Album Review: Call Me If You Get Lost - Tyler, The Creator

After the release of his two most recent albums Flower Boy and IGOR, fans and critics wondered which direction Tyler, The Creator would take his music next. The critical acclaim and mainstream recognition that these projects received were bittersweet for Tyler, as his genius was finally being acknowledged but the pressure was mounting for his next project to deliver. Artists who are able to consistently raise their own standards while exploring new sounds should be praised, and that is exactly what Tyler does on Call Me If You Get Lost. Each of his projects has a unique aesthetic, rollout, and mood, giving listeners a unique experience every time a new album is released. Just as expected, this newest project is quite an experience.

Tyler has mastered the art of the album rollout. Often announcing new projects just weeks out from their release date, he is able to immediately establish the album’s aesthetic and vibe for fans to analyze. The lead singles “LUMBERJACK” and “WUSYANAME” were great selections, as they capture the essence of the album without showing the best that it has to offer prematurely. The artsy era of Flower Boy transformed into the mysterious and alter ego defined IGOR, and now Tyler has come full circle with essentially a matured version of what put him in the first place, sprinkled with the personalized motifs and sounds that he has created.

The album implements skits, features, and shorter transitional tracks well to bridge bangers together. The album isn’t as cohesive of an experience as an IGOR, but it didn’t set out to be; instead, Call Me If You Get Lost is a traditional rap and hip-hop project that allows Tyler to return to spitting bar after bar as he did in the Cherry Bomb and Wolf days. We see this right away with tracks like “CORSO” and “LEMONHEAD”, which incorporate noisy and industrial-type beats that complement Tyler’s delivery perfectly.

The album isn’t top-heavy, either, with the tracks toward the middle delivering just as much as the openers. Lil Wayne’s feature on “HOT WIND BLOWS” is one of his best in years, Tyler absolutely snaps on “MASSA”, and intricate lyrical schemes are found all throughout “RUNITUP”. For fans more interested in the longer, episodic tracks that Tyler has gotten so good at writing in recent years, “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” absolutely delivers. Somehow, this track feels familiar and brand new at the same time.

“RISE!” and “BLESSED” are solid tracks, but feel unnecessary for an album that could have been refined to create a complete experience as IGOR did. The closing, tracks, however, make up in some part for these shortcomings. “JUGGERNAUT” features incredible industrial production from Pharrell Williams, who absolutely blesses Tyler here. “WILSHIRE” is a compelling story, and its 8:35 runtime goes by in a flash. “SAFARI” is a strong final track that lets Tyler go harder than he has on previous closers.

Overall, Tyler yet again delivers the project that I didn’t know I wanted from him. While less cohesive and experimental than IGOR, Call Me If You Get Lost is a unique and well-executed rap album that sees Tyler continuing to mature artistically and musically. This will be on a heavy rotation for the summer. What did you think of this project?

Favorite Tracks: “CORSO”, ““LEMONHEAD”, “WUSYANAME”, “LUMBERJACK”, “HOT WIND BLOWS”, “MASSA”, “RUNITUP”, “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE”, “JUGGERNAUT”, “WILSHIRE”, “SAFARI”

SCORE: 8/10

My Top 3 Albums From 2019 So Far + An Explanation of My Rating System

I figured that posting something directly after my introductory post explaining how ambitious I am planning to be with this blog made a fair amount of sense and insures that, at the very least, this site will have at least ONE substantive post -- this one -- discussing my 3 favorite albums from 2019 so far and explaining/defending why I am so harsh when it comes to a grading scale and rating system. Let's dive in.

*disclaimer, these brief analyses of the selected albums will not be as in-depth as my later album reviews which will be standalone posts.*

Let's start with my favorite album from 2019 so far which is Tyler, The Creator's IGOR. This experimental project further demonstrates Tyler's willingness to evolve past an immature sound in Wolf and Cherry Bomb, into a more introspective Flower Boy, and then eventually into a conceptual and rough-around-the-edges project like IGOR. Thematically sound and sonically hypnotizing, Tyler's break-up album fully familiarizes the audience with the IGOR character while disorienting them with never-before-heard instrumental combinations and synth perfection. Many of the songs on this project are catchy to the point of endless repetition, and the transitions in-between them encourage keeping the album on loop, which I have done happily since it's release. Slight hiccups throughout keep me from giving this project a perfect score, but it is fairly close to the coveted and very rare 10/10 rating from me. SCORE = 9/10

Secondly is James Blake's lovely project Assume Form. This one caught me by surprise. Blake was on my radar mainly from collaborations with rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott as well as a handful of selections from his previous album The Colour In Anything, but until the release of Assume Form I hadn't fully listened to one of the musicians projects from beginning to end, which is how I typically consume projects. Assume Form changed that, as its beautiful and sometimes haunting sounds found themselves trapped in the recesses of my mind and the insides of my headphones. Constantly. What adds to this simply revealing and beautiful album is the fact that I was able to see James Blake open his Assume Form tour at The Tabernacle here in Atlanta with my wonderful girlfriend. James' clear humbleness and gratefulness toward the crowd accompanied with his incredible singing ability lead to a fantastic show that completely sold me on a fantastic album. SCORE = 8/10

Finally is an album that completely blindsided me, which is Billie Eilish's WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? I was familiar with Eilish's viral presence online mainly because of her remarkable success at such a young age of 17. An artist releasing their debut album simply should not have such a distinct and established sound as that of Billie Eilish. Some of the themes present on this project, especially in the album's closing tracks, demonstrate a very weathered and mature performer whose age shouldn't be used as a point of criticism. Radio friendly songs such as "bury a friend" and "bad guy" are fun listens, but the heavier listens like "listen before i go" and "i love you" keep me coming back to this project. Its lack of thematic cohesiveness is expected from a debut album and is intentional from what I've seen from Eilish's interviews, but it unfortunately takes away from the start to finish replay-ability for me. Again, a great album that completely blindsided me and greatly surpassed my expectations. SCORE = 8/10

So there are my top albums so far from 2019, none of which have a perfect 10/10 score. Fret not -- that is expected with me. I only have a handful of albums that I have given a perfect score to. Some find my rating scale a bit harsh, which is a fair critique. I describe it as fair, though. Here it is, as follows:

- 10: Perfection with nothing in need of change.

- 9: Extraordinarily amazing.

- 8: Great.

- 7: Good.

- 6: Above average.

- 5: Average.

- 4: Below average.

- 3: Bad.

- 2. Terrible.

- 1. Extraordinarily awful.

- 0: No redeeming qualities, as bad as possible.

We'll see if 2019 brings a perfect 10/10 for me. Stay tuned as I continue to share in-depth album and track reviews here on this blog.