The Daily Spin, July 4
OfF.Brand | SILLY.BUS
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: SILLY.BUS (2022)
Artist: OfF.Brand
Link:
Between brief moments of earnestness, SILLY.BUS bounces through all sorts of styles, both in rapping and production, never taking itself seriously for long - inherently silly. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it’s also extremely clear that this project is two guys for whom this is not the main source of income.
At times, this feels a lot more like a parody album - if you recall my review of Stoney Calzoney’s R.I.Pizza, I could absolutely have been convinced that it was made with a lot more seriousness than this work, but I’m also trying to set aside preconceived notions with this - this is, far and away, the smallest artist that’s been featured on this series, at just 204 monthly listeners and a most popular song on Spotify with <5,000 plays.
Here’s the thing.
When they get into the rap itself, it tends to be pretty solid. The production calls to fellow Portland-based rapper Amine or Injury Reserve, plonky production that relies heavily on synth arpeggiations and strong drum work to carry the weight on the album. The mixing isn’t awesome, with both voices getting lost in the music in a way that feels a lot more overshadowing than a give-and-take, but that sway still pulls, with the jazz and funk elements bolstering a lot of this record.
It’s nothing outstanding, but I gotta respect people putting themselves out there - this is far from the worst thing we’ve spun, and I’m always gonna be glad to highlight independent artists like this.
Rating: 6.0/10
Best Tracks: SHOW.INTEL; SILLY.BUS
Worst Tracks: WACKY.WEDNESDAY; HALLWAY.HOOLIGANZ; CLASS.CHAOS
Didnt notice you did this album, i need to check the low major more lol
Gonna be honest I had a really long comment typed out but accidentally closed it, thanks for doing the album I suggested! I agree with like all the points you made (especially the "sounds like a parody album" and "rapping itself is pretty solid")