Brodinski – Brava

A disposable, trap-influenced effort...

Though it's been on the cards for a while now – we're a long way from Brodinski's past high-profile mixes for Fabric, I Love Techno and Bugged Out – it's now official. Frenchman Louis Rogé has reset his sights for the benefit of the trap set.

'Brava' laps up rivers of energy drink, drugs, and payday ignorance not au fait with the concept of sharing the love. Though a rumoured appearance from Rick Ross never panned out, it does give the American frontline a European lookout, where the sounds are wholly representative/show how much crunk juice is left in the trap tank. The 808 go-slows muster a convoy of stock booms and incidental dinks and plinks atop that aren't done many favours when inklings of EDM seep through (though probably not a problem within the current US market). Hybrids such as 'Can't Help Myself' – a damaging album portent if ever there was one – are tortuous, as are inbetweener 'Hector' and gutter ballad 'Follow Me'.

As for the lyricists – take your pick from Young Scooter, Yung Gleesh, Peewee Longway, Chill Will (we'll give you the Slim Thug hook-up 'Warm Up') – it's a cast of perfect don't-give-a-fuck spokesman whose hype, hollow runs at the mouth unsurprisingly aren't appealing to the stay-at-home punter.

Rogé's trap dedication on this, his debut LP, is a sucker for the old problem of guests overcrowding the producer on his own patch (a natural hazard if you're making trap with no musical concept).The outcome may even be irrelevant in the long-term given his genre hops – likewise the value of his versatility if you can't shake the feeling of faddishness. A blunt genre deserves a blunt assessment so, for what it's worth: in reflecting his mixtape interests, Brodinksi is well on his way to mastering one of the year's most disposable albums.

4/10

Words: Matt Oliver

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