NOTE: PATREON SUPPORTERS RECEIVED ACCESS TO THIS REVIEW ON AUGUST 30TH, 2024.

This album was released on August 30th this year. I think I’ve been following Sasco for a while on social media, but I hadn’t heard any of his music until I checked out a single from this latest album here. I was really blown away by what I heard, so this instantly became one of my more anticipated records of the year. I still don’t really know much about Sasco to be completely honest. I just know he’s a producer from the United States. I couldn’t tell you which state. The shockingly high quality of the single I heard was all I needed to be interested enough to check this out as soon as I had the chance though. The star-studded feature list was also very enticing. This definitely ended up being one of the coolest releases of the year for me. I had a feeling I would want to do a review for it, and by the time I finished the album I knew I had to tell y’all about it.

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The album begins with a highlight called Doubles featuring Big Flowers. I really love the chill, serene production here, and Big Flowers sounds really great over it. They killed this shit. When I realized the title of this track was referring to the Trini food known as doubles, I got pretty excited. It’s bittersweet though because now I’ve been jonesing for doubles ever since I heard this.

Trouble or not
I'm at a doubles spot lookin' for a couple more reasons to keep goin'

The atmospheric production along with Big Flowers’ stellar vocal performance really makes this one of my favorite songs on the project. It’s hard for me to understand a lot of the lyrics, but it just sounds really goddamn cool, and the lyrics I can make out always stand out in a really cool way. The song’s dope as hell. Track 2 is another major highlight called Cacti, and it features Rap Man Gavin. This shit is fucking incredible. The jazzy, dynamic production along with Gavin’s impeccable flow, top tier vocal delivery, and spectacular writing make this one of my favorite songs of the year.

I feed those curious minds misinformation regarding the galactic free-throw line
Fee-fi-fo humming in the iris of the giant's eye
Watching impending violence arrive in the mind's quiet time
It goes, "why, why, why?"

He absolutely snapped on this shit. The production is cool as fuck too. Like I said, it’s very dynamic. It has shifting tones and patterns to keep things from getting stale. I really love the way it ends in particular. The song’s dope as fuck. Track 3 is the first instrumental track called Overshoot. This song in particular is one of my favorite instrumentals on the project. It’s very melodic and kind of watery-sounding to me. I feel like Water[s] era Mick Jenkins would’ve fit over this beat perfectly. It has kind of an Electronic sound to it. I could definitely imagine Flying Lotus using similar sounds in his music. It sounds like a rainforest in the form of music. I really love it. The following track is yet another highlight called Leaks, and this one features Hester Valentine.

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He’s really grown on me a ton since I first became aware of his music. I haven’t heard every single thing he’s put out, but every time I check something out I like it more than the last thing I checked out. It seems like he’s just constantly improving rapidly. I think the song Lebron Meme is my favorite track I’ve heard from him so far. Check that out if you haven’t heard it yet. Anyway, this song here is phenomenal. I really love Hester over this kind of dark, Electronic beat. The instrumental makes me think of the Money Pit stage from Soul Calibur 2 for some reason. Well, the first half at least. The second half is a lot brighter and more uplifting-sounding. I love both parts of the instrumental, and I’m really glad Hester spit a verse over each one. He killed this shit.

black make the stick sing like Dua Lipa, the oohs and ahs, a sweeper
Who at odds with the god?
I mark success by rolled eyes and balled fists, I'm a petty preacher
Hester a devil when the levels rise, electrified through your home speaker
I give y'all the source with no issue, who really competin'?
Einstein said insanity's checking the numbers on streamers

That shit is so fuckin’ hard, man. Gotdamn. The whole track is boiling hot fire. It honestly grew on me even more after multiple listens. I think it’s dope as fuck. Track 5 is another instrumental called Paralysis. I really fuck with this one too. It grew on me a lot with multiple listens. The bassline is what really sold me on this track. I also really love how this song evolves over its three minute runtime. The song feels like it’s divided into multiple sections, but they all fit together sonically. It’s another really chill, melodic beat that I really fuck with. It segues really smoothly into Make Yourself Useful!, which is the single I was referring to in the preamble to this review.

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Joshua Virtue absolutely slaughtered this track, man. They went so crazy on this shit. This is easily one of the best songs of the year. Everything about Joshua Virtue’s performance here gets a chef’s kiss from me.

I- I- I got too much dope shit going on today to masturbate
I got whack rappers to taxiderm, put you in a plexiglass case
I gotta start a GoFundMe to help the homie cut his tits off like Christina Applegate
That hot date Saturday might have to wait
It's a tricky flip, slipped up fiddlesticks, you ain't slick
Might have to dunk your 97's in a rain puddle to remind y'all moneys fake
Y'all rap game watergate ass, go jump in a lake, to slip in a grate
Go destabilize your molecular weight and add a couple nutrients to the clay

I am planning on revisiting RAMA before checking out the latest project from them, so I’m looking forward to that. The second verse from shemar was excellent as well. I love how the production evolves for his part of the song.

At any moment all that unlearning, factory reset, I'm back to square one
Thighs in the palm of my hand, I'm back to square one
Extremes not clandestine, tongue slips, I'm back to square one
Oscillate between absurd, observatory plain-speak
Exchange good sleep, bad dreams, equilibrium

The song transitions very nicely into the following track, Frostbite, which is a pretty cool instrumental. I think it starts off slow, and it never really fully captures my attention. It kinda feels more like an atmospheric interlude that’s meant to be played in the background. I kinda like it, but I’m not really sure that it’s something I’d ever have the desire to play again, ya know? With that said, it fits in pretty well with the rest of the album, and removing it makes the listening experience a little janky. Track 8 is called 38 Summers, and it features SKECH185. This shit is pretty dang incredible. The beat on its own wouldn’t be that interesting to me, but when SKECH185’s explosive performance is thrown into the mix it really shines in my opinion. SKECH185 just sounds really great over this one. The verse is spectacular, and the hook / outro is really awesome as well.

I got my time, I got my place
I got my camp, I got my Raid
I paid respects, I got my props
Be mindful when in my face
In other words, I did what I was supposed to
In other words, I always showed respect
In other words, don't try sonning me
In other words, you're gonna have to deal with the results
I got my time, I got my place
I got my camp, I got my Raid
I paid respects, I got my props
Be mindful when in my face
In other words, it's always love
In other words, until you come outta pocket
In other words, we're grown men
In other words, I shouldn't have to say "stop it"

The more I listen to the song, the more the instrumental grows on me. I think the track is dope as hell. It’s followed by another instrumental track called Intransitive, and this beat is actually pretty goddamn great. It’s really cool. It sounds slightly Hudson Mohawke-esque to me. I say that as someone who has really only heard the work with Pusha T though. Certain sounds also made me think of Shlohmo a little bit. The whole track is just under two and a half minutes long, but there are so many parts to it that it feels even longer and more complete. The way it switches up after about 50 seconds also kinda gave me some Vale-Smith vibes. The song’s really dope. It’s followed by another instrumental called Corrosion. This one has a pretty different vibe from that of the preceding track. I like this one even more to be honest. The percussion feels much more hard-hitting. The beat just feels a bit heavier, while somehow maintaining that same ethereal atmosphere that was present on the preceding track. This shit is dope as hell. It transitions really smoothly into track 11, which is called, Lost Cause Champion, and features Cousin Oven & miles cooke. I was not familiar with Cousin Oven at all prior to hearing this project, and I’m still not totally sure what they do. I’m guessing that’s them speaking at the end of the track. If not, then I suppose they probably helped with the instrumental in some way. Anyway, the first half of this song is a really cool instrumental stretch that reminds me of Rosy Timms’ interludes on Tetsuo & Youth. It also kinda reminds me of the beat to Life by Lute. I love how sunny it sounds. The second half of this song is just as, if not more fire. The production gets a lot more chaotic, and miles cooke absolutely slaughters this shit. I can’t wait to hear more shit from him in the future. I hope it’s sooner rather than later.

Pulled the plug that kept the system operatin'
Lost cause champion came to clarify the cadence
Sacrificial lambs waiting for a haven in the house of the enemy
Lupus brought a great awakening
Made a wrong turn on the way to Paris—what's that thing about the old days?
Cracked another cold one in the backdraft, they start appearing out of nowhere
I threw an Etta James record on, blacked out, I don't even know what the fuck happened

It’s not only the writing, but also just miles cooke’s flow and delivery. His unique voice stands out a lot, so he just sounds really good here to me. The song’s actually one of my favorites on the record to be honest. I think it’s dope as fuck. Track 12 is called Time Immemorial, and it features Burnin’ Macaw & baegull. This was my first time hearing music from either of these artists. I know I’d seen baegull’s name floating around social media for a while, but I don’t think I’d ever heard of Burnin’ Macaw before. Anyway, the production on this track is pretty amazing to me. I absolutely love the percussion loop here, and the soft melody that eventually comes in sounds really sweet and warm. The last part of the song is significantly darker and more aggressive, and it has kind of an antithetical tone to that of the first part sonically. In a cool way though. Not a bad way. Anyway, the rapping on this song grew on me a lot. I always liked it, but now, after taking some time to digest it, I love it. I think it took some time for the vocals to grow on me. Whoever that is on the second verse stood out as sounding better on the mic to me at first, but now I think they both sound really great. I also think both of their flows sound really nice over this beat. The song grew on me a lot. I think it’s dope as hell. Track 13 is called Avoidance. Once again, I kinda got Vale-Smith vibes here. The fast-paced percussion along with the bright, melodic tones just make it sound like it’s in the same family tree, ya know? This is definitely one of the most Electronic-sounding songs on the project. The percussion is the main aspect of it that stands out to me in all honesty. I know I fuck with this track, but to a fluctuating extent. I think maybe it could’ve been pared by about 30 seconds. There are a few moments after about one minute where my attention is briefly lost. Thankfully it’s always recaptured eventually. Overall, I think it’s a very good song. The penultimate track is called Cave Painting, and it features Sunmundi, Big Flowers, and Nakama. This is the last song on the album with any features, and it’s amazing. Sunmundi is so fucking good, man. This dude is special. As soon as he started spitting I was hooked.

No more hypotheticals
I'm in the corner of my mind's eye lookin' for the right formula to balance out these chemicals
The OG wrong turn was finding out the first apple was edible
Even when I'm tired the aim of my eyes is like reticles

This might be the best song on the album lowkey. Everyone here went crazy. Big Flowers sounds so good on that second verse. I love the way the production evolves during their performance.

You know it pays to be patient
Flattering times when you stainin' the matrix
Remainin' elated as much as I'm jaded
Conflating your worth with the wait of the world
I note it, but I hate it
Wish I could just see you outside in the broad daylight
We so full of ancient
Cave painting

In a recent entry of my Patreon-exclusive Listening Log series, I said that Nakama.’s off-kilter flow was hindering the music’s replay value for me on the KINDLING_ EP. That is not an issue at all here though. In fact, I actually would say that Nakama. has the most accessible flow on this entire song. It’s really catchy. I’m looking forward to checking out the LP from earlier this year that Nakama. released. I’ll be listening to that soon. Anyway, as I said, this is one of the best songs on the album to me. I think it’s dope as fuck. The closing track is called In Vain, and it’s pretty dope. I think it works really well as an outro for the album. With all that said, I wouldn’t consider it a highlight at all. If the album was sequenced differently, I don’t think this song would stand out as much as it does. This album isn’t sequenced differently though, so I’m not gonna criticize the project for doing that well. It’s a dope outro.

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^{This album is dope as hell. It’s perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the year for me to be honest. Again, I didn’t really know anything about Sasco, and I still don’t. This artist was not on my radar at all, so the fact that this ended up being one of the best albums I’ve heard all year is really awesome. I think if I had to compare it to another album that has come out in the last five years, I would say it’s adjacent to Steel Tipped Dove’s Call Me When You’re Outside project. It’s not really the same, but the consistently atmospheric production along with the heavy-hitting underground features peppered throughout the tracklist kinda scratches a similar itch. Speaking of the features, I don’t know what the process of collaborating with these artists was like, but whatever Sasco told them to do worked really well because every single one of them came through with a stellar performance. I’d probably point to multiple moments on this project when people ask me about the best features of the year. The dynamic production is genuinely entertaining too, and that’s perhaps the most important factor in this project. There’s not a single wack or mediocre beat. This shit is fire. Check it out, and let me know what you think in the comments below. I think it’s exceptional.}

Favorite Song: Cave Painting
Least Favorite Song: Frostbite

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