"WHAT'S GOOD" is like "I'm In It" filtered through the horrorcore of Tyler's roots, while cuts like "I THINK" and "GONE, GONE" introduce an indie psychedelia bent that's entirely unique to his work, the latter a psych-folk type thing with a multi-layered falsetto chorus that somehow sounds like Brian Wilson working with BROCKHAMPTON. It's not bad mixing or lazy craftsmanship actually, listen through a good pair of headphones and this is sonically one of the best albums of the past few years. From there on everyone is subsumed into Tyler's murky vision, from a ghostly Kanye barely making a ripple on "PUPPET" to Pharrell distorted and heat-hazed on the closing song. Playboi Carti shows up early here, and dominates "EARFQUAKE" as the only really clear feature. But it's hard to begrudge this when IGOR deploys features almost as brilliantly as the revolving door of internal and external voices that made up Blond(e). Somewhat regrettably, Tyler's new vision means still no Earl Sweatshirt or Vince Staples, even on an album whose twisted and distorted minimalism sometimes feels tailormade for a verse from them. (Okay, IGOR has one, a sneaky "the irony is I don't wanna see you again", and it's such a sad and defeated moment that focusing on the callback to a song that was as bright and life-affirming as it gets feels like missing the point). Tyler has stripped away all the signifiers of his sound and aesthetic that even the bold reinvention of Flower Boy still fell back on, namely the double music video for the first single, features from Frank Ocean or Syd, and self-referential callbacks to his earlier work like Flower Boy's kinda cute defenses of Cherry Bomb. Some of IGOR feels like an extension of Flower Boy's poppier cuts "WHAT'S GOOD" and "NEW MAGIC WAND" are much superior retries of Cherry Bomb's industrial distortion-rap mostly, it's not a rap album at all. But there's something in Tyler's newest that echoes that minimalist, looping, eyes-to-the-sky aesthetic, most notably "A BOY IS A GUN", which I'll get to in a second. IGOR is, of course, not a beat tape in the same vein as J Dilla's classic. But I was still surprised as IGOR spun to a close: Tyler, the Creator finally made his Donuts. When "Enjoy Right Now, Today" closed out Flower Boy, when Tyler spent the second half of 2018 dropping Cherry Bomb instrumental tracks, especially when I heard the gorgeous all-sung loosie "QUARTZ". I kind of hoped something like this was coming. Review Summary: a monster 'bout to come alive again
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