Prettifun: FunHouse Album Evaluation | Pitchfork | Jive Update

Prettifun: FunHouse Album Evaluation | Pitchfork


“The way in which that I rationalize FL Studio, you’ve received to think about it like a online game,” Prettifun just lately informed an interviewer. “Any time I make music on any DAW, I’m enthusiastic about video video games.” There’s a transparent timbral connection between the hyperactive ambiance of Nintendo side-scrollers and the 19-year-old rapper and producer’s music, which makes liberal use of inventory sound-effect synths that resemble deployed power-ups. However the analogy goes deeper. He explores ideas with a hardcore completionist’s mindset, trying to pack a mission file with as many melodic phrases, quotable affirmations, and neuron-activating textures as attainable earlier than all of it implodes. Since establishing himself within the Soundcloud rap underground with beat placements on two of che’s breakthrough singles (“Miley Cyrus” and “Pizza Time”) this spring, he’s capitalized on the second with a pair of albums so densely full of pleasure they’ve their very own gravitational pull.

He launched the primary of those, Pretti, in the summertime—a largely self-produced affair that adheres to the aural template established by Pi’erre Bourne, Prettifun’s clearest affect. He transitions seamlessly between beats, pitch-shifting chiptune arpeggios like he’s an hour deep into an acid techno set. Bouncing on taut 808 thumps, these segues flex his creativity, however create noticeable dips within the frenzied power, slowing the heartbeat a bit an excessive amount of. However on his follow-up, FunHouse, Prettifun manages to keep up a constant stage of mania by having associates like Iankon and Ginseng take the reins as producers, letting every monitor stand alone as a discrete assertion. The experiment pays off: On FunHouse, he comes into his personal as a vocalist and character, penning baby-voiced rage-rap that’s so uplifting, it’s transgressive, particularly when in comparison with the Opium acolytes in adjoining lanes. The place others flex to fill area in a verse, Prettifun acts as an evangelist for his D.I.Y. ethic, shouting out supporters by identify on “Z&S” and utilizing the hook of “Really feel Like Uzi” to remind listeners that they can also seize a pair of earbuds and begin making music.

That’s to not say there isn’t edge to the music. Tracks just like the aforementioned “Really feel Like Uzi” and “Fedswatchin” are slammed with punishing distortion that saturates their playful melodies, drawing sweetness to the floor like bruised fruit. The steadiness between bliss and brutality harkens again to the no-fi noise-pop of early-career Wavves and Cloud Nothings, changing fuzz-blasted lead guitar with low-resolution chirps. No ingredient of the combo is given explicit emphasis, and the ensuing wall of sound feels cathartic. The pitched-up sighs of aid he lets out as he trails off on the finish of the bar really feel simply as important as every of his optimistic calls to motion. He’s snug swaddled in static, which permits him to discover the unusual headspace of garnering on-line fame whereas nonetheless feeling caught at dwelling with “Funko Pops on the nightstand,” whimsical string preparations flitting concerning the combine.

On “Miss U Angie,” Prettifun exhibits that FunHouse’s positivity is extra than simply an aesthetic alternative. Reflecting on dropping his grandfather and aunt briefly succession, he particulars his battle to maneuver ahead earlier than coming to an existential realization that “life is absolutely hell however there’s that means behind it.” In a subgenre of rap that tends to specific emotional extremes, the monitor is refreshingly tender with out being overwritten.

Although his beat choice skews colourful and generally claustrophobic, Prettifun’s goal is to seek out order inside the chaos, button-mashing his method round self-imposed obstacles. His work behind the boards could have put him on the map earlier this yr, however it’s his songwriting that feels most important within the underground’s present panorama. For a document launched simply weeks after the artist’s debut, FunHouse is fleshed-out and assured. It radiates vivid hues and character within the face of these whose idea of “aura” is a skinny protect of gloomy obscurity.

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