my life is worth it

The way the song switched up for the outro was cool too. The following track, Off My Feet / Westside Rider Anthem, is co-produced by Patrick Paige II & Christopher Smith. This is another really good song. The first part has more really good production, and I actually think this song has some of the best singing on the album. I love the melody. The album really gets better and better as it progresses in my opinion. Lyrically, Off My Feet is just a simple love song. It’s great though. Unfortunately the second half isn’t nearly as entertaining to me. I still like it a lot though. The production is a little rougher. I really like the percussion from Christopher Smith, and the bass from Patrick Paige II sounds cool too. I like the instrumental on this part of the song. It’s just not that impressive vocally. Overall I definitely really like the song though. The next track features Steve Lacy, and is actually co-produced by him and Mac DeMarco. I really like the upbeat instrumental on the first half of the song a lot. The melody of the verses is really nice, and I like the hook a lot too. It’s repetitive, but catchy. The second verse from Steve Lacy is really nice. Mac DeMarco’s presence is far more apparent on the second part of the song. It doesn’t just sound like a Mac DeMarco song though. It’s not like what happened on Logic’s Supermarket album. This part of the song is smooth as hell. Overall, it’s definitely a standout track for me. I was really excited to hear the following song because it’s a sequel to one of my favorite tracks on The Drum Chord Theory, Southern Isolation. As soon as it started, I loved it. The production is really awesome, and Matt’s light singing sounds great. The switch up happens after about 70 seconds, and it’s really nice. Matt repeats the same “wasting time” lyrics that were present on the original song. The production on this part of the song is really jazzy. It’s one of the jazziest beats on the album. I think the original Southern Isolation was better, but I still loved this one. I was also super excited to hear the next track, Look Like, because it features Daisy. I loved her Have a Snack EP that came out last year, so it was great to see her here. This is definitely one of the best songs on the album. Her vocals sound glorious on this song. She doesn’t overdo it though. It doesn’t feel like she overshadowed Matt on his own song. She was the perfect compliment to him here. The production on the first half of the song was already really good, but once that shit switches up BOIIIIIII. That beat is magnificent. I kinda wish Daisy contributed to this part of the song, but it’s still really great even without her. I think that song is dope af. The final song isn’t really a standout track for me, but I still enjoyed it a lot. The production is solid, and the melody is repetitive, yet catchy. The way it switches up for the final 40 seconds is cool too. It’s a dope song. Overall, I definitely think this is a step up from The Drum Chord Theory. That project had higher highs in my opinion, but this one is far more consistent. There isn’t a single track that I didn’t like. This album isn’t gonna blow anyone away or make it onto any year-end lists. I think it’s great though. People might not like it as much as I did, but I think it’s worth checking out. It’s dope.

Favorite Song: Look Like
Least Favorite Song: Out the Game

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