Palm Trees & Neon Lights

It’s truly been a minute since I last covered this MC. I remember how different the first album I covered was and how it stood on it’s own and I had to assume that this one was going to follow the same direction of ‘uniqueness’ as the previous and with that speculation in mind let’s talk about it! This is the brand new album by MC Dr Lekta and Producer Br00tal Productions and it features the likes of -Mademelo -Tha Krimzun Chin -Boldy James -Prefects And I’ll be honest, this album threw me for a spin! I can’t say I was expecting a certain sound or aesthic but this one feels as left field as you can possibly get it. I remember with the other one I said it felt like a new refreshing lane of ‘UK Drill’ but on this one it feels like a completely new experimental beast that stands in it’s own atmosphere that I haven’t heard before! My initial reaction actually brings me back to when I listened to the Boldy James album ‘Manager On McNichols’ i remember the ‘holy fuck, what is this sound?’ Right after he dropped his classic ‘The Price Of Tea In China’ and I feel this is exactly the same scenario! After Lekta dropped that banger former album and now I’m here going ‘Yo, what is this?’ And that isn’t to say it’s a bad experience but more of a surprised notion! The production aspect is interesting. On the first listen I’ll be honest I didn’t understand and didn’t enjoy the consistent tweaking distorted chords that seemed to run through each track or more specifically throughout the album but the more I spent with the album on replays I started to understand it’s placement in the sonic narrative of the record and my negativity towards the chords went down but it definitely hits you in the face on the first play through! If I had to describe the influences I’d put it down as synth wave lo fi on steroids! There’s a lot of overbearing elements from the above mentioned high pitch chords as well as regular usage of shimmering electronic keys and free lance drums! What’s truly remarkable is that even though most tracks have the same layers and instrumentation each song sounds different and has it’s own feel and distinct feel! Which is quite impressive! The more I sit there with my $500 headphones and listen and absorb the music and the production the more I feel a sense of dystopian dynamics at play! Like a twisted Cyberpunk soundtrack at work? I can’t confirm that’s what the theme is but it’s the only explanation I can think of for the Bizzare and Wild instrumental choices! An electric world that shares the room with some underground hip hop! This producer is definitely a creative mind and he helped orchestrate this unprecedented and unpredictable world that doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason (until you let yourself be fully immersed by it!) When we discuss the actual rhyming of the album we come back to Dr Lekta who still does in a lot of ways perform his trademark ‘Drill’ style but also to the contrary doesn’t! It’s sort of a conflict of worlds in the performance area of the album. On some parts he’s introducing a more methodical, grand and intentional approach where every single word feels heavy and important! A sense of smooth rhythm and harmony! On other moments we hear him going back to his lyrical bread basket, we hear the return of his grimy slang, his brash tones and noticeable ‘Drill’ linguistics that you can’t help but bop your head to! It’s actually the most entertaining (in my opinion) part to observe because it sounds like we are listening to an evolution cycle happening in real time! Like if you could slow down time and actually see what happens during a pokemon transformation scene in the games this is what this felt like! Lekta trying this and that, adjusting his flows, his cadences, seeing what works and what doesn’t and that level of confidence and effort and self reflection I feel is so rare these days, people are afraid of change and are so concerned over a few bad criticisms that they’d rather go stale then try and get creative! So shoutout the Lekta on that aspect! The features on this album go surprisingly hard when you consider the atmosphere surrounding them. Each man brings their own strengths and abilities to the table to help make each track they are on feel special! The one name I wasn’t surprised to have a good run is Boldy mainly based on the album I mentioned earlier and how he was able to utilise his own experiential project so I knew he’d rock this one and he knocked it out the park! For 9 tracks and 22 minutes this one feels like a self reflective fever dream. It’s unlike anything you’ve heard before with performances in styles and ways we’ve never heard before! There’s a first for everything and this one is guaranteed to stick in your head long after you’ve heard it!