This album was released on August 4th this year. This is the second entry in Ceschi‘s latest album trilogy, and his second album of 2019. Typically when an artist releases more than one album in a single year, each project is worse than the one it follows. However, Ceschi doesn’t seem like the kind of artist who would rush a project or put something out that he wasn’t confident in, so I think I’m gonna really love this project, especially since he already released one of my favorite albums of the year back in April. I don’t think it’ll be better than Sad, Fat Luck, but I’ll be absolutely shocked if I end up thinking it’s trash. I think this shit is gonna be great. I’m not 100% positive about this, but I’m pretty sure every song is produced by Factor Chandelier. If I’m wrong I’d appreciate it if someone could send me the actual production credits.
To my surprise, I legitimately ended up thinking that this album is just as good as Sad, Fat Luck. I don’t even know which one I prefer yet. I haven’t decided. This shit is amazing though. There’s not a single song that I don’t like on this project, so I’ll talk about everything in the proper order of the tracklist. It starts off with nonchalant, which might actually be my favorite song on the album. I don’t know. I haven’t selected a favorite track yet. I think the beat is amazing, even though it’s admittedly simplistic upon further inspection. It’s really just the rough sounding percussion that I love so much. It sounds like the song was recorded in a garage. Ceschi killed that first verse too. I love how he called Death Grips overrated. That shit was funny. The content about the racism he’s experienced is appreciated too. The verse is incredible honestly. He slaughtered this shit. It’s a hell of an intro. I don’t think he could’ve started this album off any better. It’s amazing. It was cool to hear Mestizo say R.I.P. to a bunch of different people like Alias & Cadalack Ron. As soon as I heard this song I knew this album was gonna be special. It’s fucking awesome. The following track is just a quick interlude. I guess that’s one thing I should mention; this album has 21 tracks, but it’s still under 50 minutes because about half of them are less than 2 minutes in length. There are a lot of interludes that are under a minute long. The shit is fire though. I was concerned when I saw how many tracks there were, but my fears were assuaged when I looked at the lengths. Anyway, Sufjan Is Gonna Die is a really pleasant instrumental interlude. I love it. Track three is called Frank False’s Eulogy, and it’s exactly what the title implies. The rapped eulogy is such a brilliant idea, and I’m surprised that I haven’t heard something like this before now that I think about it. Ceschi’s probably not the first person to do it, but I can’t think of any other examples at the moment. Anyway, it’s fucking awesome lol. The beat is fantastic, and the first verse from Ceschi is stellar as well. The vocals on the hook are kinda strange. I think they’re performed by Ceschi, but the song also features contributions from Andy the Doorbum, so he might have had something to do with it. I may be wrong about that. I’m not familiar with Andy’s work, so I have no idea. The singing is just really high-pitched and breathy. I don’t know how to describe it. It sounds like something that’s probably common in Folk music & Darkwave stuff. I say this as someone who has very little experience in those two genres though. I like it even though it’s strange to me. It’s definitely good. The instrumental kinda reminds me of Tech N9ne & ¡MAYDAY!’s The Noose. I’m not as amazed by the song as I am by the opening track, but it’s still really fucking great. I think it’s dope af. The next song is called Old Graves, and I think it’s one of the weaker songs on the album, but it’s still pretty great. It’s pretty much just a straight up Folk song; there’s no rapping on this one. I don’t think Ceschi’s singing here is bad at all, but I can’t say I was really that impressed by it. I mean, I definitely like it. It’s very good. It’s just not a mind-blowing performance or anything. I think that’s Pat the Bunny speaking on the intro. I may be wrong about that. Even though this is my least favorite track on the album up to this point, it’s still very great. I love the instrumental. The trumpet contribution from Danny T. Levin is really fantastic. The outro from Sole is great too. I think it’s the best possible way he could’ve incorporated a feature from him. I’m still not really a fan of Sole, but he fits perfectly at the end of this song by doing that little Spoken Word eulogy. It’s dope as hell. The following track, Incesticide, was the most exciting song in the tracklist for obvious reasons, and it didn’t let me down one bit.
It took a lot out of me to avoid listening to it before hearing the full project. Open Mike Eagle is my favorite artist on the song, but I was most excited for Onry Ozzborn‘s feature. First of all, the production is boiling hot fiya. Factor Chandelier did a hell of a job with this beat, and the additional instrumentation from Danny T. Levin, Enver Hampton, Jane Boxall & Mo Niklz is just the icing on the cake. Mike’s verse was great, but he honestly ended up having my least favorite performance on the track. However, that’s just a testament to how great the song is because he still did a great job. P.O.S fucking killed that second verse, and I honestly think each verse is better than the one it follows. Onry Ozzborn sounded awesome on this shit. I love that dude, man. I really underrated that c v p ii d EP when I reviewed it a couple years ago. I still listen to it all the time. The content on this song about their younger days in the underground scene is really great. That slight jab at Kanye from P.O.S was great. I don’t know if I should call it a “jab.” It wasn’t really that disrespectful. With that said, Kanye’s dramatic ass would probably be very offended. Even with all the heavyweights on this track, I think Ceschi ended up having my favorite verse. It’s not like he completely stole the show, but he clearly wasn’t gonna let these guys steal his thunder on his own song. He murdered that final verse. My one tiny gripe is that the song ends pretty abruptly, but it’s not really a big deal. The shit is still fire. I love it. It’s definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album. The next track is called Britney, and it’s possibly my favorite interlude on the album. All the interludes on this thing are great, so I haven’t chosen a favorite one yet. I love Britney though. It’s basically a miniature Folk song. It doesn’t feel incomplete despite the brevity. I actually think it’s the perfect length; I might’ve gotten tired of it if it lasted any longer. I guess he probably would’ve added more instrumental elements to it in order to make it more hard hitting if it was longer. I don’t know. I’m not Ceschi. I think it’s perfect as it is though. It’s dope af. It’s followed by Ceschirito, which is one of the more unique tracks on the album. I wasn’t expecting anything like this on the album, although maybe I should have. It’s performed entirely in Spanish, so I have no idea what he’s saying. I don’t really mind that at all though because it sounds great. The Latin-inspired production is fire, and his flow and delivery are great. This shit is dope af. I love it. Cici Atlas is the following interlude, and I might actually like this one more than Britney to be honest. I love the deranged-sounding piano keys, and Ceschi’s uneasy vocals. It sounds kind of uh… I wanna say it sounds Horror inspired, but I don’t wanna mislead people who haven’t heard it into thinking it’s Horrorcore. There’s no rapping on the song, and the content isn’t in that same vein. It’s like… It reminds me of my time in the hospital at the beginning of 2018 for some reason. It just sounds like whoever was playing these instruments was going through some severe mental crises or something. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s fucking awesome though lol. Out of all the songs that I’ve heard this year that are under a minute long, this might be my favorite. If it’s not this, it’s one of the other interludes on this album. The following track, Christ on a Cross, is another one of my favorite tracks.
The song is actually pretty much just a reprise of my favorite track from Sad, Fat Luck, Say No More. That’s probably why I like it so much. The instrumental is superb, and Ceschi’s singing is really great. The song is just under 2 minutes long, but it’s perfect to me. I love it. It’s followed by Yoni’s Electrocardiographs, which is basically just Yoni Wolf‘s remix of the original song from Sad, Fat Luck. Ceschi spits a nearly identical verse to that of the original version, but the beat is completely different, and it’s honestly amazing. This is like Disney film level production quality. The verse is obviously still just as good as it was on the previous album, and I love the vocals at the end of the song. This track didn’t feel redundant to me at all. I love it. I can’t decide whether or not I like it more than the original version. They’re both amazing. I think the following song, 1988, might be my favorite track.
It’s performed by Anonymous Inc., which is a group containing Ceschi himself, his brother David Ramos, and Circadion, who I’m not really familiar with. They’ve released an album if I’m not mistaken, but I didn’t really look into it since it didn’t seem to be a Hip Hop record. I kinda feel dumb now though because this shit is amazing. It’s the poppiest song on the album, which normally wouldn’t really be a good thing for me, but it’s just so well done. I love the beat, and the vocals on the hook are fantastic. Ceschi has a really great falsetto voice. His cover of Downtown is actually one of my most played songs of the year. Even though he doesn’t rap on 1988 at all the shit is amazing. I love it. The next track is called Pepe on the Game. It’s an interlude in which some guy named Pepe who I’m not familiar with speaks about “the game.” It’s pretty much just a Spoken Word track, but the instrumental in the background is really nice. There’s a vocal filter that kinda distorts Pepe’s voice, but it’s still easy enough to understand what he’s saying. I’m not exactly sure what “the game” is supposed to be, but I interpreted it as the drug trade. He makes it clear that he’s talking about some very serious, dangerous shit. It’s a really cool track. The following song is called Animal Instinct, and it features David Ramos, Shoshin, and iCON the Mic King. The beat is pretty great, but it’s not one of my favorites on the album. The first verse from Ceschi is awesome, and David did a really good job too. The simplistic hook didn’t really add much to the song for me, but it certainly isn’t bad at all. Shoshin did his thing, but iCON kinda stole the show for me to be honest. He fucking slaughtered that shit. I specifically mentioned his verse to an acquaintance, who went on to call iCON the Mic King a bitch because of some alleged shady business practices related to his purchase of the UGHH blog. I’m not really familiar with all that stuff. I never frequented that website personally, and I only know who iCON is because of his work with Ceschi. If what I heard was true, that’s unfortunate. I don’t give a shit though because he murdered this track. This shit is really dope. It’s followed by my least favorite track, Joanna & Anna. This song is performed by Toca, which is a band containing everyone in Anonymous Inc., along with Xololanxinxo, Tommy V, and Danny T. Levin. The song also features an artist named Squalloscope. The intro to the song is weird as hell, but it’s pretty cool. Once the song really gets going the instrumental is very soft and pleasant. Nothing about the song really stands out that much and blows me away like with the others, but at the same time nothing about it bothers me at all. It’s just a good song. The outro from Squallosope is cool too. I have no idea who she is, but I enjoyed her contribution to the song. Stop & Smile is another one of my favorites. The dreamy beat is fucking gorgeous to me. I love the soft vocals on the song, and the words from Barfly are a really nice touch too. He’s so close to whatever he’s recording his voice with that there’s some feedback with certain words, but I prefer it that way. It adds kind of a cold, rough atmosphere to the song to me. It’s a really fucking pretty track. I love it. It’s followed by Red Emma, which is yet another one of my favorites.
The instrumental is fantastic, and Ceschi’s singing on this shit, man…
Are you better off without me there?
Have you started growing out your hair?
Does it feel quiet
Without me there?
It’s a super emotional sounding song; its the perfect addition to my depression playlist. I really appreciated that “fuck the police” line too. That shit caught me off guard. It was funny to me. I still have no idea why he said that honestly. The best thing about it is that he pronounces police as poe lease.
The song is perfect to me. Seeds of Revolution is the shortest interlude on the album if I’m not mistaken, and it has one of the coolest & weirdest instrumentals. It’s very dope. My Bad has some really amazing production too. The first verse from Ceschi is absolutely stellar, and I love the hook too. Unfortunately, the feature from Serengeti was slightly disappointing to me. I don’t think his performance is bad, but it’s just not really what I wanted. I was just hoping he’d play a bigger role in the song, although in hindsight I probably shouldn’t have expected that since almost all the other features are relegated to the eulogy outros. The Gregory Pepper feature was great though. That was really nice. The song’s amazing. Greatest Poem of 2019 is a pretty cool interlude, but not really a standout track for me personally. The outro from Mikal Khill was kinda humorous, but overall it’s one of the less interesting tracks on the project. Better Man / Girl Material ended up being one of my favorite tracks. The poem from Kaleigh O’Keefe at the beginning of the song is fucking amazing. I don’t wanna say it’s “moving” because that almost makes it seem like it’s sad, and I guess it is in a way, but it’s just very emotionally poignant. It doesn’t make me want to cry though. It’s just really… I don’t know. This was my reaction…
It’s weird that I feel proud of her without knowing who the fuck she is, especially since I never feel proud of other people even if we’re super close. Anyway, the final track is another highlight for me. The beat is really pretty, and Ceschi’s falsetto singing on this song is gorgeous. I’m not that familiar with Dream Pop, but I feel like this would fall under that subgenre. It reminds me of Julee Cruise’s work. It honestly feels like kind of an odd choice for an outro, but I think it’ll make more sense in the context of the full trilogy once the final album comes out. Even if it doesn’t, the song is still fire. I love it. 😀
This album is amazing. Again, to my surprise, this project ended up being just as good as the previous one in my opinion. I might even like this one more. I’m not quite sure yet. I’ll have to give it more thought once I’m putting together the list of my favorite 2019 albums. I’m really glad that Ceschi was somehow able to live up to the standard he set with Sad, Fat Luck for me though. I really was not expecting this to be anywhere near as good. There are a lot of different sounds on this project; he incorporates elements of Hip Hop & Folk, which he’s always done, but he also includes Darkwave, Dream Pop, and Latin influences. I honestly don’t see how anyone could say this is bad, at least from a technical standpoint. It’s entirely possible—although improbable—for someone to listen to this and just not be moved. I’m sure everyone would be able to recognize the top tier production quality though. I gotta give a shoutout to Factor once again because he really put his ass into these beats. Even if I didn’t speak English—or Spanish—I’d think this album just sounds fantastic. I have no consistent complaints. The running theme of the eulogy was really fucking cool, and well executed. One thing that I will mention is that this probably isn’t the best jumping in point. It probably wouldn’t feel right to hear this album without having heard Sad, Fat Luck first because this is a direct sequel. Songs like Yoni’s Electrocardiographs & Christ on a Cross are easier to appreciate when you know what the first album sounds like. I’ve seen some people say this is a better album, and I’ve also seen some say it’s worse, and I’m right in the middle. I can’t decide which one I prefer. I love both of them. This shit is dope af.
Favorite Song: 1988
Least Favorite Song: Joanna & Anna
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Watch the video below for more thoughts on this album.
