[Review] Logic - Vinyl Days (album)
Logic has gone through a lot of up and downs throughout his career with a lot of his recent work being ill-regarded. Fortunately he seems to have re-found his stride. Logic hopped back onto my radar when he first dropped “Vinyl Days” a few weeks ago in anticipation of the release of this album. Chatting with some friends of mine who have been long-time fans, we all agreed he sounded a lot like his earlier self. Following up that release, he dropped “Breath Control” featuring Wiz Khalifa which got me all in on my hype for this album.
Perhaps the most notable thing about this album is its length. Clocking in at staggering 30 songs, it's definitely one of the longest albums I’ve listened to. Although the production remains strong, I still think it would have benefit from being shorter. The length makes difficult to digest as one piece. There is a copious amount of filler in the form of interludes that I find detract from the listenability of the album. I almost always find myself skipping these, and the sheer amount of them in this album makes the listening experience require a lot of microing. This could be more of a subjective critique as some people might enjoy them, but for me one of the biggest factors that I use for gauging the quality of an album overall is the ability for me to “set and forget” it as I listen through.
I found that this album lacked a bit of continuity as a whole which I think is partially caused by all of the filler. Some albums like Mac Miller’s “Swimming” are meant to be listened to from start to finish where each song was designed to lead into the next as the entire album was crafted as a singular piece. This album doesn't match that level of listenability for me.
Fortunately, there are quite a few songs that stand strong independently on this album. As I mentioned above, “Vinyl Days“, and “Breath Control” immediately made the rounds onto my playlist. “Introducing Nezi” was one of the surprising highlights. That girl has mad talent. If she can match the same quality with her other work, she will easily become one of my favourite artists. She reminds me a lot of early Wayne.
Overall this album is a treat for fans of old school hip-hop. It’s easily one of the better releases for this style of hip-hop this year.
Favourite songs:
- “Vinyl Days”
- The feature song on the album. Premier killed the production as always. Logic goes HARD for like 4 minutes straight.
- “Breath Control”
- Nice to hear from Wiz. Logic absolutely kills this one. Very chill beat.
- "Porta one"
- Probably my favourite verse from Logic on the album. The “Bring Da Ruckus” sample was dope.
- “Clouds”
- Very smooth sound with strong features.
- “Introducing Nezi”
- Never heard this girl before but damn, she immediately hit my radar after hearing this. Might be the hardest verse on the album. Sounds like early Wayne.
Verdict: (7.5/10)