In this episode, Matthew and Ricardo discuss the Season 3 premiere of the “Star Trek” animated comedy series “Lower Decks”, the bonus two-part episode of Netflix’s “The Sandman”, the folk horror “You Won’t Be Alone”, George Miller’s dark fantasy “Three Thousand Years of Longing”, B.J. Novak’s dark comedy “Vengeance” and the Sylvester Stallone-helmed superhero film “Samaritan”.
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In this episode, Matthew and Ricardo (FINALLY!!) celebrate the 35th anniversary of the sci-fi/action masterpiece “RoboCop”, in addition to talking about the third episode of the sci-fi miniseries “Vaser Claw”, the first season of MCU’s “I Am Groot”, the series premiere of MCU’s “She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law”, the horror thriller “Orphan: First Kill” and the video-game-to-anime series “Tekken: Bloodline”.
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“Nowhere to Go but Up” is the newest project from New Jersey rapper Jerome Carter (a.k.a. J-Carter). I was introduced to his music last year when I was requested by Carter himself to review his album “Hip-Hop ‘Til I Die”. Not only was the album title not finalized back then, but it also contained a whopping 29 tracks – which has since been updated to 48. But what caught my eye was the alphabetical order of the tracks sent to me for review, which I MISTAKENLY thought was erroneous album sequencing on J-Carter’s end.
With “Nowhere to Go but Up”, I was treated to basically the same thing: 26 tracks (out of the 38, at the time of me writing this, promised for the official release) listed in alphabetical order. Feeling a bit of déjà vu, I jumped right into this new album. To my surprise, I realized while listening to the album that the alphabetical track listing WASN’T an error at all. It was actually well-intentioned!
In all my years of listening to albums, I’ve rarely come across one where the album sequencing was intentionally in alphabetical order. And upon looking at the tracklists for J-Carter’s previous albums (2018’s “I’m Still Here”, 2019’s “Take Hip-Hop Back” and the aforementioned “Hip-Hop ‘Til I Die”), I’ve realized that this is something he’s been doing for a while now. That aspect alone puts J-Carter – using the album cover for “Take Hip-Hop Back” as inspiration for this all-too common phrase – in a league of his own. And I must say: that is some truly, TRULY AMAZING foresight going into a record!
But enough about the alphabet, tracklists and other shit people with access to music streaming sites don’t even care about! How was “Nowhere to Go but Up”? Well, I’ll start off by saying that the title is very self-explanatory, since the album itself is a considerable step-up from J-Carter’s last record in terms of lyricism (his pen game shines throughout, by the way), themes, beat selection, guest features and most importantly, cohesion.
Now, of course, lengthy, over-packed albums are always going to be a listening challenge for avid music consumers, even in the streaming age (look at most Deluxe Versions released over the past few years, for example). However, I’ll make the argument that as long as the content is engaging, entertaining and enjoyable enough, time shouldn’t be that major of an issue. And thankfully, the same can be said about “Nowhere to Go but Up”.
If there’s one moment which sums up the entire album, it’s guest rapper Bindi’s hook to the track “All This Hotness” when she spits “All you critics, y’all can get it / Any style, you know he spits it”. And that’s essentially what we get on “Nowhere to Go but Up”: versatility from beginning from end. “All This Hotness”, with its trap-flavored, string-assisted beat (which I can easily imagine a Chicago drill remix version being created from), is just one of a few aggressive tracks on the album. We also get the powerful, anti-gun violence anthem “Bust Dem Gunz” and the dark, murky “I’m Still A Killa 4”, a follow-up to one of the standout songs from “Hip Hop ‘Til I Die” – “Still A Killa 3”.
The production throughout keeps the album moving at a steady pace with some unexpected, ear-grabbing sampling and nostalgia-evoking moments. Take the irresistibly catchy (especially its hook) “Got that Beauty” which incorporates the bass riff used in the TIMELESS Digable Planets song “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” into a jazzy beat J-Carter uses to spit game to the woman of his desire. Or the similarly love-themed, chilled-out, R&B-vibe of “Eyes on You” whose guitar-driven beat and hook should remind 2000s hip hop fans of the EXCELLENT P Diddy track “I Need A Girl, Part 2”. And there’s J-Carter’s upbeat anthem for virtuous women “Person in You” which beautifully interpolates the prominent guitar melody to India Arie’s classic single “Video”.
Love is the strongest theme on “Nowhere to Go but Up”, as there are a number of songs focused on love, relationships, loss, heartbreak and regret. There are bright spots on the album, like the genuinely sweet “Love Beyond Words” (one I imagine will appeal to many couples) or the sunny, tropical house-influenced “For your Love New” and “Please Come Over”, the latter of which features a FANTASTIC duet on the hook. Additionally, there’s a couple of sultry cuts like the grown-and-sexy, foreplay-designed “Sexier than Ever” and the cautionary “Code Red” (another album single) where J-Carter tells this salacious story of a late-night creep and its particularly unexpected consequence.
On the flip side, we have songs like “Enough is Enough” (which features this ghostly, ‘90s R&B-inspired vocal sample in the background), where J-Carter and his significant other (on the track, that is) come to terms with their unstable relationship, and the aptly-titled “Love is Over”, a smooth, nocturnal joint where he accepts the fact that the relationship is indeed over.
There are also songs designed for introspection like “Keep Holding On”, a blues rock-driven encouragement to persevere through the bad times and “Lost Ones”, an emotionally moving dedication to deceased loved ones which, as someone who recently lost a family member, REALLY got to me. J-Carter gets a little personal as well with “One Drink Away” where he explores the use of alcohol as a coping mechanism, the self-deprecating / self-examining “So Many Regrets” (Madlib fans will quickly notice the “Wish You Were Mine” sample from The Manhattans, used on the Freddie Gibbs song “Shame”, integrated into the soulful beat provided on this track) and “Kill Myself” which, at first, sounds like a contemplation of suicide but is actually J-Carter’s way of admitting that he needs a much-needed spiritual restart.
Speaking of song titles that may throw people off the wrong way, we have the album single “Mask On”. And no, it’s not a pro-mask parody of Future’s “Mask Off”…..but it is an anti-mask song, encouraging listeners to take theirs off and “let it breathe”. When it comes to face masks, I’m neither pro nor anti. I understand its significance and personally, I try to keep mine on for as short a time period as possible. And while I have no intention of getting into a debate as to whether COVID-19 is life-threatening or not, or if face masks are the most effective way to avoid contracting the virus, I will say that everyone’s entitled to have their own opinion (PROVIDED IT’S WELL THOUGHT-OUT) on these concerns. So yes, “Mask On” will divide listeners – which I can safely assume is intentional – but I do applaud the effort put and courage shown by J-Carter to express his views on such a delicate matter.
Admittedly, the runtime of “Nowhere to Go but Up” is both its strength and weakness. Even though there’s a surprisingly high level of cohesion throughout this record with regards to lyrics, themes and production, the album’s length may lead to a track skip or two during subsequent listens. But there’s such a vast majority of well-written, performed and produced songs here, it’s hard to really find a dull or underwhelming moment worth skipping. J-Carter truly stepped things up with this project and, as implied by the title, the sky is far from the limit! In the meantime, if you’re yearning to hear potent lyricism over varied yet consistent production, by all means, give “Nowhere to Go but Up” a listen. Just don’t let the ‘layout’ of its tracklist fool you!
OVERALL RATING: 7 out of 10.
For my latest music-based Retrospect Review, I celebrate the 20th anniversary of Clipse’s major studio debut “Lord Willin'”, alongside rapper Randerson “Crash” Beckett and rapper/producer Doe Boi.
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In this episode of BBB RADIO, Matthew, Ricardo and Ashton review the Elvis Presley biopic “Elvis”, the Netflix docu-series “Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99”, Season 3 of Seth MacFarlane’s “The Orville”, the third and final season of the Netflix fantasy series “Locke & Key”, Season 3 of the Netflix animated fantasy series “DOTA: Dragon’s Blood”, the first halves of the second and third seasons respectively of Adult Swim’s “Primal” and HBO Max’s “Harley Quinn” and the Netflix-released vampire action comedy “Day Shift”.
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In this episode of BBB RADIO, Matthew, Ricardo and Ashton pay respect to the late, great Nichelle Nichols, David Warner and Paul Sorvino, and discuss the second episode of the Trinidadian sci-fi web series “Vaser Claw”, the Netflix-released South Korean action flick “Carter”, the action comedy “Bullet Train”, the unpromising future of DC film content following the shelving of “Batgirl”, the animated feature film “DC League of Super-Pets”, the HBO MAX documentary “Milestone Generations”, the first season of the long-awaited Netflix adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s classic comic-book series “The Sandman” and the brilliant “Predator” prequel “Prey”.
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“SportsNite/LateNite” is the sophomore instrumental album from Chicago producer and multi-instrumentalist C.W. Franz under the moniker SpaceCadet-16. His previous project “Important Ephemera” was a highly enjoyable, slightly tongue-in-cheek, vaporwave/post-vaporwave passageway constructed from the memories of 90s – 2000s TV commercials and Billboard Top 100 songs from the 80s. Similar to that project, “SportsNite/LateNite” is centered mostly on emotional recollection; recalling an aural or visual piece of media that left some sort of impact, however small it might be, on one’s psyche.
On this album, SpaceCadet-16 treats us to a short playlist of instrumentals inspired by late-night TV sports shows and general programming. And yet with every listen I give it, I get the sense of something dreamlike taking place throughout its concise runtime. It’s as if the TV screen is a portal, one in particular that only activates at night, with each channel offering its own kaleidoscopic display of images, sounds and moods.
Take the opening track “WORLD’S GREATEST BROADCAST”, the longest song on the EP, clocking in at 4 minutes. Admittedly, this one did take a while to grow on me due to the loop-like approach of its overall composition and its odd pairing of energetic, electric guitar-driven sports theme and dominant, euphoric keyboard passages. But within the dreamlike aesthetic of the album, I interpreted this song as an embodiment of the delight you feel in watching a live sports broadcast at home, whether you’re wide awake or fast asleep by the end of it. Bookending the track is an audio snippet of a jubilant sports announcer praising the victory of a certain competitor, which not only concludes the song on a genuinely pleasant note but adds a deeper meaning to the song’s title.
Speaking of home, we get the following track “THE HOME” whose spacey synths and curious keyboard chords sound like they were lifted from the musical score to some cult-favorite, 80s sci-fi movie. And while you listen to this track, you can picture a scene involving an extended tracking shot inside the “home” itself, concluding with the ominous reveal of a visually distorted local sports show (emphasized by the use of pitch-shifted vocals at this point) playing on a TV in a dark room. However, if the last thing you want on your mind is 80s sci-fi, you can also look at this track as a thematic extension of the previous one, where you can literally feel the nocturnal comfort and security the TV provides when it’s on.
Up next, we get “I WANNA SPREAD THE NEWS”, which continues SpaceCadet-16’s experimentation with slowed-and-reverb music. Like “YOU’LL FEEL THE DIFFERENCE”, the closing track off “Important Ephemera”, he takes a classic song – in this case, the late, great Bill Withers’ “Use Me” – slows it down and adds reverb. The end result is SHOCKINGLY good, and this is coming from someone who thought “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lovely Day” were the only two Bill Withers songs worth making slowed-and-reverb versions of. But what truly makes “I WANNA SPREAD THE NEWS” work is the re-interpretation of Bill’s lyrics. On the one hand, you can imagine someone at home, alone, stumbling onto this song on television (probably through a filmed performance or commercial) and, like Bill himself, thinking about the so-called friends who done this person wrong. But if you’re familiar with the tongue-in-cheek humor of “Important Ephemera”, the strangely hilarious inclusion of a Tootsie Roll commercial near the end of this track makes it clear that the use of “Use Me” is merely to sell a product.
To conclude “SportsNite/LateNite”, we get the tracks “CRY” and “SEAGULLS & CLOUDS+”. The former is self-explanatory, as SpaceCadet-16 delivers an acoustic guitar and synth-driven instrumental that is one of the most despondent (in a great way, mind you) musical compositions I’ve heard in quite some time. Sticking with the TV theme of the album, an upbeat-vocalized infomercial plays near the end of the track, purposefully mixed to the point of indiscernibility, highlighting its inability to distract the individual (prior to this moment, we hear a woman weeping) from the pain being felt.
On the flip side, “SEAGULLS & CLOUDS+” is substantially heartwarming compared to the previous track, and it’s easily the BEST track on this album! Here, SpaceCadet-16 treats us to some irresistibly breezy soft jazz/yacht rock-inspired production laced with airy, wavy synths. Even before the ‘signing off’ TV station outro shows up in the song’s final moments, you’ll be picturing one of those video montages of pleasant, sunny images usually associated with these outros (Funny how something related to nighttime incorporates a lot of daytime imagery – which I guess is the underlying theme of this track)!
As a whole, “SportsNite/LateNite” was a solid follow-up to “Important Ephemera”. The album’s nocturnal, dreamy vibe gives it its own distinct personality, and yet it maintains the nostalgic sonic ambience that made its predecessor a noteworthy debut project. With the recent conclusion of C.W.’s self-titled album series, I do hope that he continues his journeys through the vast plains of vaporwave and post-vaporwave via his SpaceCadet-16 sobriquet. But for now, this project is an absolute must-listen for fans of ambient, experimental and vaporwave music, and one in particular that should stimulate the minds of those who enjoy their TV consumption at night.
OVERALL RATING: 7.5 out of 10.
Now available on Bandcamp
For my second R&B-based Retrospect Review, I celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mary J. Blige’s debut album “What’s the 411?”, with mentions of the official remix album, alongside rapper/singer E Smitty of The Soul Powers and Rebel Embassy.
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BBB RADIO 