Never been much of a J. Cole fan, he always struck me as kinda...lame. But I've been enjoying "KOD" (the track) and "Motiv8" for a while now so I decided to give the album a spin, and it's not bad. It's overly portentous (those voiceovers about how the greatest drug of all.......is love = gag) and Cole is trying too hard to be Kendrick, but it's a pretty solid album - some other good cuts in addition to those mentioned ("ATM", "Brackets", "Friends") and overall just a nice, pleasant listen. That's how I'd characterize it - pleasant. If a little goofy.
DOPE re-ish of Midori Takada's 1981 debut album as MKWAJU Ensemble - you may recall last year WRWTFWW released Takada's Through the Looking Glass LP, but this one's even better - a wild mix of Japanese ambient and African rhythms played on marimba, vibraphone, synthesizer and percussion. RIYL Terry Riley or Tubular Bells, or even more new age-y weirdness like Vangelis, but these rhythms are so wild I wouldn't bat a lash at all if you told me the Animal Collective bros stayed up nights listening to these. Check out "Angwora Steps", totally out of pocket. "Hot Air" is a spacious breather, the other tracks pile up the rhythms in slowly-shifting crescendos...crazy stuff.

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