Album: Feet of Clay
Artist: Earl Sweatshirt
Record Labels: Ten Cressida, Columbia Records
Recommended tracks: EL TORO COMBO MEAL, 4N (feat Mach-Hommy)
Earl Sweatshirt is an American rapper and record producer hailing from Los Angeles, California. He has risen to prominence since the debut of his first mixtape, Earl in 2010. Feet of Clay was released on November 1st, 2019. The album is short in length, with most of the tracks being only around 1-2 minutes in length. It is an interesting album with many twists and turns but provides an overall enjoyable journey. If you are in a relaxed, lackadaisical mood and looking for an album with strong instrumentals to help kick back, I would highly recommend this album.
EL TORO COMBO MEAL is a track that starts off with a strong hook that immediately draws the listener into the song. The strong piano and drums come through at the top of the track, and Earl’s voice sounds like it’s coming down from a higher dimension and lays itself all over the bass. A straight symphony is produced, and what comes from that can only be described as an almost out-of-body experience that runs through your bones. It is a track that will mellow you out, and the suspended sense the track gives you will make you tempted to keep hitting the replay button again, and again, and again. The track is not just a great experience, but a perfect example of Earl’s natural rhythmic verse as well as the strong beats that often accompany his tracks.
The beginning of the track 4N has a strong techno overtone that perks up the ear. The bass gets deeper and slower, taking up a larger part of the song. The rest of the track feels like you’re listening to a track in reverse, with the sounds of rewinding constantly in the background. The slow baritone quality of this track makes the verses flow like molasses and gives the listener the feeling they’re slowly sinking into the seat they’re sitting in. This track plays with the quality and feel of quicksand, slowly and strongly dragging you down deeper and deeper into the beat. This is another track that is great to listen to not just for the catchiness of the track but the experience it provides in listening to it. If you are looking to mellow out or to enhance the feeling of your chilling out, this is a great song to add to a relaxation or even study time playlist.
Feet of Clay is a dope, easy-going album with a variety of strong tracks with awesome verses and strong instrumentals. It is an album to listen to if you are either relaxed or trying to get relaxed. It could be very well enjoyed by yourself as a personal experience, or with other people in a group setting. It is for these reasons that I give Earl Sweatshirt’s album, Feet of Clay, an impressive 4.5 out of 5. If you’re down for a laid back, dope experience and/or a fan of Tyler, the creator, Kanye, or Vince Staples, give this album a listen.
