Tvdeath – Blxcktoxin
Tvdeath is an instrumental collagist. His works blend lo-fi, abstraction, ambient and plunderphnics, while also borderlining on noise and vaperwave. His latest album, Blxcktoxin, utilises recordings from as early as 2013. Despite how unique the recorded samples are, the album struggles to cultivate a personality of its own.
The influences are clear on Blxcktoxin. GoodMorning(its Midnight) and Time both rely heavily on early Odd Future’s pitch-manipulated vocals and stoner-influenced paranoia aesthetics. Dreaming sounds directly off a 2015 Earl Sweatshirt project. While the album rarely delves into cloud-rap, CLOUDDEAD’s eclectic sparse arrangements can easily be observed in tracks such as Parents. The final influence is as clear as day, especially on Movie; there’s MF Doom’s fingerprints all over the project. Resultingly, Blxcktoxin has very little sonically to offer on its own – while the samples are personalised, the arrangement of fragments is tiresome and mostly undeveloped.
There are some gorgeous atmospheres that would have seriously benefited from being expanded upon, such as the iridescent Rose(mother) and Haitian(father). At its best, the sample use is minimalistic, yet high-spirited. Unfortunately, the songs that are expanded upon, such as Recordings and Parents, offer very little variation and substance. Blxcktoxin’s greatest flaw, however, is the disappointingly short length of each song. Many of the ideas sound like experiments and are abandoned as soon as they develop. It’s apparent the limitation of song length is a result of the utilisation of real-life samples; however, the greater issue is the aesthetic that Tvdeath follows on Blxcktoxin; the format is restrictive and uninspired. Unlike the gracious Blake Braden’s The Most Beautiful Song I've Heard, much of Blxcktoxin masks the personal story beneath overused hip-hop conventions. Sadly, instead of being a personal journal of personal moments, much of the album lacks original structure and an original vision.
As a result, Blxcktoxin sounds like a collection of instrumental sections that tie together major song/segments in major release albums, as opposed to a full developed work itself. Had these instruments been utilised as pieces that tie together meatier tracks, they would have added some seriously profound flair to a greater record; unfortunately, they tend to dissolve into the background as muzak. While it’s clearly missing its own personality, there is quite an admirable amount of experimentation; if Tvdeath were to explore these ideas in future, he would benefit greatly from expanding upon his tracks. The samples are solid, just very poorly and blandly tied together.
Average
Listen to it here:
Tvdeath – Blxcktoxin
