Review Summary: KAYTRANADA. NEARLY. TIMELESS.
In the five years since producer/dj/rapper KAYTRANADA released
Bubba, public opinion of the sophomore response to the daring and eclectic
99.9% remains insistent that it was a bit of a slump. While
fine, at least for fulfilling the functional demand of ‘does it make me wiggle my butt?’, it's remained damn hard to shake the impression that trading the psychedelic beats, funkadelic sampling and confident identity of
99.9% for a dulled, superficial rendition of
99.9%’s deep house/instrumental hip-hop stylings and an overdependence on features was a massive loss for KAYTRA's musical identity as a whole. With 2023’s collaboration with rapper Amine largely flopping – despite Pitchfork’s uninhibited endorsement that ‘
Kaytramine is a soundtrack for the young, dumb, and full of cum’ –,
Timeless feels the full weight of KAYTRA’s identity, past and future, and that crushing question: what will KAYTRANADA amount to?
Fitting then that from its first moments,
Timeless leaps to assert itself as the keystone of KAYTRA’s discography. Where
Bubba began the return to KAYTRA’s house roots,
Timeless delves even further into deep house and R&B in search of sublime atmosphere and soul rocking grooves.
Timeless serves its club aspirations foremost by crafting complete, rocking songs in a disparate variety of moods, yet, unlike most albums composed of singles, KAYTRA paid close attention to how
Timeless listens as an album. By structuring
Timeless specifically to highlight the dynamic differences between chiller instrumentals and high-tension songs, the listener ebbs and flows through an unseemly variety of moods without a thought of whiplash or discomfort. The centerpiece of
Timeless, the high-tempo hip-hop offering “Drip Sweat”, perfectly exemplifies this: the smooth descent from “Still” through “Seemingly” only to arrive at the Everest of
Timeless leaves the listener in a gentle expanse and places a mountain in front of them. Even if rarely,
Timeless regains
99%'s ability to leave you in awe.
Further examples of
Timeless’ dynamic mood include the opening climb from “Pressure” into the sensual banger “Call U Up”; the breath in to Anderson Paak’s feature on “Do 2 Me” that lets out the spectacular “Lover/Friend”; and, of course, the final four songs, a brilliant run beginning with a sardonic Thundercat feature that leads into the best song on the album, “Snap My Finger” featuring PinkPantheress. Utterly sublime in every sense, even a stinky metalhead could get laid by strategically placing “Snap My Finger” in their date playlist – I know
I’d go inside. The final release of “Stuntin” and “Out Of Luck” only continues the high, the former driven by a languid Channel Tres feature and the latter by the best beat on the album, hammering home the resounding sense of satisfaction that comes from listening to
Timeless in full. The production throughout is incredibly subtle; complex yet detailed with an overt simplicity made for dancing to and bolstered to reward multiple listens. While the length is a little noticeable, KAYTRANADA has responded magnificently to
Bubba. Frankly, the more time spent with
Timeless, the more I begin to feel opener
Pressure’s mantra: “KAYTRANADA. CLASSIC. TIMELESS.” Wait, what was that? He put ‘CLASSIC’ before ‘TIMELESS’?
*turns to consult the board*
Ahem.
KAYTRANADA’s third album,
Timeless, is not that, but it is an excellent deep-house/R&B/instrumental hip-hop album that coalesces a wide variety of styles and an hour runtime into a hyper-coherent, enjoyable listen. Yet, it misses the most open and fitting opportunity for a pun that has ever existed; a pun that could have taken this to classic status on release. Timeless? Not quite.
